Opportunities and Challenges from Major Disasters Lessons Learned of Long-Term Recovery Group Members

Natural hazards caused by the alteration of weather patterns expose populations at risk, with an outcome of economic loss, property damage, personal injury, and loss of life. The unpredictability of disasters is a topic of concern to most governments. Disaster policies need more attention in aligning mitigation opportunities with disaster housing recovery (DHR). The effect of flooding, which primarily impacts housing in coastal areas, is one of the most serious issues associated with natural hazard. Flooding has a variety of causes and implications, especially for vulnerable populations who are exposed to it. DHR is complex, involving the need for effective coordination of resources, and labor. Understanding how the relationship between the build back better philosophy (i.e.: wherein the rebuild is intended to reduce future risk), the quality of the houses, and the income of the householder’s works is beneficial to prepare a resilient housing recovery plan. What are the main sources of obstacles experienced in the DHR process? How might outcomes be improved? This study attempts to answer those questions using data collection from Long-Term Recovery Group (LTRG) members in disaster areas. The analysis of LTRG member experiences provides a valuable perspective with the potential to improve the DHR process and mitigate future impacts. The goal is to understand and create awareness of factors impeding the recovery from previous disasters using the information obtained from the LTRG members to analyzed with various content analysis software to ascertain best practices to inform disaster policies for potential improvement of the recovery process. Using a content analysis technique provides a big picture of the main issues affecting the recovery. The key lessons learned from the LTRG members are that three major delay factors: planning, governance, and communication are impeding the improvement of the DHR process. It is essential to have an LTRG running before a disaster occurs -including a disaster plan focused on funding, labor, and resilient recovery. A more transparent governance – with some decentralization of the process, and more up-to-date disaster policies. A direct line of communication to overcome gaps including lack of communication and trusting in the process

Defence and development: a case study of the Philippines

In the security spectrum, there is a blurring line between defence and development. In both traditional and non-traditional security situations, such as counterinsurgency and natural disasters, the armed forces has been called to respond in ways other than their mandate of physical protection in order to attend to human development needs. How and when this transition of roles happens has been studied and debated. As the main security institution of a country, militaries around the world have performed duties outside of their defence functions. Their tasks have expanded from maintaining peace and order to including nation-building, economic development, the provision of disaster relief, and engaging in efforts to conserve natural resources. Looking at these extra functions, the Philippines armed forces are no different in performing non-traditional roles. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is one of the key institutions, which has been at the forefront of the campaign in tackling these domestic challenges. To a certain extent, the mixture of economic activities with combat operations has characterised the military’s different campaigns such as counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency. Involvement in economic functions has been justified on the grounds that it is critical to ‘winning the hearts and minds’ of those living on the front lines, supporting the military’s role in nation-building. The aim of this study is to employ pre-determined metrics to evaluate the contribution of the Philippine defence sector to national development, and, in turn, comprehensive security. Whilst the conventional view is that defence is a burden on development, the question this study poses is whether, by contrast, in the Philippine context, there is a positive relationship between defence and development; that is, that defence expenditure contributes to development outputs such as employment, skill-generation and even infrastructural investment. The study framework is anchored to the following policies: AFP Modernisation Act of 1995, and its subsequent revision, AFP Modernisation Act of 2010, the Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP), and the National Security Plan 2011-2016. The framework highlights the important security goals of defence industrialisation, internal security, and non-traditional security. These data were further substantiated and consolidated via archival sources, such as government and company reports, as well as secondary data (e.g. books, journals, etc.). The mission thrusts of the AFP demonstrate the organisation’s multiple objectives to carry out a mandate to protect the state and the people. The Philippines has a very modest defence industry with few companies manufacturing small arms and ammunitions. Its goal is to be self-reliant, however, issues within the Procurement Law prevents this. Meanwhile, the conduct of counter-insurgency efforts through the IPSP allows the AFP unified commands and field units to support government units and agencies in their peace and development programmes. Furthermore, the geographic deployment of military personnel and equipment across the archipelago allows the armed forces to respond in times of disasters. Overall, the armed forces has contributes positively to the national development of the Philippines. To this end, and based on the research finding, a number of important policy recommendations are advanced to raise the effectiveness of the Philippines’ security policies

Migration in West Africa

This open access Regional Reader examines the dynamics and impacts of international migration within and from West Africa. The book presents key theoretical perspectives and empirical findings on historical trends, geographical patterns, drivers and socio-economic impacts of both voluntary and involuntary migration in West Africa, a region that is characterised by high level of mixed migration flows. The book is divided into three main parts: changing patterns and governance of migration, managing environmental and forced migration, and diaspora, transnationalism and development. The chapters raise key research questions and outline recommendations for improving migration governance, protecting migrants and harnessing the benefits of migration for socio-economic development for both countries of origin and destination of migrants. As such this Regional Reader provides an interesting read to students, academics, researchers, migration experts, development practitioners and policy makers