Risk Wise

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The centrality of risk management in

Concern Worldwide’s programming

Peter Crichton, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator and William Devas,

Disaster Risk Reduction Advisor – Emergency Unit, Dublin

oncern Worldwide is an international humanitarian orga-

nization dedicated to working with people living in extreme

poverty to achieve sustainable and major improvements

in their lives. Over the last five years, Concern has developed a

disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy, and delivered workshops in

all of our country programmes to consider how we analyse and

respond to risk and vulnerability facing communities.

We believe that the adoption of a more consistent approach to the

identification and management of risk should improve the quality,

appropriateness, design and sustainability of programmes and

improve the linkages and synergies within and between develop-

ment and humanitarian interventions.

Our operational context

All of Concern’s long-term programmes are in countries that fall in the

bottom 40 of the Human Development Index or have substantial propor-

tions of their population living in extreme poverty. Given the cyclical

nature of disasters in many of the countries in which we

work, there is an evident need to link our humanitarian

responses to these often recurrent disasters with a broader

approach that addresses underlying causes and vulnera-

bilities if we are to seriously address the causes and impact

of poverty. Many of the countries in which we work are

experiencing or recovering from conflict; have weak, under-

resourced systems of governance; and suffer from

inappropriate and unsustainable policies. In addition, many

are located in areas that are prone to floods, droughts, trop-

ical storms, earthquakes and landslides – hazards which

are often exacerbated by, or are a direct result of, poor poli-

cies and practice. The HIV/Aids pandemic and the

frequency of malaria have particularly high impacts on

many communities with whom we work as their liveli-

hoods are highly dependent on their own labour.

To this complex web of interacting hazards we must

add the rapidly evolving risk of climate change and the

Zambezi Flood Plain, near Mongo, Western Province, Zambia. Changes to the timing and intensity of the rains and changes to the seasonal flooding of the

Zambezi plain is making maize more difficult to grow

Image: Peter Crichton