Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

TMB 36 discussed the potential role of young people in reducing and responding to disaster risk. The lesson details meaningful, inclusive, and creative strategies for engaging young people in all stages of DRR such as youth-led/collaborative participation. A recent addition to the Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments details The Africa Youth Advisory Board on DRR (AYAB DRR), a collective established to encourage meaningful youth engagement and participation in DRR policy development, implementation and evaluation across Africa. Consider:

• Connect with local youth-led/youth-focused organisations, invite these organisations to collaborate on all stages of DRR and connect their voices with local decision makers
• Support young people as agents of change by acting as a facilitator/brokerage to connect their groups and initiatives to resilience partners who can inform and coach/take inspiration from youth-led DRR initiatives. This activity could also support the development of local/regional networks between young people and resilience partners
• Use online platforms (websites, social media etc.) to create open, accessible and inclusive knowledge sharing capacity for youth-led DRR groups/organisations, or to showcase, celebrate and promote their work. For example:
  • The Himalayan Risk Research Institute is developing a platform for disaster risk reduction students, researchers and young professionals. The initiative aims to develop a “skill transfer mechanism” whereby training, field research and workshops can build the knowledge and skills of young scientists and professionals and in turn benefit local DRR activities
• Enable the mobilization of youth groups, by increasing their access to local resources (e.g. community spaces they could use) and support “physical and virtual capacity building” to improve their visibility, inclusion and active participation