Background

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) offers a major contribution tothe building of safer, resilient communities. Central to this isthe focus on communities and specifically communities thatare at risk from regular and new disaster impacts. We knowthat we have been implementing DRR for some years now,but with the world becoming increasingly unsafe, it is im-portant that we try to build on the foundations of previousendeavours and do more of what works and is effective. Wealso need to be more systematic in what we do as well as en-hancing what we are doing to ensure that the basic objectivesof safety and resilience are being addressed.

We are not necessarily concerned with a lot of new areas ofwork but rather with building on, enhancing and adaptingwhat National Societies have already been doing and will con-tinue to do in the future, looking for opportunities to makeDRR action more effective and relevant to both existing andnew disaster risks. Thus, the framework for community safetyand resilience is concerned with what contributions the RedCross Red Crescent can make in building community safetyand resilience through a focus on disaster risk and its reduc-tion. This framework has emerged from a widespread con-sultative process. At the National Society level, theframework was presented at five regional meetings for re-view and feedback. These regional meetings were held in Jo-hannesburg, Katmandu, Penang, Panama and Rabat andwere attended by over 70 National Societies.

Across the seven zones, a reference group was established toprovide ongoing feedback on the framework reflecting Na-tional Society concerns. At the secretariat level the frame-work has been consistently under the scrutiny of a GlobalAlliance on DRR advisory group set up from among disas-ter management staff, while the disaster preparedness andrisk reduction group of the Participating National Societieshas also been regularly consulted. Suggestions and recom-mendations from all these groups have been incorporatedinto the framework.

Our global commitment

National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have beenimplementing DRR for many years although it might nothave been characterized as such. The 1980s saw new direc-tions in programming with development-focused activitiesbeing implemented in Africa, Asia and Latin America, in-cluding community-based disaster preparedness.

This new approach later became enshrined in our globalcommitments. In 1999, a new disaster preparedness policyrecognized disaster preparedness as the link between emer-gency response, recovery and development.

In 2003, the 28th International Conference of the RedCross and Red Crescent adopted Final Goal 3.1 of itsAgenda for Humanitarian Action which acknowledges theimportance of DRR and undertakes measures to minimizethe impact of disasters on vulnerable populations.

Regional conferences in Algiers, Guayaquil and Singaporereinforced this focus. DRR is identified as a key action inachieving the goals of Strategy 2010, stating particularly thatwe should “scale up our actions with vulnerable communi-ties in health promotion, disease prevention and disaster riskreduction.”

The 30th International Conference in 2007 adopted thedeclaration “together for humanity” which stated the im-portance of ensuring that “environmental degradation andadaptation to climate change are integrated, where relevant,in disaster risk reduction and disaster management policiesand plans.”

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cres-cent Societies (International Federation) also supports andresolves to work towards achieving the priorities of theHyogo Framework for Action (HFA), adopted by the globalcommunity following the world conference on DRR held inKobe, Japan in January 2005 (see below).

In the face of disaster risk

A framework for community safetyand resilience

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent SocietiesDisaster policy and preparedness departmentP.O. Box 3721211 Geneva 19 - SwitzerlandE-mail: secretariat@ifrc.orgWeb site: www.ifrc.org

For further information, please contact:

Risk assessment and identification and theestablishment of community-based earlywarning and prediction

Risk assessment and analysis including VCACommunity empowerment for actionInformation management and dissemination for timelyresponse and for developing medium- to longer-termprogramming to anticipate future risksClimate change and new hazardsAdvocacy for community actionConstruction of databases to inform programmebaselinesDeveloping links with preparednessCapacity-building for early warning.

Community-based disaster preparednessBuilding from the priorities of the VCADeveloping preparedness at community andhousehold levelsBuilding community infrastructureContingency planningCommunity organization through branchesEstablishing branch disaster response teamsClimate change and new hazardsSkills trainingIdentification of target groups – schools, home,workplaceDeveloping partnerships with knowledge centresProgramming to link disaster preparedness withlonger-term disaster risk reduction.

Advocacy, education and awareness-raisingKnowledge and experience sharingAwareness-raising for community organizationsCapacity development for National Society staff andvolunteers and the communityClimate change and new hazardsFocus on schoolsDeveloping partnerships with knowledge centres.

Strong auxiliary relationships with local andnational governments

Support institution building – the inclusion of NationalSocieties in national policies and plansRepresentation of National Societies on nationalplatforms for DRRNational Societies as advocates for the identificationof community level delivery in national policies,strategies, plans and programmesPromotion of inclusive action at the local level withcommunities, National Societies, local governmentsand other stakeholders.

Partnerships with international, governmental,non-governmental and community-basedorganizations

The promotion of local platforms for DRRThe support of multi-stakeholder partnerships inprogrammes to promote community resilienceCapacity development at all levelsKnowledge-sharing at all levelsLeadership in all aspects of promoting the causeof community resilienceAdvocacy for the Global Agenda and links withthe HFA.

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Appendix 1: main areas of focus for the core components

Millenium Development Goals

Community safety and resilience

Global alliancefor disaster risk reduction

Other disaster risk reductionefforts/programmes

Hyogo Frameworkfor Action

Red Cross Red Crescent globalpolicies and strategies

Red Cross Red Crescent framework for community safety and resilience

Red Cross Red Crescent support to the Millenium DevelopmentGoals – Building community safety and resilience

Nep

alRe

dC

ross

Soci

ety

Community people busy in vulnerability mapping and disaster preparedness training.

148400-Framework-community-EN:Layout 1 11/21/08 1:01 PM Page 1

and volunteers of the National Societies themselves.4 A strong auxiliary relationship with localand national governments. One of the uniquepositions of the Red Cross Red Crescent is its auxil-iary relationship with governments. This relationshipis important in the context of ensuring increasinglythat government at all levels is focused on strengthen-ing community safety and resilience in the face of dis-aster risk and that this is reflected within national laws,policies, strategies and programmes. In particular, Na-tional Societies should be encouraging their govern-ments to develop and implement laws, policies andplans that promote DRR at the community level.

