BU disaster management research projects recognised in UK Cabinet Office publication

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

The work of Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre (BUDMC) 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).

The Digest is distributed countrywide to UK resilience officers and Local Resilience Forums (LRF), wider stakeholders and local authorities, and focused on the theme of ‘Learning to Adapt’.

Included within the Digest is a special section; ‘Spotlight on Sierra Leone’, which focused on the lessons drawn from two of Bournemouth University’s 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, “It 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’s National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), Freetown City Council (FCC) and community and chiefdom disaster management committees (CDMCs) across the country.

“These 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 ‘resolvable single points of failure’ (SPOF) that can undermine policies and plans for achieving enhanced climate resilience in the developing world”.

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 ‘Innovations that Inspire’ award by the AACSB, world’s largest association of business schools in 2023 to Bournemouth University Business School. This international accolade was specifically awarded for the contribution of the AFRICAB and EVALDIS projects for ‘Building Capacity to Manage Disasters in Africa’.

Professor Miles continued, “It 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 ‘learn to adapt’ and enhance their climate resilience portfolios and disaster management skills and techniques by focusing on Single Points of Failure (SPOF)”.

For more information about the work of Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre, visit the BU website.