Disaster risk Reduction (DRR) is well known and practiced in many nations.
Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) is a sub-component of DRR
which is slowly being practiced in most at risk communities. However, there are still
gaps regarding the principles and guidelines that guide the process of CBDRR. This
study stipulates numerous guiding principles that govern the processes of CBDRR
activities. These are: traditional knowledge, understanding of community members,
capacity of community members, community participation, political will and training of
community members. Furthermore the study used the guidelines to evaluate which
activities by the Oshakati community members relate to the principles and guidelines
of CBDRR as a way of reducing the risk of recurring floods in the community.
Through focus group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews, it was
found that the community members in Oshakati adhere to most principles of CBDRR
such as the use of traditional knowledge, community members having the capacity to
work together to solve common societal problems and to understand community
structures. However, guidelines such as community participation, political will and
training of community members were not adhered to due to various challenges such
as the lack of institutional capacity and limited resources. The findings further
stipulate that those guidelines were not adhered to due to inadequate knowledge on
DRR and lack of support from the local government due to limited availability of
resources. The study recommends that in order for the local government to reduce
the risk of recurring floods in the community, the local government need to build
capacity of its personnel working directly with DRR aspects. These can be achieved
through a shift in the approach of responding to flooding to being proactive, creating
awareness regarding the hazard and ensuring genuine participation of community
members into local government CBDRR activities. / M Development and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/15547 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Shaamhula, Loide Victoria |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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