TRANSPARENCY

INTERNATIONAL
KENYA

BRIGHT CONSORTIUM

Technical Lessons in
Implementing Community
Managed Disaster Risk
Reduction (CMDRR) in
Northern Kenya
A Technical Brief by the Bright Consortium Partners
 Bright Consortium
1.0 Introduction
Arid and Semi-arid counties in Kenya suffer from several
natural and man-made disasters such as intermittent
droughts, epidemics, conflicts and flash floods. Of all these
events, drought is the most extensive with damaging impacts
on both lives and livelihoods. Due to its increasing frequency,
severity and spatial coverage, most communities in Northern
Kenya have their coping capacities eroded, warranting
external assistance to anticipate and respond to the disaster.
In an effort to alleviate susceptibility to disaster such as
drought, limited and time bound resources are quickly pulled
together by humanitarian agencies that often complement
government interventions for risk management. However,
there is succinct disconnect in the development planning
and disaster risk management by both national and county
governments at the national, regional and local decision-
making levels, thus hindering collated and coordinated
risk aversion. This necessitated a paradigm shift to a more
proactive, participatory and multi-sectoral approach in
community drought risk reduction with an aim of enhancing
community capacities to anticipate respond to and recover
from disasters.
ECHO DG has consistently supported disaster risk
management in ASAL Counties over the last six years. In
2016, it funded a consortium of five international Non-
governmental organizations led by VSF-Germany to
implement Strengthening Preparedness and Response
Capacities in Northern Kenya (SPERC-NK), a one year
project building on the gains made in previous phases.
A key methodology that made this possible was the
institutionalization of Community Managed Disaster Risk
Reduction (CMDRR) in five counties including Marsabit,
Isiolo, Mandera, Samburu and Turkana in line with the
countrys Ending Drought Emergencies (EDE) strategies,
where communities actively develop and strengthen
institutions and mechanisms that build on adaptive and
transformative capacities.
This technical brief explains how the Building Resilience
with Innovation, Gender sensitiveness, Humanity
and Transparency (BRIGHT) Consortium effectively
implemented this approaches in such a dynamic context,
with the objective of sharing key lessons learnt
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2.0 Understanding
Community Managed
Disaster Risk Reduction
(CMDRR)
Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR)
is a multi-hazard approach that brings people together to
analyze and address common disaster risk.
The model emerges as a community driven tool for assessing
resources, problems and needs in a localized society in order
to facilitate disaster preparedness planning and risk reduction.
The emphasis is on creating functional local institutions
through which communities analyze risk, design and
implement preparedness measures and take the responsibility
of disaster risk management.
This approach recognizes that disasters are local and national
events which affect different communities with different
coping strategies differently, hence should be managed
locally by the communities using their own resources and
accumulated risk knowledge. On top of that, this approach
guarantees community ownership and sustainability of
interventions.
The disaster risk reduction
framework
A key framework that guides CMDRR interventions is
denoted by the equation:
Disaster Risk = Hazard x Vulnerability
Capacity
From this equation, it is deduced that disaster risk is a
function of:
The presence of a hazard
The predisposition or exposure of a community or
society to the hazards and
The existing capacities for early warning, response and
recovery.
For risk reduction to be achieved there is need to
proportionally increasing community capacities whilst
reducing hazard exposure and decreasing vulnerability.
The BRIGHT consortium used this framework to guide
communities in developing risk reduction measures to ensure
that local disaster coping mechanisms are not overwhelmed.
Technical Lessons in Implementing Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) in Northern Kenya by Bright Consortium Partners
(By Halkano J. Boru, BRIGHT Consortium Coordinator, April 2017)
Conceptualizing disaster risk
According to BRIGHT consortium, all individuals living
in one locality have a similar hazard profile. However, an
individuals economic, social, cultural and political position
plays a big role in increasing their hazard susceptibility or
aversion. Therefore, the ultimate goal of reducing disaster
risk is building community capacity to anticipate potentially
adverse shocks and use available skills and resources to buffer,
absorb and reduce its effects.
The goal of CDMRR is to strengthen anticipatory, absorptive,
adaptive and transformative capacities of communities
predisposed to hazards. This is resilience.
3.0 CMDRR Implementation
Process
CMDRR is implemented in four phases that are cyclic in
nature as shown in Figure 1 below.
Figure: 1 The CMDRR flow Chart
(i) Participatory Disaster Risk
Assessment (PDRA)
Basically, PDRA involves using local skills, information and
capacities to identify prioritize and analyze hazards through
gathering key information about the community and its
individual members. This phase involves three steps: (i)
hazard assessments (ii) vulnerability assessments (iii) capacity
assessments and (iv) disaster risk analysis.
The aim is to determine the nature and extent of risk by
analyzing the characteristics of hazards, degree of vulnerability
and capacity of the community/individuals to cope. It uses
participatory rural appraisal tools such as Venn-diagrams,
social and resource mapping, historical trends etc for effective
community participation. It involves opinion leaders and
diverse community representatives like women, youth,
elderly, local community elders, special interest groups and
the administration.
Step 1: Hazards Assessment: This entails identification and
