| dc.description.abstract | Disasters have been on the increase in the world, now more than ever before, with developing countries facing the most brunt. This study reviews the impact of cross-border management initiatives on disaster response. The general study objective is to assess the impact of cross-border management initiatives on disaster response, through the use of the case study of Ethiopia and Kenya borders. It is important to appreciate the fact that borders can be hotly contested by a wide variety of conflict actors and governments. It is also crucial to note that regular citizen can play a more decisive role on border issues, especially when it comes to building peace and stability than even government. Cross border disaster interventions have eluded most countries within the East African region, mainly owing to low capacity. This challenge is made worse by disaster management mechanisms that are inadequate and/or unavailable for regional cooperation to mitigate and prevent manmade and natural disaster. Emerging cross border initiatives and cooperation are known to allow many stakeholders to come together. In the long term, they create fairly sustainable response mechanism for disaster risks enhanced through sharing of information and resources. This study aims to examine the emergence of cross-^border management in Africa. It examines how Eastern African states can create structured processes of cross-border management to enhance response to disasters, and finally examines the challenges and opportunities of cross-border management initiatives and disaster response in Kenya and Ethiopia. The study utilized neo-realist theory. Specifically, the study applied the use of neo-realist approach to security that has also been christened the new security thinking. This approach attempts to broaden the concept of security but still looks at the state as an important player in the provision and management of security. One of the major proponents of this approach is Barry Buzan who has broadened the meaning of security. The target populations were all the key stakeholders in national disaster preparedness sector and persons in areas with high prevalence of disasters. It relied on desktop review of exiting scholarly literature for secondary data and focused group discussion tool for primary data. A questionnaire was administered to the key disaster preparedness stakeholders such as National Disaster Operations Centre, the National Police Service, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service, the Kenya Red Cross, United Nations and other Non-governmental organizations practitioners relevant to the field. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics and document analysis was done. The study found that the majority of respondents (30%)^were in age group (50 - 59) and the lowest age group numbers (6%) were in (60-69) years. This was an indication that the target group had a lot of experience on the subject of the topic. The study came to the conclusion that disaster risk management appears to be a great challenge in this modem century and hence calls for modem disaster management approaches. This study therefore recommended the need for active community participation in cross border disaster management and response. In addition, this study highly recommended refresher training, acquisition of materials/equipment’s and enhanced cross border disaster management techniques. | |
