| dc.description.abstract | African heads of states summit in 2012 developed a framework to end drought emergencies for African nations by the year 2027 that Kenya ratified and a national target set to ending drought emergencies in the country 2022 in the Medium Term Plan III of Vision 2030. Alongside, community participation was crucial among priorities for action in the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 adopted by 168 member states of the United Nations in 2005. As a result the importance of local initiatives and participatory and gender sensitive approaches in disaster risk management and sustainable development have gained popularity in the country. The Constitution of Kenya set the stage for paradigm shift in terms of institutional reforms providing for citizen participation. Devolution of government and public participation are not only new, but also critical components of national development. While the constitution strongly advocates for citizen participation in the country as a fundamental right to involve local communities in building disaster resiliency for effective drought risk management, it is regrettable that there is still no clear understanding of the role of community participation in disaster risk management. Stakeholders often view community participation simply as a matter of training emergency response volunteers and ignore, rather than support, initiatives developed by community based and especially women‟s and youth groups. This research sought to determine the role of community participation in the management of drought disaster risk management in Kilifi County by analyzing data collected from community members focusing on grassroots community participation in disaster resilience building initiatives. The researcher examined the role of community participation in beneficiary identification, needs identification, information dissemination, ownership and control in disaster risk initiatives and described their effects on the management of drought disaster risk management. Literature relating to the role of community participation in disaster management was carried out. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected from 199 respondents and analyzed. The study revealed that there was a significant role of community participation in drought risk management as the process was implemented by the community themselves although in most of the cases the criteria was predetermined and dominated by experts who assertively considered the contribution of community. The study recommended that stakeholders needed to set up an integrated drought early warning stations fully furnished with facilities so that many people can get drought warning information early, timely and adequately. Development partners need to assist the county government to form community units at the sub counties and train them adequately to become community drivers for drought risk planning and management. Development agencies and the government needed to create awareness among the male population on the importance of participating in drought risk management. There was need for the development agencies to scale up extension services through community based technical assistants to promote uptake of new drought risk reduction technologies to elevate community livelihood productivity beyond subsistence | en_US |
