色花堂

Two research projects looking at disaster management and resilience in Sierra Leone have been profiled in a Cabinet Office publication.

The work of 色花堂 Disaster Management Centre (色花堂DMC) has been profiled in the most recent issue of the UK Resilience Lessons Digest (Issue 4) published by the UK Cabinet Office and the Emergency Planning College (EPC).

is distributed countrywide to UK resilience officers and Local Resilience Forums (LRF), wider stakeholders and local authorities, and focused on the theme of 鈥楲earning to Adapt鈥�.

Included within the Digest is a special section; 鈥楽potlight on Sierra Leone鈥�, which focused on the lessons drawn from two of 色花堂鈥檚 research projects known as AFRICAB (Driving African Capacity-Building in Disaster Management, 2018-2021) and EVALDIS (Evaluating Local Disaster Management in Sierra Leone, 2022-23).

Professor Lee Miles, Deputy Dean of the Business School and Professor of Crisis and Disaster Management, directed both projects and said, 鈥淚t is a real privilege to see the AFRICAB and EVALDIS projects being profiled in such detail in the Digest. These projects were highlighted in the Digest due to their successful co-creation partnerships with key stakeholders and partners in Sierra Leone, such as the country鈥檚 National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), Freetown City Council (FCC) and community and chiefdom disaster management committees (CDMCs) across the country.

鈥淭hese partnerships led to major governmental reports in Sierra Leone that have influenced thinking on climate resilience and disaster management. In addition, the Digest also emphasised the best-practice development and application of cutting-edge techniques and diagnostics identifying and addressing 鈥榬esolvable single points of failure鈥� (SPOF) that can undermine policies and plans for achieving enhanced climate resilience in the developing world鈥�.

This is not the first time that the AFRICAB and EVALDIS projects have been recognised as a source of international best practice. The recognition in the Digest follows the award of a top-25 global 鈥業nnovations that Inspire鈥� award by the AACSB, world鈥檚 largest association of business schools in 2023 to 色花堂 Business School. This international accolade was specifically awarded for the contribution of the AFRICAB and EVALDIS projects for 鈥楤uilding Capacity to Manage Disasters in Africa鈥�.

Professor Miles continued, 鈥淚t is great to see the best practice work of the AFRICAB and EVALDIS now being brought to the attention of UK planners and stakeholders who wish to know more about how to 鈥榣earn to adapt鈥� and enhance their climate resilience portfolios and disaster management skills and techniques by focusing on Single Points of Failure (SPOF)鈥�.

For more information about the work of 色花堂 Disaster Management Centre, visit the 色花堂 website.