Community Perspective on Policy Options for Resettlement Management: A Case Study of Risk Reduction in Bududa, Eastern Uganda.

Stella Neema,Grace Mongo Bua,Lynn M Atuyambe,Nathan Tumuhamye,Doreen Tuhebwe,James Fishkin,Julius Ssentongo,Roy William Mayega,William Bazeyo

doi:10.1371/currents.dis.49e8e547de25ca1c1f9edbbfc8b9efa5

Abstract

Introduction: Despite existing policy actions on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), many community members in Bududa still continue to settle in high-risk areas re-zoned for nonsettlement. There seems to be an apparent information asymmetry on expectations between the community and Government. The challenge then is ‘how to consult communities and seek their opinion in an adequately representative unbiased way’. This paper sets out to explore policy options on resettlement management as a DRR approach and how engaging with communities in a public discourse using the Deliberative Polling (DP) approach; to obtain their opinions and insights on these policy issues, revealed underlying challenges to policy implementation. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in Bududa in eastern Uganda with fourteen group discussions; comprising 12-15 randomly assigned participants of mixed socio-economic variables. Trained research assistants and moderators collected data. All discussions were audio taped, transcribed verbatim before analysis. Data were analyzed using latent content analysis by identifying codes from which sub-themes were generated and grouped into main themes on policy options for resettlement management. Results and Discussion: We used Deliberative Polling, an innovative approach to public policy consultation and found that although the community is in agreement with most government policy options under resettlement management, they lacked an understanding of the rationale underlying these policy options leading to challenges in implementation. The community members seemed uncertain and had mistrust in government’s ability to implement the policies especially on issues of compensation for land lost. Key Words: Policy, Deliberative Polling, Climate change, risk-reduction, landslides, Uganda

Highlights

Despite existing policy actions on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), many community members in Bududa still continue to settle in high-risk areas re-zoned for nonsettlement
We used Deliberative Polling, an innovative approach to public policy consultation and found that the community is in agreement with most government policy options under resettlement management, they lacked an understanding of the rationale underlying these policy options leading to challenges in implementation
Disaster incidents are on the increase globally in frequency, intensity and duration especially in the advent of climate change/variability manifested as floods, landslides, drought and glacial runoffs among others 1

Summary

Introduction

Despite existing policy actions on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), many community members in Bududa still continue to settle in high-risk areas re-zoned for nonsettlement. Disaster incidents are on the increase globally in frequency, intensity and duration especially in the advent of climate change/variability manifested as floods, landslides, drought and glacial runoffs among others 1. This has been worsened by the unpredictable nature of these events. Bududa receives an average precipitation of above [1, 500] millimeters (mm) per year (meaning it basically rains every day) triggering landslide occurrence 3. This is worsened by the ever-increasing population which puts much pressure on the land 3. The occupants exploit the slopes of Mt Elgon for settlement and agriculture often causing land degradation [7,5]

Methods

Results

Conclusion