Strengthening Governance for Disaster Prevention: The Enhancing Risk Management Capabilities Guidelines

Governance is central to Disaster Risk Management (DRM) in the 21st Century. In order to enhance the risk management capabilities of countries and the institutions responsible for carrying out DRM tasks, new approaches to governance should be explored. In heeding this claim, the Enhancing Risk Management Capabilities Guidelines creates a list of recommendations for how governance and management measures can support work in each of the DRM phases and across them. These guidelines are built around the SHIELD model, encompassing a set of strategic recommendations across six identified key themes: (1) Sharing Knowledge; (2) Harmonizing Capacities; (3) Institutionalizing Coordination; (4) Engaging Stakeholders; (5) Leveraging Investments; and finally, (6) Developing Communication. This paper presents each of these recommendations, and discusses why they should be seen as central aspects of the future of DRM in which governance is central. In addition, the paper reflects on the process of crafting the guidelines, and the issues inherent in attempting to propose suggestions and recommendations across a range of complex topics in the domain of disaster management. The guidelines have been produced as part of the H2020-project ESPREssO (Enhancing Synergies for disaster prevention in the European Union) and are freely available online: http://www.espressoproject.eu/images/deliverables/ESPREssO_D5.4.pdf.