This study investigates the aspects of resilience in the management strategies of the key stakeholders of flood risk management in the city of Accra, Ghana. The overall objective is to analyse the response capacity in the strategies of the key stakeholders in flood risk management for managing the unexpected course of flood disasters in addition to the expected features of flood risk. To achieve the set objective, the following research questions are addressed: Who are the key stakeholders of flood risk management in the city of Accra? How are these stakeholders dealing with the unexpected course of flood disasters in addition to the expected features of flood risk in their management strategies? How could the capacity of the strategies for responding to the unexpected course of flood disasters be advanced? The inductive case study design applies document analyses, semi-structured interviews as well as key stakeholder identification and validation methods. Scientific and policy documents about resilience and flood risk management were reviewed. The research participants were mainly directors and representatives of organisations in flood risk management of the study. Empirical findings include key stakeholders in flood risk management as well as aspects of resilience and anticipation in flood risk management strategies. The main finding on the key stakeholders of flood risk management are national, district, civil society, and private sector organisations as well as traditional authorities (local chiefs). Aspects of resilience in flood risk management strategies comprises omnivorousness, agile and timely flow of response resource, homoeostasis, flatness of the response structure and process, redundancy of the response resources and buffer capacity. Findings revealed resilience regarding diversity in sources of resource and responses for dealing with unexpected course of flood disasters. The aspects of anticipation are described as resistance to known risk, maintenance of boundary conditions of the management strategies and specialisation for dealing with specific flood risk within and among organisations. Regarding anticipation, results indicate that there are measures for resisting known flood risk but their implementation is ineffective. Based upon the findings, hypotheses are derived for advancement of resilience and anticipation in flood risk management strategies. Involvement of the local chiefs, Slum Union of Ghana, Local Development Associations of flood-prone communities and key private sector organisations in flood risk management strategies in the city of Accra would amend their response capacities in diversity of sources of response resources and allow for advanced resilience regarding their responses to the impacts of land-use changes and the waste disposal in watercourses. Recommendations refer to prospects to advance the response capacity of key stakeholders of flood risk management strategies by integrating traditional authorities and private organisations in flood risk management in the city of Accra. / Diese Arbeit untersucht Aspekte von Resilienz in den Strategien von Schlüsselakteuren des Hochwasserrisikomanagements in der Stadt Accra (Ghana). Das übergeordnete Ziel besteht darin, das Reaktionsvermögen dieser Akteure in ihren Management-Strategien nicht nur hinsichtlich des erwarteten, sondern vor allem hinsichtlich des unerwarteten Verlaufs von Hochwasserkatastrophen zu untersuchen. Die folgenden drei Forschungsfragen werden untersucht: Wer sind die Schlüsselakteure des Hochwasserrisikomanagements in der Stadt Accra? Wie berücksichtigen diese Akteure in ihren Management-Strategien den unerwarteten Verlauf von Hochwasserkatastrophen zusätzlich zu dem erwarteten Verlauf? Wie könnte das Reaktionsvermögen bezüglich des Umgangs mit dem unerwarteten Verlauf von Hochwasserkatastrophen in diesen Strategien ausgeweitet werden? Im Rahmen des induktiven Fallstudiendesigns werden Dokumentenanalysen, halbstandardisierte Interviews und Gruppendiskussionen eingesetzt. Die daraus resultierenden empirischen Befunde beziehen sich neben der Identifikation der Schlüsselakteure des Hochwasserrisikomanagements auch auf die Aspekte von Resilienz und Antizipation in ihren Management-Strategien. Zu den Schlüsselakteuren zählen nationale und lokale Organisationen, aber auch