Engaging youth in disaster risk reduction and management in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)

Abstract

Most governments in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), including the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), are actively seeking methods to enhance and expand opportunities for public participation and involvement, create innovations, and improve climate change preparedness and adaptation. This is in recognition of the acceleration of anthropogenic (pollution or environmental change originating from primarily human activity and externalities from industries and multinational cooperation) and climate change risks and costs associated with catastrophes. The SADC nations have signed the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) and have committed to a societal approach to Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM), which includes youths as equal partners. In the context of catastrophes throughout Africa, particularly in SADC, the youth have increasingly and frequently been defined as a demographic that is at high risk of suffering negative effects during and after disasters and, consequently, a population in need of protection. The ability of the youth to influence change in their communities and to participate in the development and implementation of innovative and participatory DRRM policies and practices has only lately come to light. The youth have never-before-seen levels of technology know-how, entrepreneurial mindsets, and self-assurance, which they can proactively draw on and utilise to make a difference effectively and sustainably in the world. Accordingly, the youth aged between 12 and 24 years have the potential to significantly increase the SADC region's ability to lessen the risks and effects connected with anthropogenic and climate change-induced catastrophes. This policy brief examines the current levels of youth engagement and the prospects for increasing and strengthening their involvement in DRRM in SADC.