Suchergebnisse

AbstractThere are many reasons that people, when warned of an impending extreme event, do not take proactive, self‐defensive action. We focus on one possible reason, which is that, sometimes, people lack a sense of agency or even experience disempowerment, which can lead to passivity. This article takes up one situation where the possibility of disempowerment is salient, that of Rohingya refugees who were evicted from their homes in Myanmar and forced to cross the border into neighboring Bangladesh. In their plight, we see the twin elements of marginalization and displacement acting jointly to produce heightened vulnerability to the risks from extreme weather. Building on a relational model of risk communication, a consortium of researchers and practitioners designed a risk communication training workshop that featured elements of empowerment‐based practice. The program was implemented in two refugee camps. Evaluation suggests that the workshop may have had an appreciable effect in increasing participants' sense of agency and hope, while decreasing their level of fatalism. The outcomes were considerably more positive for female than male participants, which has important implications. This work underscores the potential for participatory modes of risk communication to empower the more marginalized, and thus more vulnerable, members of society.

PurposeThe intent of the work is to go beyond the conventional model of disaster risk prevention, where community residents are objects of risk communication initiatives, and develop and implement a relational model of risk communication wherein they are active agents of knowledge transfer.Design/methodology/approachThe relational model of risk communication translates risk knowledge into narrative forms that community members can share. The article discusses the conceptual basis of the model and, then, describes how it has been pilot tested and implemented in the field. Evaluation of the pilot tests consist of pre- and post-surveys comparing control and test groups.FindingsEncouraging results have been seen among vulnerable communities, such as residents in a refugee camp and schoolchildren in a storm surge vulnerable town. These outcomes support the idea that the relational approach can empower residents to be active agents of risk communication.Originality/valueThe relational model taps into the knowledge and agency of community.