Examining the Integration process of the community based institutions and organizations as a response strategy for'Disaster Reduction'a case of Kazungula District,Zambia

Abstract

Background information ABSTRACT Background information All over the world, the number of recorded disasters has doubled from approximately 200 to more than 400 per year in the past 20 years. Community based institutions and organizations such as local government, community neighborhood and international organizations have been recognized as the additional elements in disaster management. Kazungula district in southern province is among the districts which are struggling with the challenges resulting from flood disasters. Overall the integration process of Community based organizations and institutions in the Disaster Risk Reduction system has not been optimized. This limited integration process of community-based institutions and organizations such as the neighborhood health communities, traditional leaders, and community based health workers in the disaster risk reduction system has been cited as partly contributing to inadequate disaster risk reduction response in the district. Meanwhile, there is limited knowledge of the factors that have shaped this integration process. The overall objective of the study was to critically analyze the integration process of the local institutions and organizations within the Kazungula District Disaster reduction system Methods The study adopted a case study design to analyze the integration process of the community based institutions and organizations in the Kazungula disaster reduction in Kazungula District. Thirteen respondents from governmental and non-governmental institution were purposefully selected for in-depth interviews. Two Focus group discussions were done and respondents were from community based organizations such as the health neighborhood; community leadership and women group representatives. Fifteen informants for the focus Group Discussions were purposefully selected for the discussion. NVIVO qualitative software was used to organize data. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Thirteen respondents were interviewed from different government and non-governmental institutions. Two focus group discussions comprising of 10 and 5 members were held in Sikaunzwe and Kasaya respectively. The study revealed that institutions and organizations integrated Disaster risk reduction in different ways. Some institutions, however, were not active stakeholders in Disaster Risk Reduction. Factors that positively affected the integration process included the availability of the disaster management plan at the District Commissioners’ Office. Some staffs from institutions and organizations were adopted in climate change projects, giving them an idea of Disaster management. Factors that limited the integration process included inadequate funding, lack of guidelines and a working Framework to design or implement DRR. The institutions and organization also lacked trained manpower. The attitude of the affected communities, such as not being cooperative during disasters, was also constraining Disaster Risk Reduction integration process by institutions and organization.