solche aus der Zivilgesellschaft, dem privaten Sektor und traditionelle Autoritäten. Bei den Aspekten von Resilienz in den Hochwasserrisikomanagement-Strategien handelt es sich um ganzheitliche Herangehensweisen, regen und zeitnahen Einsatz von Ressourcen zur Ereignisbewältigung sowie Pufferkapazitäten. Die Ergebnisse zeigten Widerstandsfähigkeit in Bezug auf die Vielfalt in den Quellen von Ressourcen und Antworten auf den unerwarteten Verlauf von Hochwasserkatastrophen. Die Ergebnisse hinsichtlich der Antizipation von Hochwasserrisikomanagement-Strategien umfassen den Widerstand gegen das bekannte Risiko, die Aufrechterhaltung von Rahmenbedingungen der Management-Strategien und die Spezialisierung auf bestimmte Hochwasserrisiken. Auf den Erkenntnissen über die Aspekte von Resilienz und Antizipation in den Hochwasserrisikomanagement-Strategien aufbauend werden Hypothesen abgeleitet. In den Handlungsempfehlungen werden die Chancen einer Integration traditioneller Autoritäten und anderer Interessensgruppen in das Hochwasserrisikomanagement der Stadt Accra aufgezeigt, wodurch eine Weiterentwicklung der Resilienz in den Hochwasserrisikomanagement-Strategien für die Zukunft erreicht werden kann.

This study investigates the aspects of resilience in the management strategies of the key stakeholders of flood risk management in the city of Accra, Ghana. The overall objective is to analyse the response capacity in the strategies of the key stakeholders in flood risk management for managing the unexpected course of flood disasters in addition to the expected features of flood risk. To achieve the set objective, the following research questions are addressed: Who are the key stakeholders of flood risk management in the city of Accra? How are these stakeholders dealing with the unexpected course of flood disasters in addition to the expected features of flood risk in their management strategies? How could the capacity of the strategies for responding to the unexpected course of flood disasters be advanced? The inductive case study design applies document analyses, semi-structured interviews as well as key stakeholder identification and validation methods. Scientific and policy documents about resilience and flood risk management were reviewed. The research participants were mainly directors and representatives of organisations in flood risk management of the study. Empirical findings include key stakeholders in flood risk management as well as aspects of resilience and anticipation in flood risk management strategies. The main finding on the key stakeholders of flood risk management are national, district, civil society, and private sector organisations as well as traditional authorities (local chiefs). Aspects of resilience in flood risk management strategies comprises omnivorousness, agile and timely flow of response resource, homoeostasis, flatness of the response structure and process, redundancy of the response resources and buffer capacity. Findings revealed resilience regarding diversity in sources of resource and responses for dealing with unexpected course of flood disasters. The aspects of anticipation are described as resistance to known risk, maintenance of boundary conditions of the management strategies and specialisation for dealing with specific flood risk within and among organisations. Regarding anticipation, results indicate that there are measures for resisting known flood risk but their implementation is ineffective. Based upon the findings, hypotheses are derived for advancement of resilience and anticipation in flood risk management strategies. Involvement of the local chiefs, Slum Union of Ghana, Local Development Associations of flood-prone communities and key private sector organisations in flood risk management strategies in the city of Accra would amend their response capacities in diversity of sources of response resources and allow for advanced resilience regarding their responses to the impacts of land-use changes and the waste disposal in watercourses. Recommendations refer to prospects to advance the response capacity of key stakeholders of flood risk management strategies by integrating traditional authorities and private organisations in flood risk management in the city of Accra.:Note on the commencement of the doctoral procedure i Declaration of