5 Partnerships with international, govern-mental, non-governmental and community-based organizations. It is important to recognizethat the building of community safety and resiliencein the face of disaster risk cannot be achieved by theRed Cross Red Crescent alone. We can certainlymake our contribution but the systematic and ongo-ing building of safety and resilience can only be builtupon strong working partnerships between all stake-holders – from the communities themselves, to localand national governments, governmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector.

A list of possible areas of focus for each of these five corecomponents is given in Appendix 1. These five core com-ponents, integrated across the programme areas of RedCross Red Crescent activity, help to identify our brand inDRR and support the building of community safety andresilience. They help us to focus on activity areas withinwhich we have the capacity and competence to deliver,which reflect our comparative advantages and which areconsistent with the priorities of the Global Agenda. Thefocus on these core components as a central part of ourwork in DRR recognizes the importance of our consider-able network of volunteers who will have a key role in thedelivery of DRR as a contribution to building communitysafety and resilience, coming as many of our volunteers dofrom the vulnerable communities themselves. In addition,the capacity development that is a key part of the processof increasing the scale and scope of our DRR activities musthave a heavy emphasis on building the capacity of branchesas a major element of organizational development.

To truly identify the Red Cross Red Crescent approach topromoting community safety and resilience, we shouldlook for National Societies that are implementing or sup-porting the core components integrated across their majorprogramme or thematic areas, particularly those that relateto addressing country or hazard-specific DRR. It is likely

that many National Societies will be involved with theseareas already; therefore, we should concentrate on scalingup and expanding or enhancing existing programmes. Thisdoes not preclude support to new areas of work, providedthat the National Society can demonstrate clearly the ca-pacity to undertake such activity. In each case, National So-cieties should be encouraged to ensure that their planningand programming is integrated, seeking the linkages be-tween the different core and country-specific componentsto promote common safety and resilience goals.

The tools in implementingprogrammes

Our National Societies already have many of the tools theyneed in implementing programmes to support communitysafety and resilience and DRR. However, they may not beoriented towards the achievement of community safety andresilience goals and there may be gaps that are identified aswe continue to scale-up DRR action.

To achieve community safety and resilience goals we willneed to ensure that our National Societies have:� The ability and capacity to identify strengths and weak-nesses with communities and to respond to community-driven priorities

� The ability to effectively use community knowledge andexperience

� More robust and DRR focused VCA processes (VCAneeds to provide input for assessing needs for effectiveDRR interventions)

� More exchanges of good practice and experience� Better understanding of key legal and policy issues inDRR to strengthen humanitarian and developmentadvocacy

� More developed skills in working with communities� Better linkages and partnerships with others� Better and more consistent technical support� Consistent training opportunities� Adequate financial and human resources to supportsustainability

� A greater capacity to deliver DRR� An active youth strategy� A strong working relationship with local and nationalgovernments.

There may be other characteristics that we should add par-ticularly in a regional or national context but these are offeredas a general set of characteristics that help to define commu-nity safety and resilience in many communities globally.

The key elementsof the frameworkThe framework for community safety and resilience in theface of disaster risk is constructed from a number of inter-related components. The essential end result, a safe and re-silient community, emerges as an outcome of theachievement of a number of interrelated developmentgoals. This is reinforced by increasingly reduced loss of life,livelihoods and assets following a disaster and the ability tobuild back stronger afterwards. Reduced loss of life, liveli-hoods and assets are enabled by a greater awareness of haz-ards and risks, a greater capacity for disaster response andthe establishment and maintenance of safe environments.The ability to build back stronger is enabled by having ac-cess to essential services, resolving the provision of basicneeds, particularly among the most vulnerable, and the cre-ation of an enabling environment. The elements that iden-tify the Red Cross Red Crescent contribution to DRR as akey action in building community safety and resilience areas follows:1 Risk-informed humanitarian response. Theprovision of relief and the satisfaction of immediateneeds following a disaster, as well as follow-on recov-ery activities aimed at getting communities back ontheir feet, are undertaken in a way that works towardsmeeting longer-term risk reduction objectives. It isunderstood that humanitarian response to disasterand recovery following a disaster is the absolute im-perative of National Societies. However, this is not anend in itself but a means to an end, with increasedsafety and resilience and decreased vulnerability as aconsequence, implying a diminishing need to re-spond to disasters in the future.

2 Country-specific mitigation, prevention andadaptation activities. National Societies will beworking with their own country-specific hazard pro-file and within their national socio-economic, envi-ronmental and political contexts, and withcommunities in both rural and urban situations.They will also be working within a mandate agreed toand supported by national governments and civil so-ciety generally. Support to community safety and re-silience will include mitigation, prevention andadaptation projects targeted towards the reduction ofrisks from specific hazards.

3 Sector-based programming to build acrossthe disaster management spectrum.NationalSocieties may have ongoing sector-based programmesin, for example, health and care, water and sanitationand shelter. These sectors are important elements ofeffective community-based DRR programmes. Withgood coordination these sector-based contributionsshould work towards DRR objectives and the build-ing of community safety and resilience. It is intendedthat each of the Red Cross Red Crescent sector-basedprogrammes will offer guidance in supporting pro-gramming from response through to DRR and thebuilding of community safety and resilience.

Core Red Cross Red Crescentcross-cutting componentsThese are considered to be components that are essentialto every National Society in addressing community safetyand resilience. We are conscious that there are aspects ofour work that we do well and that are consistent with ouroverall principles and values, goals and objectives. Weshould seek to encourage all National Societies that committhemselves to community safety and resilience to demon-strate their commitment through the implementation ofthese core components, related to their specific nationalcontext and hazard profile and integrated into all activitiesaimed at building community safety and resilience. Thecore components are:1 Risk assessment and identification and theestablishment of community-based earlywarning and prediction. Activities that maygrow from a vulnerability and capacity assessment(VCA) or from other assessment processes that mayhelp communities to identify the risks that they haveto face, building early warning for the short-term andpredictive capacity in the medium to long-term par-ticularly in the context of climate change.

