Strengthening capacities for disaster risk management I: Insights from existing research and practice

Improving the capacities of national and sub-national governments, as well as local communities, to manage growing disaster risks is a pressing concern in low- and middle-income countries. Drawing on a wide range of academic and non-academic literature, this paper seeks to pick a course through debates around the concept of capacity development, discusses the small but emerging literature focusing specifically on strengthening capacities for disaster risk management (DRM), and points the way both toward a model type pathway for capacity strengthening and the assumptions that need to be met in order to achieve that goal. The paper examines discussions surrounding both the content and process of DRM capacity development support. It argues for a broadening of scope in terms of the capacity needs that are targeted, as well as drawing in best practice from the wider fields of capacity development in order to maximise the chance that capacity gains are effective and sustained.