Views from the Frontline: Independent study reviews HFA progress at local-level

'Views from the Frontline' (VFL) is a research and learning project that has developed momentum from the ground-up as the views of over 7000 local government officials, civil society organisations and community representatives from 48 countries have been brought together to help paint a picture of the progress being made in implementing disaster reduction activities where it matters most – at the frontline where people ‘at-risk’ live, eat and work.

Led by the Global Network of Civil Society Organisations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR), an initial plan to pilot the idea of a ‘ground up’ survey within twenty countries, has grown into a large-scale global project. Over 400 organisations have conducted face-to-face interviews with 5290 people and two supporting studies with a focus on women and children have gained an additional 2035 views. It makes Views from the Frontline (VFL) the largest independent, global assessment of disaster reduction at the local level ever undertaken and meets a critical gap in disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy implementation by providing ‘bottom-up’  erspectives from the critical interface between local governments and at-risk communities. Based on the experiences of this first pilot phase, the review offers scope for future expansion and development both within the participating countries and beyond.