2 Community-based disaster preparedness.Support activities aimed at building the capacities ofcommunities in enabling them to organize and ad-dress specific disaster risks.

3 Advocacy, education and awareness-rais-ing. Activities across the spectrum of Red Cross RedCrescent work that aim to build a greater conscious-ness of the risk factors faced by communities and theways in which these can be addressed within a rangeof different programmes. Advocacy, education andawareness-raising can be aimed at communities, localand national governments, other organizations at dif-ferent levels, the private sector and, of course, the staff

Objectives

This framework has the following principal goal:To establish a foundation on which all Red Cross RedCrescent programmes, projects and interventions inDRR and all actions which contribute to the build-ing of safe and resilient communities can be created,developed and sustained.

The use of this framework in programming for safety, re-silience and DRR assumes support to National Societiesthrough the following three strategic objectives:1 the integration of DRR into policies, planning andlonger-term programming

2 targeted disaster prevention, mitigation and pre-paredness activities and advocacy

3 the focused integration of DRR considerations intohumanitarian response and disaster recovery

Linking what we do to the HFAAll the actions we take in the implementation of DRR proj-ects and programmes will be linked to the five priorities ofthe HFA.This is important because the HFA is truly globaland has been endorsed by most governments, internationalagencies and non-governmental organizations. We are apart of this global network and it is important, therefore,for us to positively address the HFA priorities which are:1 To ensure that DRR is a local and national prioritywith a strong institutional basis for implementation.

2 To identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and en-hance early warning.

3 To use knowledge, innovation and education to builda culture of safety and resilience at all levels.

4 To reduce the underlying risk factors.5 To strengthen disaster preparedness for effective re-sponse at all levels.

However, the DRR actions that we take are to build saferand resilient communities. Incidentally, it is likely thatmost of what we do will be consistent with the HFApriorities.

The Global Alliance on DRRThe Global Alliance will be the principal instrument forincreasing our work in DRR over the coming five-year pe-riod. The Global Alliance will focus on specific target Na-tional Societies and will give them high profile support toachieve agreed DRR goals, implemented according to theframework outlined in this paper and thus contributing tobuilding community safety and resilience. The number of

involved National Societies is likely to grow during thecourse of programme implementation.

The Global Alliance, with its objectives emphasizing theimportance of implementation at the community level, canhelp us to promote our DRR, community safety and re-silience agendas and bring them to the attention of the in-ternational community at regional and global levels, thusmobilizing support to enable us to achieve a major pro-gramme outcome. The Global Alliance, as a mechanism forthe delivery of scaled-up DRR, will use the framework as itsplanning and programming guideline, along with all otherprogrammes supporting an increase in our DRR work.

Focusing on building community safety and re-silience in the face of disaster risk. In the Interna-tional Federation we are promoting a common consensusaround the building of safe and resilient communities. Thisconcept was identified as a key strategic direction at theglobal meeting on DRR held in Costa Rica in November2006 and reinforced as the central objective of the GlobalAlliance on DRR. It helps us to focus on households andcommunities and assists us in talking directly to the objec-tives of the Global Agenda.

Safe and resilient communities can be identified ashaving the following key characteristics:� They understand the disaster risks that they face, theycan assess and monitor these risks and can protect andmake themselves safe to minimize losses and damagewhen a disaster strikes.

� They are able to do much for themselves and can sustaintheir basic community functions and structures despitethe impact of disasters.

� They can build back after a disaster and work towardsensuring that vulnerabilities continue to be reduced forthe future. More safety and resilience means lessvulnerability.

� They understand that building safety and resilience is along-term, continuous process that requires ongoingcommitment. In the face of such unknown factors as theeffects of climate change, or the degree of urban growthor environmental degradation, they understand thatthere is much that can be done to adapt to futureproblems and challenges by building on their currentknowledge.

� They appreciate the fact that being safe and disasterresilient means that there is a greater chance of meetingdevelopment goals which, in themselves, will greatly addto safety and resilience.

A framework for community safety and resilience – In the face of disaster riskInternational Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

148400-Framework-community-EN:Layout 1 11/21/08 1:01 PM Page 4

and volunteers of the National Societies themselves.4 A strong auxiliary relationship with localand national governments. One of the uniquepositions of the Red Cross Red Crescent is its auxil-iary relationship with governments. This relationshipis important in the context of ensuring increasinglythat government at all levels is focused on strengthen-ing community safety and resilience in the face of dis-aster risk and that this is reflected within national laws,policies, strategies and programmes. In particular, Na-tional Societies should be encouraging their govern-ments to develop and implement laws, policies andplans that promote DRR at the community level.

5 Partnerships with international, govern-mental, non-governmental and community-based organizations. It is important to recognizethat the building of community safety and resiliencein the face of disaster risk cannot be achieved by theRed Cross Red Crescent alone. We can certainlymake our contribution but the systematic and ongo-ing building of safety and resilience can only be builtupon strong working partnerships between all stake-holders – from the communities themselves, to localand national governments, governmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector.

A list of possible areas of focus for each of these five corecomponents is given in Appendix 1. These five core com-ponents, integrated across the programme areas of RedCross Red Crescent activity, help to identify our brand inDRR and support the building of community safety andresilience. They help us to focus on activity areas withinwhich we have the capacity and competence to deliver,which reflect our comparative advantages and which areconsistent with the priorities of the Global Agenda. Thefocus on these core components as a central part of ourwork in DRR recognizes the importance of our consider-able network of volunteers who will have a key role in thedelivery of DRR as a contribution to building communitysafety and resilience, coming as many of our volunteers dofrom the vulnerable communities themselves. In addition,the capacity development that is a key part of the processof increasing the scale and scope of our DRR activities musthave a heavy emphasis on building the capacity of branchesas a major element of organizational development.

To truly identify the Red Cross Red Crescent approach topromoting community safety and resilience, we shouldlook for National Societies that are implementing or sup-porting the core components integrated across their majorprogramme or thematic areas, particularly those that relateto addressing country or hazard-specific DRR. It is likely

that many National Societies will be involved with theseareas already; therefore, we should concentrate on scalingup and expanding or enhancing existing programmes. Thisdoes not preclude support to new areas of work, providedthat the National Society can demonstrate clearly the ca-pacity to undertake such activity. In each case, National So-cieties should be encouraged to ensure that their planningand programming is integrated, seeking the linkages be-tween the different core and country-specific componentsto promote common safety and resilience goals.

