INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY/REFORM

CDERAThe Caribbean DisasterEmergency Response Agency

INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY/REFORM

Presentation by Mr Jeremy CollymoreCoordinator, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency for

“Reform of the State and Institutional Development: Building National and Regional Systems for Risk Mitigation and Disaster Prevention” WorkshopMarch 25 - 26, 2000 (New Orleans)



PRESENT APPROACHInterventions have generally occurred without the definition of overall policy framework



PRESENT APPROACHDetermined by event driven opportunities influenced by recovery and rehabilitation needs



PRESENT APPROACH Nature and Medium of support determined by donor interests and less on country priorities



NEW APPROACH To benefit from past and recent

experiences suggest the following:• Reflection on institutionalization and

implications for the nature and framing of policy

• Capacity for What?• Capacitation for Whom?



NEW APPROACH

Need strategic framework built on consultation and consensus building



PROCESS ELEMENTS: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

AND NETWORKING• Skills, technology, transfer,

education, training public information• Horizontal Cooperation• Technology Transfer



CURRENT STATUS• Event Driven• Mono Hazard• Response Focussed• Institutional (donors) programme

directed• Disconnected from development



REFORM FOCUSAddress above - Specifically• What is the policy framework/ environment-

society relationship– Committed to removing risks and fail only when

uncertainty is high– Vulnerability reduction. Who is vulnerable? How is

this generated?– Solution - Application of measuring/monitoring

technology structural management strategies



CARIBBEAN STRATEGY

• Define a policy framework for CDM

• Seek political endorsement for the policy process

• Incorporate into the agenda of critical institutions of the community



CARIBBEAN STRATEGIC• Engage major sector players - tourism,

agriculture, health, education and utilities• Develop a programming framework built on

consensus - strategic objectives, indicative results, intervention package

• Define stakeholders in the above• Sociological - human behaviour impact on

society functions



ASSUMPTIONS: MITIGATION• Most vulnerable societies are those

unable to reconstruct their livelihoods following a disaster. Become more vulnerable

• Changes in the frequencies of the event. Do not have to occur for vulnerability to increase



PAST CHANGE AGENTS1. 1979: Hurricanes David, Frederick &

Volcanic Eruption in St Vincent

- Establishment of PCDPPP

- Donor Cooperation

- Emergency Institutionalization of disaster management



PAST CHANGE AGENTS2. Hurricanes Gilbert (1988) and Hugo

(1989)- Establishment of CDERA- Inter-governmental cooperation- Enhanced national focal points- Inter-Agency Programming

Consultations



GOAL OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN THE CARIBBEAN

Establishment of mechanisms at regional and national levels that allow for the institutionalization of disaster management as a major decision factor in development planning



CHANGES NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE GOALS

• Policy Framework that promotes public service inter-sectoral and inter-ministerial consultations

• Community based programmes that are empowering



CHANGES NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE GOALS

• Self-reliance oriented programming• End-user directed public education and

training• Introduction and promotion of economic

preparedness planning



OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACCOMMODATING CHANGE

• Links with coastal zone management programmes

• Creating a niche in national sustainable development programmes



OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACCOMMODATING CHANGE

• Use of sustained development councils to promote idea of hazard resistant communities

• Establishment of programming partnerships with poverty reduction and alleviation programmes



• Rational decision-making can impose institutional restrictions thus improving stability.

• Also open to a number of manipulative strategies

Sayer 1999



• Institutions by definition are the more enduring features of social life

Giddens 1984



Institutionalism refers to the embedding of specific practices in a wider context of social relations that cut across the landscape of formal organizations and to the active processes by which individuals in social context constructs their way of thinking and acting

P.Huley P112

INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY/REFORM

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