ranking of risks using participatory tools. The community
first enumerates all hazards that threaten it, their triggers,
warning signs and then rank them based on scale of potential
damage.
Step 2: Vulnerability Assessment: This involves evaluating
the risk emanating from identified hazards based on the
degree of exposure by identifying elements at risks (both
animate and/or inanimate) and the level of susceptibility.
During analysis the level of vulnerability of various elements
at risk is denoted as high, medium or low.
Step 3: Community Capacity Assessment: This step
identifies the strengths, skills, knowledge (indigenous
knowledge) and resources among vulnerable elements and
groups, used to prevent, mitigate or recover from disasters. It
focuses on the communitys existing and required response
capacities and highlights associated gaps.
Step 4: Disaster Risk Analysis: This involves consolidating
the findings of the hazard; vulnerability; capacity assessments
to develop various risk scenarios; establish the degree of
risk and decide whether to prevent, reduce, transfer, or live
with the disaster risks. It is an important step in enhancing
communitys awareness on potential disaster risks and an
essential precursor to decision-making for hazard prevention,
and/or mitigation.
(ii) Developing Risk Reduction
Strategies
This is a process where target communities propose concrete
risk reduction strategies based on their acceptable level of risk;
ability to manage interventions and their vision of resilience.
These strategies are presented as community contigency plans
and development plans.
a) Community Contingency Plans: This plan presents
hazard specific interventions mainly for emergency
response. In addition it demystifies needed resources;
who will be involved to enable timely, effective
and appropriate responses within a community.
Contingency plans guide communities on what their
operational needs are.
b) Development Plans: These are activities that are
undertaken to increase resilience to disasters with
focus on addressing the root causes of the hazard and/
or vulnerability. This may include livelihood, health
and educational activities, or system strengthening
interventions scheduled over a long period of time.
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 Bright Consortium
(iii) Community Organization &
Community Disaster Management
Committee (CDMCs)
Addressing disaster risks within communities necessitates
the organization and coordination of various stakeholders.
The developed structures are instrumental in implementing,
monitoring, lobbying and advocating with a vision of
building a resilient community.
A key community structure formed by BRIGHT consortium
partners was the Community Disaster Management
Committees (CDMCs). These groups voluntarily dedicated
their time to disaster risk management through spearheading
risk reduction initiatives in the community, especially
those activities outlined in the Community Disaster Risk
Management Plans (CDMPs).
(iv) Participatory Monitoring,
Evaluation and Learning (PMEAL)
This involves reviewing risk reduction progress within the
community. It places emphasis on steps, actions and measures
laid down to mitigate or prevent disasters using both
participatory qualitative and quantitative indicators. The aim
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is to reinforce communitys decision-making, management
and administrative capacity, as well as promote critical
reflection and learning so as to improve the effectiveness
and quality of the work.
4.0 Lessons Learnt In
Implementing CMDRR
Implementation of the CMDRR is an engaging and multi-
stakeholder process that is filled with a number of learning
experiences, some of which are:
(a) CMDRR improves Capacities of
target communities
By engaging in extensive CMDRR activities, communities
are found to strengthen their local skills, capacities and
indigenous knowledge. For instance, the process of developing
community plans was found to increase community awareness
on risk, vulnerabilities, their resources and roles enhancing
sustainable resilience. Through advocacy CMDRR increases
understanding of rights, roles and responsibilities of different
development actors by building mutual relations. In addition,
CMDRR helps in building both technical and organizational
Technical Lessons in Implementing Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) in Northern Kenya by Bright Consortium Partners
(By Halkano J. Boru, BRIGHT Consortium Coordinator, April 2017)
capacity of communities to identify their problem, design,
implement and evaluate their own risk reduction measures as
witnessed in some of communities the consortium is working
with in Turkana, Marsabit and Samburu counties.
(b) Quality engagement by target
communities is a prerequisite to
successful CMDRR Process
Community ownership of the CMDRR process is a key
precondition for enhancing its sustainability. This can best
be done through the following:
i. Use of appropriate community entry points: The
approach used by implementing agencies to introduce
the CMDRR intervention to the target communities
determines its sustainability. If the process of
introduction is flawed or rushed, the end result of the
process will be flawed or incomplete as well.
ii. Disseminate correct information packages: Given
the high level of illiteracy among ASAL communities,
disseminating right information using visual aids
to enhance their understanding will help manage
community expectation and clarity of roles guarantees
sustainability of the process.
iii. Facilitate inclusion of all relevant stakeholders in
the community: Involvement of various interest groups
into the process and particularly as members of the
Community Disaster Management Committee will
enable greater community acceptance of the approach
and ensure accommodation of diversity during
implementation. For instance, consideration should
be given to community/village representation such
as women, elders, Imam/Clergy, elderly and persons
with disabilities (PWDs), youth and local government
officials. While final decision making belongs to the
community, it is also important for the implementing