The tools in implementingprogrammes

Our National Societies already have many of the tools theyneed in implementing programmes to support communitysafety and resilience and DRR. However, they may not beoriented towards the achievement of community safety andresilience goals and there may be gaps that are identified aswe continue to scale-up DRR action.

To achieve community safety and resilience goals we willneed to ensure that our National Societies have:� The ability and capacity to identify strengths and weak-nesses with communities and to respond to community-driven priorities

� The ability to effectively use community knowledge andexperience

� More robust and DRR focused VCA processes (VCAneeds to provide input for assessing needs for effectiveDRR interventions)

� More exchanges of good practice and experience� Better understanding of key legal and policy issues inDRR to strengthen humanitarian and developmentadvocacy

� More developed skills in working with communities� Better linkages and partnerships with others� Better and more consistent technical support� Consistent training opportunities� Adequate financial and human resources to supportsustainability

� A greater capacity to deliver DRR� An active youth strategy� A strong working relationship with local and nationalgovernments.

There may be other characteristics that we should add par-ticularly in a regional or national context but these are offeredas a general set of characteristics that help to define commu-nity safety and resilience in many communities globally.

The key elementsof the frameworkThe framework for community safety and resilience in theface of disaster risk is constructed from a number of inter-related components. The essential end result, a safe and re-silient community, emerges as an outcome of theachievement of a number of interrelated developmentgoals. This is reinforced by increasingly reduced loss of life,livelihoods and assets following a disaster and the ability tobuild back stronger afterwards. Reduced loss of life, liveli-hoods and assets are enabled by a greater awareness of haz-ards and risks, a greater capacity for disaster response andthe establishment and maintenance of safe environments.The ability to build back stronger is enabled by having ac-cess to essential services, resolving the provision of basicneeds, particularly among the most vulnerable, and the cre-ation of an enabling environment. The elements that iden-tify the Red Cross Red Crescent contribution to DRR as akey action in building community safety and resilience areas follows:1 Risk-informed humanitarian response. Theprovision of relief and the satisfaction of immediateneeds following a disaster, as well as follow-on recov-ery activities aimed at getting communities back ontheir feet, are undertaken in a way that works towardsmeeting longer-term risk reduction objectives. It isunderstood that humanitarian response to disasterand recovery following a disaster is the absolute im-perative of National Societies. However, this is not anend in itself but a means to an end, with increasedsafety and resilience and decreased vulnerability as aconsequence, implying a diminishing need to re-spond to disasters in the future.

2 Country-specific mitigation, prevention andadaptation activities. National Societies will beworking with their own country-specific hazard pro-file and within their national socio-economic, envi-ronmental and political contexts, and withcommunities in both rural and urban situations.They will also be working within a mandate agreed toand supported by national governments and civil so-ciety generally. Support to community safety and re-silience will include mitigation, prevention andadaptation projects targeted towards the reduction ofrisks from specific hazards.

3 Sector-based programming to build acrossthe disaster management spectrum.NationalSocieties may have ongoing sector-based programmesin, for example, health and care, water and sanitationand shelter. These sectors are important elements ofeffective community-based DRR programmes. Withgood coordination these sector-based contributionsshould work towards DRR objectives and the build-ing of community safety and resilience. It is intendedthat each of the Red Cross Red Crescent sector-basedprogrammes will offer guidance in supporting pro-gramming from response through to DRR and thebuilding of community safety and resilience.

Core Red Cross Red Crescentcross-cutting componentsThese are considered to be components that are essentialto every National Society in addressing community safetyand resilience. We are conscious that there are aspects ofour work that we do well and that are consistent with ouroverall principles and values, goals and objectives. Weshould seek to encourage all National Societies that committhemselves to community safety and resilience to demon-strate their commitment through the implementation ofthese core components, related to their specific nationalcontext and hazard profile and integrated into all activitiesaimed at building community safety and resilience. Thecore components are:1 Risk assessment and identification and theestablishment of community-based earlywarning and prediction. Activities that maygrow from a vulnerability and capacity assessment(VCA) or from other assessment processes that mayhelp communities to identify the risks that they haveto face, building early warning for the short-term andpredictive capacity in the medium to long-term par-ticularly in the context of climate change.

2 Community-based disaster preparedness.Support activities aimed at building the capacities ofcommunities in enabling them to organize and ad-dress specific disaster risks.

3 Advocacy, education and awareness-rais-ing. Activities across the spectrum of Red Cross RedCrescent work that aim to build a greater conscious-ness of the risk factors faced by communities and theways in which these can be addressed within a rangeof different programmes. Advocacy, education andawareness-raising can be aimed at communities, localand national governments, other organizations at dif-ferent levels, the private sector and, of course, the staff

Objectives

This framework has the following principal goal:To establish a foundation on which all Red Cross RedCrescent programmes, projects and interventions inDRR and all actions which contribute to the build-ing of safe and resilient communities can be created,developed and sustained.

The use of this framework in programming for safety, re-silience and DRR assumes support to National Societiesthrough the following three strategic objectives:1 the integration of DRR into policies, planning andlonger-term programming

2 targeted disaster prevention, mitigation and pre-paredness activities and advocacy

3 the focused integration of DRR considerations intohumanitarian response and disaster recovery

Linking what we do to the HFAAll the actions we take in the implementation of DRR proj-ects and programmes will be linked to the five priorities ofthe HFA.This is important because the HFA is truly globaland has been endorsed by most governments, internationalagencies and non-governmental organizations. We are apart of this global network and it is important, therefore,for us to positively address the HFA priorities which are:1 To ensure that DRR is a local and national prioritywith a strong institutional basis for implementation.

