Integrating “Top-Down” and “Community-Centric” Approaches for Community-Based Flood Early Warning Systems in Namibia

Deolfa Josè Moisès (), Nnenesi Kgabi and Olivia Kunguma
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Deolfa Josè Moisès: Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein 9301, South Africa
Nnenesi Kgabi: Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2531, South Africa
Olivia Kunguma: Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein 9301, South Africa

Challenges, 2023, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) resolutely endorses the development of people-centred early warning systems. Moreover, several scientific studies have deprecated the vast technology-driven technocratic approaches to implementing these systems, contending the prioritisation of communities and their contextualised needs for systems that ensure effective risk protection and resilience building. However, both the UNDRR and the scientific literature have failed to define appropriate means of implementation (MoI) for community-based early warning system (CBEWS) development. Floods are a major hazard annually impacting several communities in rural sub-Saharan Africa, and though several opportunities for participatory systems have been identified, investment in developing countries is often lagging, and no defined mechanism for developing these systems exists. Adopting a modified Integrated Emergency Management Framework, this study demonstrates that an impact-based CBEWS can be established by leveraging existing resources, institutions and stakeholders, essentially merging last-mile and first-mile approaches. The study further reveals that directly linking technical capacities with community-based efforts allows communities to define system development parameters, strengthen risk knowledge and response, and build resilience for improved physical, economic and environmental protection, essentially bridging the gap between first and last-mile approaches. The study also highlights the need for governments to appropriately streamline DRR to improve coordination and communication.

Keywords: flood risk; resilience; community-based early warning system; socioeconomic and environmental capacity; preparedness; emergency management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A00 C00 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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