conformity ii Acknowledgement iv Abstract vi Table of contents x List of figures xv List of tables xvi List of abbreviations xvii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Problem statement 2 1.3 Objectives and research questions 12 1.4 Justification of the study 16 1.5 Structure of this research 17 2 Conceptual framework 20 2.1 Basic concepts in flood risk management 20 2.1.1 Flood risk 21 2.1.2 Expected and unexpected course of flood disasters 24 2.1.3 Flood risk management 27 2.1.4 Flood risk management strategies 30 2.1.5 Stakeholders of flood risk management strategies 33 2.1.6 Risk governance beyond flood risk management strategies 39 2.2 Resilience in flood risk management strategies 42 2.2.1 Overview of resilience concepts 43 2.2.2 Resilience and flood risk management 49 2.2.3 Operationalisation of resilience in flood risk management strategies 54 3 Research design and methods 71 3.1 Research design 71 3.1.1 Overall design 71 3.1.2 Case study approach 72 3.1.3 Research ethics and access to data 73 3.2 Data collection methods 75 3.2.1 Sampling techniques 75 3.2.2 Documents analysis 75 3.2.3 Expert interviews 76 3.3. Data analysis 78 3.4 Methods for answering the research questions 79 3.4.1 Research question 1: Stakeholder analysis 79 3.4.2 Research question 2: Semi-structured interviews and content analysis 93 3.4.3 Research question 3: Derivation of hypotheses 95 4 Identification of potential key stakeholders and selection of key stakeholders 101 4.1 Principled stakeholders of flood risk management 101 4.2 Potential key stakeholders of flood risk management 104 4.2.1 Potential key stakeholders on international level 104 4.2.2 Potential key stakeholders in flood risk management at the national level 110 4.2.3 Potential key stakeholders of flood risk management from Accra Metropolitan Assembly 119 4.2.4 Potential key stakeholders from non-governmental organisations 123 4.2.5 Potential key stakeholders from business organisations 128 4.2.6 Potential key stakeholders from traditional authorities and opinion leaders 132 4.3 Selection of key stakeholders of flood risk management in the city of Accra 135 4.4 Description of the key stakeholders of flood risk management in the city of Accra 138 5 Resilience and anticipation in flood risk management strategies 143 5.1 Resilience aspects 143 5.1.1 Resilience aspect Omnivorousness of the flood risk management strategy 143 5.1.2 Resilience aspect Agile and timely flow of response rate of the flood risk management strategy 147 5.1.3 Resilience aspect Homeostasis of the flood risk management strategy 155 5.1.4 Resilience aspect Flatness of response process and structure of flood risk management strategy 162 5.1.5 Resilience aspect Redundancy of response resources for flood risk management of the organisations 165 5.1.6 Resilience aspect Buffer capacity of the flood risk management strategy 171 5.2 Aspects of Anticipation 173 5.2.1 Anticipation aspect Resistance to (known) flood risks 173 5.2.2 Anticipation aspect Maintenance of boundary conditions of flood risk management strategy 179 5.2.3 Anticipation aspect Specialisation in dealing with specific courses of flood disasters 182 6 Hypotheses for advancing resilience and anticipation in flood risk management strategies 184 6.1 Hypotheses on advancing resilience in flood risk management strategies 184 6.1.1 Hypotheses for resilience regarding Omnivorousness of the flood risk management strategy 184 6.1.2 Hypothesis for resilience regarding Homoeostasis of flood risk management strategy 186 6.1.3 Hypothesis for resilience regarding agile and timely flow of response rate of the flood risk management strategy 189 6.1.4 Hypothesis for resilience regarding flatness of flood risk management strategy 191 6.1.5 Hypothesis on resilience regarding Redundancy of flood risk management strategies 194 6.1.6 Hypothesis for resilience regarding Buffer capacity of flood risk management strategy 196 6.2 Hypothesis for advancement of anticipation in flood risk management strategies 197 6.2.1 Hypotheses for anticipation regarding Resistance to known flood risk in flood risk management strategy 197 6.2.2 Hypotheses for anticipation regarding maintenance in boundary conditions of flood risk management strategy 201 6.2.3 Hypothesis for anticipation regarding Specialisation for dealing with