2 To identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and en-hance early warning.

3 To use knowledge, innovation and education to builda culture of safety and resilience at all levels.

4 To reduce the underlying risk factors.5 To strengthen disaster preparedness for effective re-sponse at all levels.

However, the DRR actions that we take are to build saferand resilient communities. Incidentally, it is likely thatmost of what we do will be consistent with the HFApriorities.

The Global Alliance on DRRThe Global Alliance will be the principal instrument forincreasing our work in DRR over the coming five-year pe-riod. The Global Alliance will focus on specific target Na-tional Societies and will give them high profile support toachieve agreed DRR goals, implemented according to theframework outlined in this paper and thus contributing tobuilding community safety and resilience. The number of

involved National Societies is likely to grow during thecourse of programme implementation.

The Global Alliance, with its objectives emphasizing theimportance of implementation at the community level, canhelp us to promote our DRR, community safety and re-silience agendas and bring them to the attention of the in-ternational community at regional and global levels, thusmobilizing support to enable us to achieve a major pro-gramme outcome. The Global Alliance, as a mechanism forthe delivery of scaled-up DRR, will use the framework as itsplanning and programming guideline, along with all otherprogrammes supporting an increase in our DRR work.

Focusing on building community safety and re-silience in the face of disaster risk. In the Interna-tional Federation we are promoting a common consensusaround the building of safe and resilient communities. Thisconcept was identified as a key strategic direction at theglobal meeting on DRR held in Costa Rica in November2006 and reinforced as the central objective of the GlobalAlliance on DRR. It helps us to focus on households andcommunities and assists us in talking directly to the objec-tives of the Global Agenda.

Safe and resilient communities can be identified ashaving the following key characteristics:� They understand the disaster risks that they face, theycan assess and monitor these risks and can protect andmake themselves safe to minimize losses and damagewhen a disaster strikes.

� They are able to do much for themselves and can sustaintheir basic community functions and structures despitethe impact of disasters.

� They can build back after a disaster and work towardsensuring that vulnerabilities continue to be reduced forthe future. More safety and resilience means lessvulnerability.

� They understand that building safety and resilience is along-term, continuous process that requires ongoingcommitment. In the face of such unknown factors as theeffects of climate change, or the degree of urban growthor environmental degradation, they understand thatthere is much that can be done to adapt to futureproblems and challenges by building on their currentknowledge.

� They appreciate the fact that being safe and disasterresilient means that there is a greater chance of meetingdevelopment goals which, in themselves, will greatly addto safety and resilience.

A framework for community safety and resilience – In the face of disaster riskInternational Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

148400-Framework-community-EN:Layout 1 11/21/08 1:01 PM Page 4

and volunteers of the National Societies themselves.4 A strong auxiliary relationship with localand national governments. One of the uniquepositions of the Red Cross Red Crescent is its auxil-iary relationship with governments. This relationshipis important in the context of ensuring increasinglythat government at all levels is focused on strengthen-ing community safety and resilience in the face of dis-aster risk and that this is reflected within national laws,policies, strategies and programmes. In particular, Na-tional Societies should be encouraging their govern-ments to develop and implement laws, policies andplans that promote DRR at the community level.

5 Partnerships with international, govern-mental, non-governmental and community-based organizations. It is important to recognizethat the building of community safety and resiliencein the face of disaster risk cannot be achieved by theRed Cross Red Crescent alone. We can certainlymake our contribution but the systematic and ongo-ing building of safety and resilience can only be builtupon strong working partnerships between all stake-holders – from the communities themselves, to localand national governments, governmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector.

A list of possible areas of focus for each of these five corecomponents is given in Appendix 1. These five core com-ponents, integrated across the programme areas of RedCross Red Crescent activity, help to identify our brand inDRR and support the building of community safety andresilience. They help us to focus on activity areas withinwhich we have the capacity and competence to deliver,which reflect our comparative advantages and which areconsistent with the priorities of the Global Agenda. Thefocus on these core components as a central part of ourwork in DRR recognizes the importance of our consider-able network of volunteers who will have a key role in thedelivery of DRR as a contribution to building communitysafety and resilience, coming as many of our volunteers dofrom the vulnerable communities themselves. In addition,the capacity development that is a key part of the processof increasing the scale and scope of our DRR activities musthave a heavy emphasis on building the capacity of branchesas a major element of organizational development.

To truly identify the Red Cross Red Crescent approach topromoting community safety and resilience, we shouldlook for National Societies that are implementing or sup-porting the core components integrated across their majorprogramme or thematic areas, particularly those that relateto addressing country or hazard-specific DRR. It is likely

that many National Societies will be involved with theseareas already; therefore, we should concentrate on scalingup and expanding or enhancing existing programmes. Thisdoes not preclude support to new areas of work, providedthat the National Society can demonstrate clearly the ca-pacity to undertake such activity. In each case, National So-cieties should be encouraged to ensure that their planningand programming is integrated, seeking the linkages be-tween the different core and country-specific componentsto promote common safety and resilience goals.

The tools in implementingprogrammes

Our National Societies already have many of the tools theyneed in implementing programmes to support communitysafety and resilience and DRR. However, they may not beoriented towards the achievement of community safety andresilience goals and there may be gaps that are identified aswe continue to scale-up DRR action.

To achieve community safety and resilience goals we willneed to ensure that our National Societies have:� The ability and capacity to identify strengths and weak-nesses with communities and to respond to community-driven priorities

� The ability to effectively use community knowledge andexperience

� More robust and DRR focused VCA processes (VCAneeds to provide input for assessing needs for effectiveDRR interventions)

� More exchanges of good practice and experience� Better understanding of key legal and policy issues inDRR to strengthen humanitarian and developmentadvocacy

� More developed skills in working with communities� Better linkages and partnerships with others� Better and more consistent technical support� Consistent training opportunities� Adequate financial and human resources to supportsustainability

� A greater capacity to deliver DRR� An active youth strategy� A strong working relationship with local and nationalgovernments.

There may be other characteristics that we should add par-ticularly in a regional or national context but these are offeredas a general set of characteristics that help to define commu-nity safety and resilience in many communities globally.

