Rural cooperatives in disaster risk reduction and management: contributions and challenges
Disaster Prevention and Management
ISSN: 0965-3562
Article publication date: 25 January 2022
Issue publication date: 17 May 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is to contribute to addressing the knowledge gap on the roles of rural cooperatives in disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM).
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a mixed-methods approach highlighting indigenous strategies of community engagement – the pantatabtaval/tong tongan (brainstorming and dialogs), pan-iestorya/dad-at (storytelling session) and field observations with 50 village-level cooperatives in Benguet, Philippines to understand their contributions to local DRRM.
Findings
Rural cooperatives in Benguet have evolved on their context of service from mere rural development to now include DRRM donations and aid for disaster-affected families, credit and loans are the most common services of these rural cooperative extended to their members to deal with risks of disasters.
Originality/value
Most research on cooperatives focuses on their contribution to socio-economic development and only few dealt with DRRM. This paper explores the link of these rural organizations with DRRM drawing evidence from cooperatives in the rural communities of Benguet, Philippines.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to the local cooperatives of the 13 municipalities of Benguet province, Philippines for their time and effort in responding to the interviews and for assisting the researcher during field observations. The author conveys heartfelt thanks to the mentor, Professor Loïc Le Dé for technical expertise and guidance. The author also acknowledged valuable discussions with Professor Emmanuel Raju and Revathi N. Krishna during the development of the paper. The author wished to thank the guest editors for the feedback and suggestions that helped improve this paper. ECR peers, Chrysant Lily Kusumowardoyo and Husna Wulansari are also acknowledged for their reflection. Profound appreciation to the Department of Agrarian Reform – Benguet Provincial Office for linking the authors to the local cooperatives. The author also thanks Ms. Elvira Besic for the map.
Citation
Lawangen, A. (2022), "Rural cooperatives in disaster risk reduction and management: contributions and challenges", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 144-157. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-03-2021-0083
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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