Grassroots women won’t be left behind in reducing disaster risks

By Melissa Bungcaras

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In May, with funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ActionAid Australia supported eight women leaders from Cambodia, Kenya and Vanuatu to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, where they brought their voices to the global stage at the United Nations Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR).

They spent two days sharing their experiences with each other and similar community women leaders from around the world at the Grassroots Academy, supported by the Huairou Commission. Together, they sharpened their advocacy messages and learned new skills to communicate their concerns and their aspirations for truly transformational disaster risk reduction.

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Stella has a good understanding of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, agreed to by governments in 2015 as the framework for progressing towards more inclusive and effective disaster preparedness. She understands that her government has targets to meet under the framework and that the women’s network has an opportunity to influence the government’s policy and planning towards these targets at both the local and national levels.

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Based on the experiences of women in Kenya, Cambodia and Vanuatu, ActionAid Australia, in partnership with Monash University’s Gender, Peace and Security Centre, has conducted research that shows that women’s local and experiential knowledge on disasters, climate and conflict is undervalued and rarely incorporated in policy and planning at national and global levels. This research also found that, despite this, women are intrinsically using their community networks to develop approaches for community resilience that consider the intersection of climate change, disasters, conflict and long-term sustainable development.

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