team to guide the communities in selecting active and
trust worthy members of the community as members
of CDMCs.
iv. Adequate time to prepare the communities: Adequate
time is to be allocated to the process to ensure
communities are exhaustively consulted and involved.
(c) Mainstreaming gender into
CMDRR improves quality of the
process
Given that humanitarian crises can affect women, men, girls
and boys differently due to pre-existing social, cultural and
economic structures, integrating gender into the process
improves the quality and representation.
This will not only enhance mitigation or prevention of hazards
but also ensure that views and opinions of traditionally
marginalized groups are championed.
(d) Community Disaster Management
plans used as development blue-print
Community development Plans are a key output of the
CMDRR process. Therefore, communities use the plans as
a guide for community development. In order to maximize
benefits from the plans, community members are linked to
the county planning systems and other development partners
for fund raising and networking. However since most plans
participatory assessment reports are voluminous, there is need
to prioritize intervention for advocacy with government and
other partners.
(e) Institutionalizing CDMCs
enhances their sustainability
As a key local disaster risk reduction structure, institutionalizing
Community Disaster Management Committees (CDMCs)
enhances their sustainability. Through the past phases of the
project, CDMCs were supported to register with the national
government as self-help groups running interventions on
behalf of their government. In addition, the CDMCs were
mentored and supported to initiate joint Income generating
activities (IGA) ventures (e. g Village Community Banking,
Group farm and micro-businesses) to regularly bring
members together, support the community (e. g with loan)
and sustain the committee to stand on its own and carry out
community resilience building roles.
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 Bright Consortium
(f) CMDRR is a multi-sectoral
process
Resilience building is a product of multiple actors who either
work together or individually at different levels with the
vision of safer and resilient communities. As facilitators of
social change, the implementing team ought to work toward
enhancing both vertical and horizontal linkages among
partners and the government alike.
(g) Harmonization of DRR
approaches can best be done at
County Level
To standardize the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) processes
and approaches can be achieved through linkage with
institutions mandated to deal with disasters. In northern
Kenya, this process was linked to the National Drought
Management Authority (NDMA). The harmonized
and coordinated process helps deter duplication of DRR
interventions at the community level and provides room for
complementary intervention.
(h) Building sustainable DRR
structures requires continuous
monitoring and support to
communities
Transformation in communities is a slow process and the
project teams need to continuously support and guide the
process before handover. Agencies implementing CMDRR
should progressively limit their roles to facilitation,
supervision, monitoring and occasional backstopping
whenever necessary and engage local actors to take lead roles
in the process.
5.0 Recommendations for
Future Programming
(a) CMDRR needs to be blended with
Advocacy
Most ASAL communities have low economic and
social connections and influence to manage disaster
on their own. Given many years of marginalization,
there is need to build their advocacy capacity so that
they secure support from county government and other
stakeholders alike.
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This should be followed by efforts to link the CDMCs
to stakeholders, service providers, and private sector
players and also with other communities to share
experiences.
The consortium integrated the CMDRR activities
with a complaint referral mechanism which is an
automated web-based integrated complaint referral
mechanism. This has not only enhanced advocacy but
also given communities an avenue to air their concerns
through toll free SMS lines and paper forms that get
feedback from the service provider and government.
In addition, this provides communities with an avenue
for packaging their needs and aspirations to decision
makers.
(b) County Governments and
Development partners need to
Synergize in implementation
The CDMCs should work closely with the county
governments and resilience partners to ensure continued
support to risk reduction initiatives. For example, a close
working relationship between committee members in North-
Horr, Loiyangalani and Samburu with ward administrators
and other local government leaders worked well with the
prioritization of community intervention for funding by the
county government and other partners.
(c) Proper Exit strategies should be
integrated in CMDRR process
In order to ensure sustainability of the process, communities
should take the lead in implementation with development
partners taking facilitative roles. A key way of doing
so is continuous capacity building exercises to enhance
communities to manage and replicate the same on their own.
(d) Disaster risk management
at community level should be
accompanied by Contingency/
Emergency Funds
Given the increasing intensity of disasters within ASAL
counties, limited financial capacity of the existing disaster
risks structures limit the type of intervention that can be
made. Slow fund raising processes among development
agencies often lead to delayed response. Therefore, there is
need to create contingency funds that will allow communities
to implement their contingency plans in a timely and efficient
manner. This will help agencies take early action to cope with
effects of disaster and prevent loss of lives and livelihoods.
Technical Lessons in Implementing Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) in Northern Kenya by Bright Consortium Partners
(By Halkano J. Boru, BRIGHT Consortium Coordinator, April 2017)