The key elementsof the frameworkThe framework for community safety and resilience in theface of disaster risk is constructed from a number of inter-related components. The essential end result, a safe and re-silient community, emerges as an outcome of theachievement of a number of interrelated developmentgoals. This is reinforced by increasingly reduced loss of life,livelihoods and assets following a disaster and the ability tobuild back stronger afterwards. Reduced loss of life, liveli-hoods and assets are enabled by a greater awareness of haz-ards and risks, a greater capacity for disaster response andthe establishment and maintenance of safe environments.The ability to build back stronger is enabled by having ac-cess to essential services, resolving the provision of basicneeds, particularly among the most vulnerable, and the cre-ation of an enabling environment. The elements that iden-tify the Red Cross Red Crescent contribution to DRR as akey action in building community safety and resilience areas follows:1 Risk-informed humanitarian response. Theprovision of relief and the satisfaction of immediateneeds following a disaster, as well as follow-on recov-ery activities aimed at getting communities back ontheir feet, are undertaken in a way that works towardsmeeting longer-term risk reduction objectives. It isunderstood that humanitarian response to disasterand recovery following a disaster is the absolute im-perative of National Societies. However, this is not anend in itself but a means to an end, with increasedsafety and resilience and decreased vulnerability as aconsequence, implying a diminishing need to re-spond to disasters in the future.

2 Country-specific mitigation, prevention andadaptation activities. National Societies will beworking with their own country-specific hazard pro-file and within their national socio-economic, envi-ronmental and political contexts, and withcommunities in both rural and urban situations.They will also be working within a mandate agreed toand supported by national governments and civil so-ciety generally. Support to community safety and re-silience will include mitigation, prevention andadaptation projects targeted towards the reduction ofrisks from specific hazards.

3 Sector-based programming to build acrossthe disaster management spectrum.NationalSocieties may have ongoing sector-based programmesin, for example, health and care, water and sanitationand shelter. These sectors are important elements ofeffective community-based DRR programmes. Withgood coordination these sector-based contributionsshould work towards DRR objectives and the build-ing of community safety and resilience. It is intendedthat each of the Red Cross Red Crescent sector-basedprogrammes will offer guidance in supporting pro-gramming from response through to DRR and thebuilding of community safety and resilience.

Core Red Cross Red Crescentcross-cutting componentsThese are considered to be components that are essentialto every National Society in addressing community safetyand resilience. We are conscious that there are aspects ofour work that we do well and that are consistent with ouroverall principles and values, goals and objectives. Weshould seek to encourage all National Societies that committhemselves to community safety and resilience to demon-strate their commitment through the implementation ofthese core components, related to their specific nationalcontext and hazard profile and integrated into all activitiesaimed at building community safety and resilience. Thecore components are:1 Risk assessment and identification and theestablishment of community-based earlywarning and prediction. Activities that maygrow from a vulnerability and capacity assessment(VCA) or from other assessment processes that mayhelp communities to identify the risks that they haveto face, building early warning for the short-term andpredictive capacity in the medium to long-term par-ticularly in the context of climate change.

2 Community-based disaster preparedness.Support activities aimed at building the capacities ofcommunities in enabling them to organize and ad-dress specific disaster risks.

3 Advocacy, education and awareness-rais-ing. Activities across the spectrum of Red Cross RedCrescent work that aim to build a greater conscious-ness of the risk factors faced by communities and theways in which these can be addressed within a rangeof different programmes. Advocacy, education andawareness-raising can be aimed at communities, localand national governments, other organizations at dif-ferent levels, the private sector and, of course, the staff

Objectives

This framework has the following principal goal:To establish a foundation on which all Red Cross RedCrescent programmes, projects and interventions inDRR and all actions which contribute to the build-ing of safe and resilient communities can be created,developed and sustained.

The use of this framework in programming for safety, re-silience and DRR assumes support to National Societiesthrough the following three strategic objectives:1 the integration of DRR into policies, planning andlonger-term programming

2 targeted disaster prevention, mitigation and pre-paredness activities and advocacy

3 the focused integration of DRR considerations intohumanitarian response and disaster recovery

Linking what we do to the HFAAll the actions we take in the implementation of DRR proj-ects and programmes will be linked to the five priorities ofthe HFA.This is important because the HFA is truly globaland has been endorsed by most governments, internationalagencies and non-governmental organizations. We are apart of this global network and it is important, therefore,for us to positively address the HFA priorities which are:1 To ensure that DRR is a local and national prioritywith a strong institutional basis for implementation.

2 To identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and en-hance early warning.

3 To use knowledge, innovation and education to builda culture of safety and resilience at all levels.

4 To reduce the underlying risk factors.5 To strengthen disaster preparedness for effective re-sponse at all levels.

However, the DRR actions that we take are to build saferand resilient communities. Incidentally, it is likely thatmost of what we do will be consistent with the HFApriorities.

The Global Alliance on DRRThe Global Alliance will be the principal instrument forincreasing our work in DRR over the coming five-year pe-riod. The Global Alliance will focus on specific target Na-tional Societies and will give them high profile support toachieve agreed DRR goals, implemented according to theframework outlined in this paper and thus contributing tobuilding community safety and resilience. The number of

involved National Societies is likely to grow during thecourse of programme implementation.

The Global Alliance, with its objectives emphasizing theimportance of implementation at the community level, canhelp us to promote our DRR, community safety and re-silience agendas and bring them to the attention of the in-ternational community at regional and global levels, thusmobilizing support to enable us to achieve a major pro-gramme outcome. The Global Alliance, as a mechanism forthe delivery of scaled-up DRR, will use the framework as itsplanning and programming guideline, along with all otherprogrammes supporting an increase in our DRR work.

Focusing on building community safety and re-silience in the face of disaster risk. In the Interna-tional Federation we are promoting a common consensusaround the building of safe and resilient communities. Thisconcept was identified as a key strategic direction at theglobal meeting on DRR held in Costa Rica in November2006 and reinforced as the central objective of the GlobalAlliance on DRR. It helps us to focus on households andcommunities and assists us in talking directly to the objec-tives of the Global Agenda.

