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Insights from Dhaka, Kathmandu,
Manila and Jakarta
Reducing Disaster
Risks for Urban
Children
David Dodman
Donald Brown
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Session B1: Growth, Governance and Inclusion Presentation: 1
2
Reducing Disaster Risks for Urban Children
Outline
• Purpose of the research and report
• Approach to the study
• Key findings
• Implications for policy and practice
David Dodman
Donald Brown
3
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Po
pu
lati
on
Perc
en
tag
eShare of Total Population by Age Cohort
60+
40-59
20-39
0-19
Data from: UNDESA (2013)
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Purpose of report
Responding to key trends in urbanization
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• Growing number of NGOs initiating disaster risk reduction programmes in urban areas – although this is new territory for many
• Focus has tended to be on preparedness, response and recovery rather than a more holistic approach to DRR
• Few child-centred NGOs have urban DRR components – and those that do tend to have limited coverage
• Where activities do exist, school-based disaster safety management programmes predominate
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Purpose of report
Responding to key trends in urban DRR
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David Dodman
Donald Brown
Purpose of report
Urban children face particular risks
[IMAGE]
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• Which urban children are most at risk, and why?
• What are the factors that underpin urban children’s risk across the spectrum?
• How can urban children participate in DRR as agents of change and resilience, and what are the barriers and challenges they face in urban settings?
• What are the implications of this understanding for the development of child-centred urban DRR programmes?
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Purpose of report
Key themes for investigation
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• To learn first-hand from the poorest and most
vulnerable urban children
• Engaged 183 girls and 158 boys (341 in total)
between the ages of 8 and 20 in 16 focus
groups (4 in each city)
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Study approach
Learning from urban children
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• Street children are among the most out of focus and
invisible groups in urban society, despite their
numbers
• They are commonly viewed as criminals, so policy
responses are largely punitive
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Key findings
Who are street children?
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• For children living on the street, the nature
of their relationship with parents or adult
carers strongly influences their capacity to
cope
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Key findings
What we learned from street children
“When I was living on the streets, I could not
provide for my brother properly. It was such a
difficult experience”
–12-year old girl, Dhaka
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• In 2008, about 215 million girls and boys
were involved in child labour, with 115
million engaged in hazardous work
(UNICEF 2012)
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Key findings
Who are working children?
• Yet child labourers remain largely
unseen, because many agencies and
governments turn a blind-eye
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• Nearly all children were engaged in some
form of child labour, with gender relations
strongly shaping type of work, occupational
hazards and ability to attend school
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Key findings
What we learned from working children
“The brick factory I work in is made in a
very temporary way… I fear that the
building will collapse in heavy rain or during
an earthquake”
– 13 year-old boy, Kathmandu
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• More than 900 million people are estimated to
live in ‘slums’, and a large proportion are
children (UN-Habitat 2003, 2006; UNICEF
2011)
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Key findings
Who are ‘slum’ children?
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• For ‘slum’ children, the environmental-trade
offs in remaining close to livelihoods can
strongly determine the nature and extent of
hazard exposure
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Key findings
What we learned from ‘slum’ children
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“It’s the environment that causes disasters”
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Key findings
Underlying environmental risk factors
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• Environmental risk factors identified by girls and boys:
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Key findings
Underlying environmental risk factors
Risk factors Implication for health Implication for disasters
Lack of solid
waste
management
Garbage collects in pools of
stagnant water and attracts
rodents
Garbage blocks drains and
causes floods
High densities
and
overcrowding
Intensifies transmission of
communicable illnesses
Overcrowding increases number
of people lacking protective
infrastructure. High density
environments block emergency
response vehicles
Low immunity Intensifies susceptibility to
communicable illnesses
Increases susceptibility to water-
and sanitation-related illnesses
during floods, particularly where
protective infrastructure is lacking
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• Children are not just victims: with adequate support and protection, they can be extraordinarily resilient
• Youth Bind Together –advocating for environmental policy reform in San Juan City
• Urban Poor Empowerment Society – mobilising the poorest communities to negotiate for better infrastructure and services
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Key findings
Urban children as agents of resilience
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• But good practices in child-inclusive
participation remain the minority
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Key findings
Challenges and barriers for participation
“Youth often have great vision, but
they are not getting the platform…
There is no-one to trust us”.
– Member of Youth for Disaster
Risk Reduction (YDRR),
Kathmandu
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Responding to children’s risk in urban areas
Priority action areas
Knowledge base
Continue improving understanding of risks and how these affect different boys and girls
Improve data collection (including from government and service providers)
Infrastructure
Quality of housing and basic services key underlying factors shaping children’s risk and resilience
David Dodman
Donald Brown
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Institutions
Strengthen capacity of families to deal with
shocks and stresses
Collaborate with local community-based
organizations addressing basic service provision
Governance
Centrality of local governance institutions in
providing framework for reducing risk to children
from disasters and climate change
Responding to children’s risk in urban areas
Priority action areasDavid Dodman
Donald Brown
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David Dodman
Donald Brown
David Dodman
Donald Brown
Thank you for
listening!
All photographs by Donald Brownpubs.iied.org
