Weaving a culture of resilience: A gender-sensitive approach to disaster risk reduction in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands

This document reports on research aiming at a more gender-sensitive approach to disaster risk reduction (DRR) in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. It gives insight into the situations in which women and men, girls and boys live in three selected communities in both countries. It provides information about their local behaviour patterns, belief and value systems, their daily life routines etc. - all necessary information to adapt ongoing and plan future DRR measures in this specific context.

The first part of the report informs about the background of the research and its context. It contains the objectives, a description of the methodology and the general context of the research.

The second part focuses on the physical, natural, social, human and financial/economic factors, which influence and define roles and capacities of women and men on the community level and have implications for DRR.

The next parts concentrate on the roles and capacities of women and men in food production and income generation as well as on Early Warning Systems, relating to communication systems and adaptation of early warning messages. Recommendations are given for different fields such as Participation, Communication Patterns, Youth, Transitional change/change agents/attitudes, complementing this part of the chapter.

The next two chapters focus on the commitment to gender mainstreaming on (1) the organizational level, as well as (2) the programming level. Recommendations for possible adaptation of ongoing and future projects complement the last part of this report.