Safe and resilient communities can be identified ashaving the following key characteristics:� They understand the disaster risks that they face, theycan assess and monitor these risks and can protect andmake themselves safe to minimize losses and damagewhen a disaster strikes.

� They are able to do much for themselves and can sustaintheir basic community functions and structures despitethe impact of disasters.

� They can build back after a disaster and work towardsensuring that vulnerabilities continue to be reduced forthe future. More safety and resilience means lessvulnerability.

� They understand that building safety and resilience is along-term, continuous process that requires ongoingcommitment. In the face of such unknown factors as theeffects of climate change, or the degree of urban growthor environmental degradation, they understand thatthere is much that can be done to adapt to futureproblems and challenges by building on their currentknowledge.

� They appreciate the fact that being safe and disasterresilient means that there is a greater chance of meetingdevelopment goals which, in themselves, will greatly addto safety and resilience.

A framework for community safety and resilience – In the face of disaster riskInternational Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

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Background

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) offers a major contribution tothe building of safer, resilient communities. Central to this isthe focus on communities and specifically communities thatare at risk from regular and new disaster impacts. We knowthat we have been implementing DRR for some years now,but with the world becoming increasingly unsafe, it is im-portant that we try to build on the foundations of previousendeavours and do more of what works and is effective. Wealso need to be more systematic in what we do as well as en-hancing what we are doing to ensure that the basic objectivesof safety and resilience are being addressed.

We are not necessarily concerned with a lot of new areas ofwork but rather with building on, enhancing and adaptingwhat National Societies have already been doing and will con-tinue to do in the future, looking for opportunities to makeDRR action more effective and relevant to both existing andnew disaster risks. Thus, the framework for community safetyand resilience is concerned with what contributions the RedCross Red Crescent can make in building community safetyand resilience through a focus on disaster risk and its reduc-tion. This framework has emerged from a widespread con-sultative process. At the National Society level, theframework was presented at five regional meetings for re-view and feedback. These regional meetings were held in Jo-hannesburg, Katmandu, Penang, Panama and Rabat andwere attended by over 70 National Societies.

Across the seven zones, a reference group was established toprovide ongoing feedback on the framework reflecting Na-tional Society concerns. At the secretariat level the frame-work has been consistently under the scrutiny of a GlobalAlliance on DRR advisory group set up from among disas-ter management staff, while the disaster preparedness andrisk reduction group of the Participating National Societieshas also been regularly consulted. Suggestions and recom-mendations from all these groups have been incorporatedinto the framework.

Our global commitment

National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have beenimplementing DRR for many years although it might nothave been characterized as such. The 1980s saw new direc-tions in programming with development-focused activitiesbeing implemented in Africa, Asia and Latin America, in-cluding community-based disaster preparedness.

This new approach later became enshrined in our globalcommitments. In 1999, a new disaster preparedness policyrecognized disaster preparedness as the link between emer-gency response, recovery and development.

In 2003, the 28th International Conference of the RedCross and Red Crescent adopted Final Goal 3.1 of itsAgenda for Humanitarian Action which acknowledges theimportance of DRR and undertakes measures to minimizethe impact of disasters on vulnerable populations.

Regional conferences in Algiers, Guayaquil and Singaporereinforced this focus. DRR is identified as a key action inachieving the goals of Strategy 2010, stating particularly thatwe should “scale up our actions with vulnerable communi-ties in health promotion, disease prevention and disaster riskreduction.”

The 30th International Conference in 2007 adopted thedeclaration “together for humanity” which stated the im-portance of ensuring that “environmental degradation andadaptation to climate change are integrated, where relevant,in disaster risk reduction and disaster management policiesand plans.”

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cres-cent Societies (International Federation) also supports andresolves to work towards achieving the priorities of theHyogo Framework for Action (HFA), adopted by the globalcommunity following the world conference on DRR held inKobe, Japan in January 2005 (see below).

In the face of disaster risk

A framework for community safetyand resilience

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent SocietiesDisaster policy and preparedness departmentP.O. Box 3721211 Geneva 19 - SwitzerlandE-mail: secretariat@ifrc.orgWeb site: www.ifrc.org

For further information, please contact:

Risk assessment and identification and theestablishment of community-based earlywarning and prediction

Risk assessment and analysis including VCACommunity empowerment for actionInformation management and dissemination for timelyresponse and for developing medium- to longer-termprogramming to anticipate future risksClimate change and new hazardsAdvocacy for community actionConstruction of databases to inform programmebaselinesDeveloping links with preparednessCapacity-building for early warning.

Community-based disaster preparednessBuilding from the priorities of the VCADeveloping preparedness at community andhousehold levelsBuilding community infrastructureContingency planningCommunity organization through branchesEstablishing branch disaster response teamsClimate change and new hazardsSkills trainingIdentification of target groups – schools, home,workplaceDeveloping partnerships with knowledge centresProgramming to link disaster preparedness withlonger-term disaster risk reduction.

Advocacy, education and awareness-raisingKnowledge and experience sharingAwareness-raising for community organizationsCapacity development for National Society staff andvolunteers and the communityClimate change and new hazardsFocus on schoolsDeveloping partnerships with knowledge centres.

Strong auxiliary relationships with local andnational governments

Support institution building – the inclusion of NationalSocieties in national policies and plansRepresentation of National Societies on nationalplatforms for DRRNational Societies as advocates for the identificationof community level delivery in national policies,strategies, plans and programmesPromotion of inclusive action at the local level withcommunities, National Societies, local governmentsand other stakeholders.

Partnerships with international, governmental,non-governmental and community-basedorganizations

The promotion of local platforms for DRRThe support of multi-stakeholder partnerships inprogrammes to promote community resilienceCapacity development at all levelsKnowledge-sharing at all levelsLeadership in all aspects of promoting the causeof community resilienceAdvocacy for the Global Agenda and links withthe HFA.