specific courses of flood disasters 203 7 Discussion of approach and key findings 206 7.1 Conceptual and methodological rigour of the study 206 7.2 Conceptual and empirical relevance for resilience and anticipation in flood risk management strategies 213 7.3 Accomplishment of the research objectives and answers to the research questions 217 7.4 Limitations of this research 226 7.5 Prospects and challenges for future research on resilience in FRM strategies 227 8 Conclusions and recommendations 229 8.1 Conclusions on main contributions of this study 229 8.2 Demand for future research 231 8.3 Recommendations for formulation and implementation of FRM strategies in the city of Accra 232 8.4 General concluding remarks 234 9 References 235 9.1 Literature 235 9.2 Other sources 252 10 Appendices 259 10.1 Appendix I Interview guide 259 10.2 Appendix II Selected interview codes and quotations 264 / Diese Arbeit untersucht Aspekte von Resilienz in den Strategien von Schlüsselakteuren des Hochwasserrisikomanagements in der Stadt Accra (Ghana). Das übergeordnete Ziel besteht darin, das Reaktionsvermögen dieser Akteure in ihren Management-Strategien nicht nur hinsichtlich des erwarteten, sondern vor allem hinsichtlich des unerwarteten Verlaufs von Hochwasserkatastrophen zu untersuchen. Die folgenden drei Forschungsfragen werden untersucht: Wer sind die Schlüsselakteure des Hochwasserrisikomanagements in der Stadt Accra? Wie berücksichtigen diese Akteure in ihren Management-Strategien den unerwarteten Verlauf von Hochwasserkatastrophen zusätzlich zu dem erwarteten Verlauf? Wie könnte das Reaktionsvermögen bezüglich des Umgangs mit dem unerwarteten Verlauf von Hochwasserkatastrophen in diesen Strategien ausgeweitet werden? Im Rahmen des induktiven Fallstudiendesigns werden Dokumentenanalysen, halbstandardisierte Interviews und Gruppendiskussionen eingesetzt. Die daraus resultierenden empirischen Befunde beziehen sich neben der Identifikation der Schlüsselakteure des Hochwasserrisikomanagements auch auf die Aspekte von Resilienz und Antizipation in ihren Management-Strategien. Zu den Schlüsselakteuren zählen nationale und lokale Organisationen, aber auch solche aus der Zivilgesellschaft, dem privaten Sektor und traditionelle Autoritäten. Bei den Aspekten von Resilienz in den Hochwasserrisikomanagement-Strategien handelt es sich um ganzheitliche Herangehensweisen, regen und zeitnahen Einsatz von Ressourcen zur Ereignisbewältigung sowie Pufferkapazitäten. Die Ergebnisse zeigten Widerstandsfähigkeit in Bezug auf die Vielfalt in den Quellen von Ressourcen und Antworten auf den unerwarteten Verlauf von Hochwasserkatastrophen. Die Ergebnisse hinsichtlich der Antizipation von Hochwasserrisikomanagement-Strategien umfassen den Widerstand gegen das bekannte Risiko, die Aufrechterhaltung von Rahmenbedingungen der Management-Strategien und die Spezialisierung auf bestimmte Hochwasserrisiken. Auf den Erkenntnissen über die Aspekte von Resilienz und Antizipation in den Hochwasserrisikomanagement-Strategien aufbauend werden Hypothesen abgeleitet. In den Handlungsempfehlungen werden die Chancen einer Integration traditioneller Autoritäten und anderer Interessensgruppen in das Hochwasserrisikomanagement der Stadt Accra aufgezeigt, wodurch eine Weiterentwicklung der Resilienz in den Hochwasserrisikomanagement-Strategien für die Zukunft erreicht werden kann.:Note on the commencement of the doctoral procedure i Declaration of conformity ii Acknowledgement iv Abstract vi Table of contents x List of figures xv List of tables xvi List of abbreviations xvii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Problem statement 2 1.3 Objectives and research questions 12 1.4 Justification of the study 16 1.5 Structure of this research 17 2 Conceptual framework 20 2.1 Basic concepts in flood risk management 20 2.1.1 Flood risk 21 2.1.2 Expected and unexpected course of flood disasters 24 2.1.3 Flood risk management 27 2.1.4 Flood risk management strategies 30 2.1.5 Stakeholders of flood risk management strategies 33 2.1.6 Risk governance beyond flood risk management strategies 39 2.2 Resilience in flood risk management strategies 42 2.2.1 Overview of resilience concepts 43 2.2.2 Resilience and flood risk management 49 2.2.3 Operationalisation of resilience in flood risk management strategies 54 3 Research design and