The wild fires that have raged across the Western Cape are a striking reminder of the life-threatening risks we face as our environment changes and urban development pushes further into surrounding areas. They also highlight the urgency for South Africa and other African countries to develop their own skilled and accessible local risk management expertise. Now, thanks to a $4.1 million award from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to Stellenbosch University's Periperi U (Partners Enhancing Resilience for People Exposed to Risks) initiative, Stellenbosch University will be leading one of its largest continent-wide operational collaborations to date and doing just that.
The USAID administers the United States' foreign assistance program providing economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 80 countries worldwide.
"The grant will allow Stellenbosch University, in partnership with 11 other African universities, to take forward Periperi U's ambitious disaster risk management agenda to train more than 8 000 students and practitioners in 12 African countries by 2019," says Dr Ailsa Holloway, the Director of the Research Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction (RADAR), the Stellenbosch University centre that coordinates Periperi U.
According to Holloway, Periperi U is not a new initiative. Rather, it is a globally recognised African university partnership which was purposefully established to "jump-start" strategic disaster risk capacity-building capabilities across the continent and to advance academic action on risk and vulnerability reduction. It was first conceptualised in 2006 as a one-year pilot project, and then due to its sustained success, incrementally expanded over ten years to include 12 universities that now span the continent.
By 2016, the initiative's achievements were being increasingly acknowledged, with 23 new disaster risk-related academic programmes and modules introduced in English, French and Portuguese across Africa, registration of more than 2000 students and the active engagement of 170 academic and support staff.
"These new, diverse and highly relevant disaster risk management academic programmes were designed and tailored to reflect Africa's complex risk profile," adds Holloway.
They include a new Masters in Public Health and Disaster Management offered by Makerere University in Uganda and an MSc in the Prevention and Management of Food Insecurity Risks at Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis, Senegal. At Stellenbosch University (SU), a Masters in Philosophy in Disaster Risk Science and Development is already on-offer, with the intent to add a postgraduate diploma in Disaster Risk Studies and Development from 2018.
"This concerted effort has dramatically improved skilled capabilities in highly disaster-prone countries like Ethiopia and Madagascar. Tracking results for the hundreds of disaster risk management graduates with Masters degree qualifications from these two countries alone indicate that graduates have taken up positions in government, non-governmental organisations and even United Nations' agencies.
"This has both made disaster risk management expertise locally accessible, as well as markedly reduced dependence on technical assistance from international relief agencies. Such shifts in human capability in disaster-prone countries are crucial for African governments to take greater responsibility for local risk management," says Holloway.
Moreover, recognition of the partnership's advancement of higher education efforts in the disaster risk field now extends well beyond Africa. Two years ago Periperi U received International Centre of Excellence status from the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) global programme, with particular emphasis on risk education and learning. This is due to Periperi U's proven successes in integrating disaster risk considerations into different academic disciplines and fields of practice, including urban planning, public health, agriculture, economics, engineering and environmental science. It also reflects the partnership's clear commitment to work closely with policy makers, practitioners and risk-prone communities in shaping its research and teaching priorities.
"Periperi U's status as an international centre of excellence also shows how the partnership operates at different levels," says Holloway.
"For instance, at continental and global scales, Periperi U participates in the African Union and United Nations' processes related to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction to ensure that Africa's universities are actively included in disaster risk management policy-making. Such engagement has been crucial, as until recently, disaster risk management in Africa was very relief-oriented and 'hands-on', largely bypassing the continent's academic institutions. This resulted in a heavy dependence on outside technical support and international humanitarian assistance. Thankfully, the situation is rapidly changing in African countries with active academic, training and research programmes in disaster risk management, and where there is close collaboration between universities and their government counterparts."
In this next phase, Periperi U plans to optimise this growing momentum at local, continental and international levels. It will do this by implementing 34 disaster risk-related academic programmes and modules across the continent to reach more than 5 000 African students in 12 countries by 2019. These efforts will be further strengthened by Periperi U's goal to work closely with local practitioners and professionals to improve disaster risk management capabilities on the ground. To achieve this goal, Periperi U partners will connect with more than 3 400 practitioners through 130 professional short courses on practical topics as diverse as 'public health in flood-prone areas' or 'humanitarian logistics'.
The value of Periperi U in strengthening local risk management capacity is clear from RADAR's efforts in the Western Cape. In one example, the RADAR team carried out a community risk assessment in Wallacedene, a township near Kraaifontein in the Western Cape.
"In 2015, when we did the assessment, the situation was appalling," says Holloway. "However, through socially responsive research and mobilisation, just over a year later, we saw the launch of an informal dwelling fire alarm programme in the same settlement with strong support from government. We have subsequently been tasked to do the follow-up research to see if it makes a difference to have smoke detectors in informal dwellings.
"This is a material example of how Periperi U partners engage with at-risk communities close to home and how they can make a real difference to local resilience. It also shows how universities can work closely with government departments and conduct meaningful research on interventions that can potentially prevent injuries and deaths, in this instance, in a fire-prone area."
In terms of the 'bigger picture' continentally and globally, Holloway is positive that Periperi U has been pivotal in shifting Africa's view of its disaster risk management capabilities as well as the perceptions of those outside.
"This is not a once-off project, but a long-term initiative to redirect disaster risk scholarship so it becomes fit for purpose in a rapidly changing Africa. USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance's sustained commitment has been central to Periperi U's success with more than $9 million (R 100 million) entrusted to Stellenbosch University for university-based disaster risk management capacity building in Africa since 2011."
* This press release is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of Stellenbosch University and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
** Contact Dr Ailsa Holloway from RADAR at 021 808 9281 for more information or Lynne Rippenaar-Moses, Communications and PR Officer at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, at 073 534 5560.
