Community-led action for resilience, building partnerships for inclusive action

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is most effective when grounded in local communities, as grassroots organizations possess hyperlocal knowledge of their vulnerabilities and capacities. Governments and stakeholders are increasingly supportive of locally led action, however, funds are still not substantively reaching the local level and communities are not being effectively engaged in delivery of Sendai. Yet, there engagement is key if want to achieve Sendai targets.

Strengthening partnerships with local organizations and establishing local finance mechanisms is key to bridging the gap between global policies and local realities, ensuring that DRR investments align with community priorities. In this context, the session will highlight the role of grassroots organizations in implementing SFDRR, demonstrate the importance of local finance for translating global commitments, and provide actionable recommendations for stakeholders to enhance local resilience.

Session objectives

The session will demonstrate the critical role that local communities play in disaster risk reduction / implementing the SFDRR and the need for direct financial investments to strengthen and scale local resilience. The session will generate a lively discussion on what it takes to design and test effective delivery mechanisms that align to local communities priorities and capacities to advance disaster resilience.

This session will bring variety of stakeholders together (grassroots organizations, regional  and national DRR institutions, national government, regional banks, research institutions, donors) to discuss demonstrated and ongoing initiatives that are shifting the status quo from current top-down approaches to a model where grassroots women and other local actors have greater power and resources to build their communities’ resilience.

Outcomes

1. Increase recognition of the role that local/grassroots organisations play in implementing SFDRR in partnership with government institutions
2. Provide evidence on how strengthening partnerships and local finance mechanisms is crucial for translating global and national DRR policies and commitments at the local level
3. Identify key recommendations for national governments, donors, financial institutions and multilateral organizations to strengthen mechanisms for delivering local implementation of the Sendai Framework