methods 71 3.1 Research design 71 3.1.1 Overall design 71 3.1.2 Case study approach 72 3.1.3 Research ethics and access to data 73 3.2 Data collection methods 75 3.2.1 Sampling techniques 75 3.2.2 Documents analysis 75 3.2.3 Expert interviews 76 3.3. Data analysis 78 3.4 Methods for answering the research questions 79 3.4.1 Research question 1: Stakeholder analysis 79 3.4.2 Research question 2: Semi-structured interviews and content analysis 93 3.4.3 Research question 3: Derivation of hypotheses 95 4 Identification of potential key stakeholders and selection of key stakeholders 101 4.1 Principled stakeholders of flood risk management 101 4.2 Potential key stakeholders of flood risk management 104 4.2.1 Potential key stakeholders on international level 104 4.2.2 Potential key stakeholders in flood risk management at the national level 110 4.2.3 Potential key stakeholders of flood risk management from Accra Metropolitan Assembly 119 4.2.4 Potential key stakeholders from non-governmental organisations 123 4.2.5 Potential key stakeholders from business organisations 128 4.2.6 Potential key stakeholders from traditional authorities and opinion leaders 132 4.3 Selection of key stakeholders of flood risk management in the city of Accra 135 4.4 Description of the key stakeholders of flood risk management in the city of Accra 138 5 Resilience and anticipation in flood risk management strategies 143 5.1 Resilience aspects 143 5.1.1 Resilience aspect Omnivorousness of the flood risk management strategy 143 5.1.2 Resilience aspect Agile and timely flow of response rate of the flood risk management strategy 147 5.1.3 Resilience aspect Homeostasis of the flood risk management strategy 155 5.1.4 Resilience aspect Flatness of response process and structure of flood risk management strategy 162 5.1.5 Resilience aspect Redundancy of response resources for flood risk management of the organisations 165 5.1.6 Resilience aspect Buffer capacity of the flood risk management strategy 171 5.2 Aspects of Anticipation 173 5.2.1 Anticipation aspect Resistance to (known) flood risks 173 5.2.2 Anticipation aspect Maintenance of boundary conditions of flood risk management strategy 179 5.2.3 Anticipation aspect Specialisation in dealing with specific courses of flood disasters 182 6 Hypotheses for advancing resilience and anticipation in flood risk management strategies 184 6.1 Hypotheses on advancing resilience in flood risk management strategies 184 6.1.1 Hypotheses for resilience regarding Omnivorousness of the flood risk management strategy 184 6.1.2 Hypothesis for resilience regarding Homoeostasis of flood risk management strategy 186 6.1.3 Hypothesis for resilience regarding agile and timely flow of response rate of the flood risk management strategy 189 6.1.4 Hypothesis for resilience regarding flatness of flood risk management strategy 191 6.1.5 Hypothesis on resilience regarding Redundancy of flood risk management strategies 194 6.1.6 Hypothesis for resilience regarding Buffer capacity of flood risk management strategy 196 6.2 Hypothesis for advancement of anticipation in flood risk management strategies 197 6.2.1 Hypotheses for anticipation regarding Resistance to known flood risk in flood risk management strategy 197 6.2.2 Hypotheses for anticipation regarding maintenance in boundary conditions of flood risk management strategy 201 6.2.3 Hypothesis for anticipation regarding Specialisation for dealing with specific courses of flood disasters 203 7 Discussion of approach and key findings 206 7.1 Conceptual and methodological rigour of the study 206 7.2 Conceptual and empirical relevance for resilience and anticipation in flood risk management strategies 213 7.3 Accomplishment of the research objectives and answers to the research questions 217 7.4 Limitations of this research 226 7.5 Prospects and challenges for future research on resilience in FRM strategies 227 8 Conclusions and recommendations 229 8.1 Conclusions on main contributions of this study 229 8.2 Demand for future research 231 8.3 Recommendations for formulation and implementation of FRM strategies in the city of Accra 232 8.4 General concluding remarks 234 9 References 235 9.1 Literature 235 9.2 Other sources 252 10 Appendices 259 10.1 Appendix I Interview guide 259 10.2 Appendix II Selected interview codes and quotations 264