Participatory numbers for disaster risk reduction

The top-down, technocratic approach to community engagement is a common sight in development initiatives across the world. While these approaches are useful in its ability to generate objective, quantifiable information, it can come at the expense of the local voice. Genuine participation in development seeks to include this local voice – the perspectives, priorities, and concerns of the local people – into wider initiatives and projects that affect them. However, participatory approaches in general tend to generate qualitative information. The preference for measurable, scientific information runs deep among development professionals and researchers alike. As such, the (qualitative) insights gained from participatory engagement is often side-lined in lieu of more ‘valid’ and ‘hard’ forms of data. Such scientific information is not as easily accessible to people. This acts as a barrier for a dialogue between development stakeholders. A solution would work to appropriately cater to the requirements of all stakeholders in an initiative, local and external alike. Participatory numbers are one such approach. It is a participatory approach that generates quantifiable indicators. These indicators are produced by the local people. Further, as they are numbers-based information, they carry the weight of scientific validity and objectivity. This talk briefly details the examples of participatory numbers in disaster risk reduction. Examples will be drawn from a case study in the Philippine municipality of La Trinidad, in late September 2016.

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Participatory numbers for disaster risk reduction