6.0 Conclusion the highlighted benefits, it improves Capacities of target

The CMDRR methodology is a people-centered approach that
empowers communities to deal with shocks and act in a timely
and efficient manner to reduce loss of lives and livelihoods
if well managed and coordinated. Its an approach that aims
at facilitating community development through building
human capital, social capital and political capital. Among
communities, ensures engagement of target communities,
mainstreams gender, Uses Disaster Management plans
as development blue-print, Institutionalizes community
structure for sustainability, offer multi-sectoral coordination,
Harmonizes other approaches at County Level and builds
continuous monitoring and support to communities. The
goal of CDMRR is building back better.

CMDRR mapping in Mandera County

Noloroi community in isiolo participating in CMDRR activities

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 TRANSPARENCY
INTERNATIONAL
KENYA

ACTING
TOGETHER DIFFERENTLY
Strengthening Preparedness and Emergency Response Capacities
by vulnerable communities in Northern Kenya (SPERC-NK).
The project is funded by the European Commission Humanitarian
Aid Department (ECHO).

For more information contact

BRIGHT Consortium Coordinating team
HalkanoJb@vsfg.org or vmalit@vsfg.org

This document was prepared by the BRIGHT Consortium

Coordinator, Halkano J. Boru, with contribution from Shalom
Magoma, ACTED Kenya Program Manager.