1484

0011

/200

8E1,00

0

Appendix 1: main areas of focus for the core components

Millenium Development Goals

Community safety and resilience

Global alliancefor disaster risk reduction

Other disaster risk reductionefforts/programmes

Hyogo Frameworkfor Action

Red Cross Red Crescent globalpolicies and strategies

Red Cross Red Crescent framework for community safety and resilience

Red Cross Red Crescent support to the Millenium DevelopmentGoals – Building community safety and resilience

Nep

alRe

dC

ross

Soci

ety

Community people busy in vulnerability mapping and disaster preparedness training.

148400-Framework-community-EN:Layout 1 11/21/08 1:01 PM Page 1

Background

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) offers a major contribution tothe building of safer, resilient communities. Central to this isthe focus on communities and specifically communities thatare at risk from regular and new disaster impacts. We knowthat we have been implementing DRR for some years now,but with the world becoming increasingly unsafe, it is im-portant that we try to build on the foundations of previousendeavours and do more of what works and is effective. Wealso need to be more systematic in what we do as well as en-hancing what we are doing to ensure that the basic objectivesof safety and resilience are being addressed.

We are not necessarily concerned with a lot of new areas ofwork but rather with building on, enhancing and adaptingwhat National Societies have already been doing and will con-tinue to do in the future, looking for opportunities to makeDRR action more effective and relevant to both existing andnew disaster risks. Thus, the framework for community safetyand resilience is concerned with what contributions the RedCross Red Crescent can make in building community safetyand resilience through a focus on disaster risk and its reduc-tion. This framework has emerged from a widespread con-sultative process. At the National Society level, theframework was presented at five regional meetings for re-view and feedback. These regional meetings were held in Jo-hannesburg, Katmandu, Penang, Panama and Rabat andwere attended by over 70 National Societies.

Across the seven zones, a reference group was established toprovide ongoing feedback on the framework reflecting Na-tional Society concerns. At the secretariat level the frame-work has been consistently under the scrutiny of a GlobalAlliance on DRR advisory group set up from among disas-ter management staff, while the disaster preparedness andrisk reduction group of the Participating National Societieshas also been regularly consulted. Suggestions and recom-mendations from all these groups have been incorporatedinto the framework.

Our global commitment

National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have beenimplementing DRR for many years although it might nothave been characterized as such. The 1980s saw new direc-tions in programming with development-focused activitiesbeing implemented in Africa, Asia and Latin America, in-cluding community-based disaster preparedness.

This new approach later became enshrined in our globalcommitments. In 1999, a new disaster preparedness policyrecognized disaster preparedness as the link between emer-gency response, recovery and development.

In 2003, the 28th International Conference of the RedCross and Red Crescent adopted Final Goal 3.1 of itsAgenda for Humanitarian Action which acknowledges theimportance of DRR and undertakes measures to minimizethe impact of disasters on vulnerable populations.

Regional conferences in Algiers, Guayaquil and Singaporereinforced this focus. DRR is identified as a key action inachieving the goals of Strategy 2010, stating particularly thatwe should “scale up our actions with vulnerable communi-ties in health promotion, disease prevention and disaster riskreduction.”

The 30th International Conference in 2007 adopted thedeclaration “together for humanity” which stated the im-portance of ensuring that “environmental degradation andadaptation to climate change are integrated, where relevant,in disaster risk reduction and disaster management policiesand plans.”

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cres-cent Societies (International Federation) also supports andresolves to work towards achieving the priorities of theHyogo Framework for Action (HFA), adopted by the globalcommunity following the world conference on DRR held inKobe, Japan in January 2005 (see below).

In the face of disaster risk

A framework for community safetyand resilience

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent SocietiesDisaster policy and preparedness departmentP.O. Box 3721211 Geneva 19 - SwitzerlandE-mail: secretariat@ifrc.orgWeb site: www.ifrc.org

For further information, please contact:

Risk assessment and identification and theestablishment of community-based earlywarning and prediction

Risk assessment and analysis including VCACommunity empowerment for actionInformation management and dissemination for timelyresponse and for developing medium- to longer-termprogramming to anticipate future risksClimate change and new hazardsAdvocacy for community actionConstruction of databases to inform programmebaselinesDeveloping links with preparednessCapacity-building for early warning.

Community-based disaster preparednessBuilding from the priorities of the VCADeveloping preparedness at community andhousehold levelsBuilding community infrastructureContingency planningCommunity organization through branchesEstablishing branch disaster response teamsClimate change and new hazardsSkills trainingIdentification of target groups – schools, home,workplaceDeveloping partnerships with knowledge centresProgramming to link disaster preparedness withlonger-term disaster risk reduction.

Advocacy, education and awareness-raisingKnowledge and experience sharingAwareness-raising for community organizationsCapacity development for National Society staff andvolunteers and the communityClimate change and new hazardsFocus on schoolsDeveloping partnerships with knowledge centres.

Strong auxiliary relationships with local andnational governments

Support institution building – the inclusion of NationalSocieties in national policies and plansRepresentation of National Societies on nationalplatforms for DRRNational Societies as advocates for the identificationof community level delivery in national policies,strategies, plans and programmesPromotion of inclusive action at the local level withcommunities, National Societies, local governmentsand other stakeholders.

Partnerships with international, governmental,non-governmental and community-basedorganizations

The promotion of local platforms for DRRThe support of multi-stakeholder partnerships inprogrammes to promote community resilienceCapacity development at all levelsKnowledge-sharing at all levelsLeadership in all aspects of promoting the causeof community resilienceAdvocacy for the Global Agenda and links withthe HFA.

1484

0011

/200

8E1,00

0

Appendix 1: main areas of focus for the core components

Millenium Development Goals

Community safety and resilience

Global alliancefor disaster risk reduction

Other disaster risk reductionefforts/programmes

Hyogo Frameworkfor Action

Red Cross Red Crescent globalpolicies and strategies

Red Cross Red Crescent framework for community safety and resilience

Red Cross Red Crescent support to the Millenium DevelopmentGoals – Building community safety and resilience

Nep

alRe

dC

ross

Soci

ety

Community people busy in vulnerability mapping and disaster preparedness training.

148400-Framework-community-EN:Layout 1 11/21/08 1:01 PM Page 1