Collaboration
This guide follows the Sendai Framework’s All-of-Society inclusive approach. It supports the principle of making disaster risk reduction practices more multi-sectoral and applicable to multiple hazards, and engaging all relevant stakeholders.
The importance of multi-sectoral approaches to support effective early warning systems is increasingly recognised, yet remains challenging. “Knowledge brokers” play an important role in translating across different sectors (Gluckman 2021) yet they often exclude media and creative communicators.
Contents of Disaster Risk Communication Hub
Disaster risk communication is most effective when it includes multiple actors throughout the process:
- Government agency staff carry the remit and resources to communicate with the public about policy decisions and actions intended to keep people safe.
- When working with civil servants, recognise the multiple pressures in complex governance systems and that singular solutions may not be feasible. A solutions-oriented approach to dialogue may bring better results than adversarial discussions.
- Technical experts bring insight and knowledge to inform decision-makers' actions.
- When seeking technical experts to work with, identify experts with knowledge relevant to the issue at hand and do not encourage them to comment beyond their field of expertise.
- Media practitioners, artists and other creative communicators can connect deeply with audiences, engage them on difficult issues and facilitate challenging conversations about change. But turning data into engaging content requires time, resources and knowledge that are scarce, especially in poorly-funded media markets. Private sector stakeholders, including mobile network operators, should be considered as well.
- When approaching journalists, come with ideas that make their jobs easier, such as interesting stories, simple language, ready-to-go interviewees and insight into how disaster risk affects media audiences’ everyday lives. Seek to collaborate as equals and avoid the notion of “using” media to convey your talking points, which can raise concerns about compromised editorial and creative independence.
- At-risk populations and community representatives must be central stakeholders in disaster risk communication. They have local knowledge about barriers and solutions, and the power to influence their family members and peers. Including at-risk populations in disaster risk communication can enhance their engagement and ownership of the process, build trust and credibility in it, and improve its accessibility to all target audience members, including women, chil
- Communicate with populations not to them. Listen to their priorities, which might not match yours. Your level of engagement with populations will vary as appropriate to your task. For example, urgent evacuation warnings leave no time for discussion. But where evacuation sites are placed and the lead time required to arrive can be improved through discussion with populations.