This publication presents a list of 14 guidance instruments that aim at ensuring that disaster risk reduction (DRR) is treated as a component of development planning. It is meant to assist development organizations in elaborating and appraising development projects. The first guidance instrument emphasizes the necessity of acknowledging the harmful potential of hazards to development, and DRR’s ability to reduce the threat that such hazards may pose. The second focuses on the need to collect and disseminate information on natural hazards. The third note outlines various poverty reduction strategies. The fourth is related to country programming, recommending that international development organizations implement a framework that allows for the analysis of countries’ problems, needs, and interests. In the fifth tool, the publication discusses project cycle management, particularly the need to integrate DRR into the planning phases of individual projects. The sixth invites development organizations to systematically consider hazard-related issues in the preparation and implementation phases of development projects. The seventh guidance note is about environmental assessment. In the eight, the publication stresses the necessity of economic analysis in that it allows for disaster risk analysis, which, in turn, provides an opportunity for determining vulnerability reduction options. In the ninth, which is related to vulnerability and capacity analysis, the publication urges development organizations to examine projects from a social perspective. The tenth note considers sustainable livelihoods approaches. The eleventh instrument calls for social impact assessments of development projects. In the twelfth, the publication invites development organizations to pay close attention to construction design, building standards, and site selection. The thirteenth instrument stresses the need to evaluate DRR initiatives. The fourteenth and last guidance instrument is related to budget support. It emphasizes the necessity of supporting governments financially in their efforts to build resilience to hazards. Disasters are increasingly understood, not as unpredictable, unavoidable, or unfortunate accidents that societies are left only to react to when they occur, but as the result of unresolved problems within the development process that we can do something about prior to disaster. Development strategies should proactively seek to build resilience to hazards while pursuing economic growth and poverty reduction goals if sustainable development is to be achieved.
General Risk Reduction