Disaster Risk Management and Sustainable Development

Like most developing economies, Ethiopia is found to be vulnerable to a wide range of environmental problems. Drought and flood represent major challenges, but a number of other hazards affect communities and livelihoods. These include: frost and hail, crop pests and diseases, livestock diseases,  human  diseases, conflict,  landslides,  earthquakes and  urban  and forest  fires. Climate change is predicted to further increase exposure to climate-related and hydrological hazards and given the overall economic importance of agriculture and its vulnerability to climate variability, the livelihood of poor households and the scarce diffusion of irrigation and water-shed management practices make Ethiopia particularly vulnerable. 

Capacity to effectively prevent, mitigate, prepare for and respond to disaster risks triggered by these  hazards require knowledge, skills, motivation and resources that includes training, education, policy support,  and systemic  accountability.  Legislative framework  on  disaster management  in  Ethiopia started  since the 1973/74  famine. By  identifying  the key  gaps,  the National  Policy on  Disaster Prevention and Management provides an opportunity for the integration of disaster risk management  and sustainable development initiatives in higher education and research institutions. However there remains the gap in addressing the professionalization and capacity development challenges of the DRM workforce. 

As a response for the identified gap, Bahir Dar University has established “The Department of Disaster Risk Management and Sustainable Development (DRMS)” in 2005.  Given the disaster risk management context of Ethiopia, the need for a revision arises from systematic analysis of stakeholders’ feedback. The feedback came from various stakeholders in different  time  and place  including  workshops that  have  been prepared  by  the department  of disaster  risk  management and sustainable development. The feedback containing the critique and recommendation has been sourced from members of the training community as well as government and non-government organizations. The feedbacks provided by stakeholders and training community includes:- redundancy  of course contents;   dichotomization of courses that could be one and  exclusion of  necessary and inclusion  of unnecessary  courses  for the  program.  Most importantly, substantial revision was undertaken by the department considering current and emerging disaster risk challenges of the globe in general and Ethiopia in particular2. Rationale of the Program.

Ethiopia, like other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa is prone to disaster risks of natural and anthropogenic origin. Common disasters in recent years include famine, diseases, environmental degradation and conflicts, which have disproportionately affected most vulnerable groups such as women, children, elderly and the disabled members of society. This program is developed in response to the ongoing need to building disaster resilient communities through strengthening capacity to prevent, plan and respond to disasters within the sustainable development framework. The program is designed to fill a widely sought after but sparsely provided focus at undergraduate level. Using multi-disciplinary approach, the program seeks to produce competent professionals who are equipped with both academic and practical knowledge and skills in managing all the phases of the disaster cycle. Whilst the program deals with topics at a local level, topics of international relevance are also covered to ensure graduates are able to fit at both local and international levels.

3. Rationale for Revision 

There are various reasons to review the current curriculum. First, the implementation of new educational road map of the country changes the current three-year study period of the degree programs into a four-year degree programs to enable universities to provide basic and general courses in the freshman academic year. Second, the dynamism of the disaster risk management issues in the country changes over the last 10 years (for instance: DRM policy was ratified in 2013 and resulting growing need of improving emergency preparedness and response capabilities of the existing DRM workforce in Ethiopia, as well as the growing interest of city governments in managing urban risks, etc). Third, the recent tracer study involving DRM graduates of 12 African universities, including Bahir Dar University, documented evidences that confirm strong work-force traction for DRM graduates across Africa, include high employment prospects and placements across diverse fields. Significantly, considerable numbers of graduates have taken up government positions at (sub) national or local scales in a wide range of ministries and government departments. This new employment patterns necessitates the need to revise the current curriculum so that our graduates offer a high value skill-set that is "fit-for-purpose" for multiple fields and sectors.

Moreover, at Macro level there is huge shifts with regard to policies strategies to bring about sustainable development at the country which is being witnessed in many critical successes. Growth and Transformation plan (GTP) and Climate-Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) and others are some of the policy shifts we need to in line with at large. The recent International Conference held in Sendai, Japan has formulated a new framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) which has superseded the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) and other new Global Frameworks & DRR related initiatives (SD Goals, Paris Agreement, Urban Agendas) are other reasons to do so.

Upon this understanding of new developments, in terms of employment patterns and policy changes at global and national levels including the new direction taken up by MoSHE, the department decides to revise the existing curriculum.

4. Philosophy of the Program

The philosophical standpoint regarding the nature of disaster risks  and its management has evolved over time. This can be seen in the view of the two dominant perspectives- ‘Disasters as acts of nature’ vs ‘Disasters as acts of man’. The first perspective views disasters as the characteristics of natural hazards and often focuses on scientific weather forecasting and engineering solutions to the management of disaster risks. However, the second perspective views disasters as unanswered questions of development and tend to focus on reducing disaster risks developmentally. This approach placed the importance of human vulnerability as the key drive of disaster related loss in the forefront. As a result, Hazards research and vulnerability research traditions, dominated by physical and social sciences respectively, born out of these two opposing perspectives.

However, critics on this two opposing views of disasters leads to the development of newly emerging paradigm that tries to perceive hazards and disasters as two sides of the same coin where neither can be fully understood from the view point of either physical science or social science alone. Rather this recent view reemphasizes the mutual interactions between nature and society.

Therefore, our revised curriculum is primarily informed by this newly emerging paradigm that views disasters as a serious disruption resulted from the interaction between nature and society. This makes the program a trans-disciplinary field involving integration of knowledge from various disciplines. The revised curriculum enables the would-be graduates to offer a high value skill-set that is "fit-for-purpose" for multiple fields and sectors.

5. Goal of the Program

The overall goal of this undergraduate program is to produce high quality graduates acquainted with knowledge, skills and attitudes that could contribute for effective disaster risk management in a sustainable manner to build a disaster resilient society.

6. Objectives of the Program

Specifically, the program seeks to:

• Produce e qualified graduates with the required knowledge and skills to practice disaster risk management in a sustainable manner.
• Foster an informed and critical attitude towards theoretical and applied aspects of disaster risk management and sustainable development.
• Develop knowledge and skills required to improve livelihood and food security status of the society.
• Produce graduates who could facilitate DRM mainstreaming into various development sector activities.
• Produce qualified  graduates with the required capacity of research design and analytical skills related to disaster risk and development
• Produce qualified graduates with effective coordination, communication and facilitation knowledge and skills related to disaster risk management.