“Nature brings us extreme events, some people cause us prolonged sufferings”: the role of good governance in building community resilience to natural disasters in Bangladesh

Abstract

Disaster management and resilience-building initiatives have been hypothesized as more effective when integrated with local governance structures. However, factors shaping the institutionalization of disaster management remain poorly understood. We argue that success in such initiatives cannot be achieved without compliance with good governance criteria. We applied a qualitative research methodology following a Case Study approach, and data were collected using techniques from the Participatory Rural Appraisal toolbox from the field, and government and non-government organizational sources. We found that compliance with good governance criteria, financial and technical capacity (technology, tools and know-how skills) and autonomy and cross-scale institutional linkages are necessary conditions for successful local-level disaster management. Further policy and research attention require a closer examination of the dynamics of local-level institutions, which are on the front lines of disaster management and resilience building. In particular, special attention should be given to the integration of ‘governance’ and ‘resilience’ research streams.