Building social resilience of the poor: Protecting and empowering those most at risk

This paper explores progress and documents good practices related to the implementation of policies and plans to reduce the vulnerability of populations most at risk.

Based on the approaches and experiences reviewed in this paper, a few specific elements can be recommended for the post-Hyogo Framework (HFA2):

• It would be important that HFA2 unpack community involvement to ensure that communities are recognised as valued partners in disaster and climate risk management and not as beneficiaries that get informed or consulted.
• National governments and development partners should provide substantial support to community-driven development (CDD), social funds, safety nets, and related operational platforms that can serve as useful vehicles for promoting community-level resilience to disaster and climate risk.
• Committing to dedicated support towards empowering women as resilience champions through the HFA2 provides governments the opportunity to manage risk more effectively and at the same time promote positive social transformation on gender equity.

This document is a background paper for the 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction.