UNDERSTANDING THE FRAMEWORK
Introduction
Disaster Management is the coordination and integration of all activities necessary to build, sustain and improve the capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to and recover from threatening or actual natural or human-induced disasters. It is a multi-jurisdictional, multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary and multi-resource initiative. Therefore, it is vital that the Federal, State and Local Governments, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the private sector discharge their respective roles and responsibilities and complement each other in achieving shared goals of disaster management.
The involvement of different actors and stakeholders in disaster management requires the existence of a coordination and collaboration mechanism. The National Disaster Management Framework (NDMF) provides this mechanism that serves as a regulatory guideline for effective and efficient disaster management in Nigeria. The framework defines measurable, flexible and adaptable coordinating structures, and aligns key roles and responsibilities of disaster management stakeholders across the nation. It describes specific authorities and best practices for managing disasters, and explains a paradigm shift in disaster management beyond mere response and recovery.
The NDMF offers a holistic approach to disaster management. It serves as a legal instrument to address the need for consistency among multiple stakeholders. It is a coherent, transparent and inclusive policy for disaster management in Nigeria. The Framework is written especially for government officials, private-sector, Civil Society Organisations, emergency management practitioners and community leaders on the need to understand the concepts and operating guidelines for disaster management in the country.
Process
NEMA established an in-house committee to develop a “zero document” that is holistic in nature and reflects global best pratices in disaster management. This draft document served as baseline for inputs from stakeholders across the country, to ensure participation, ownership and sustainability. The Zero document sought to find answers to the following questions:
- Who has responsibility over what?
- Who has authority over what?
- Who is going to do what?
- Who is in charge of what?
- How are the jurisdictions going to work?
- With whom are they going to work?
- How will they work together?
- What is the legal authority?
- What is the resource base? Etc.
In finding answers to these questions, NEMA organised roundtable discussions in each of the 6 geo-political zones and at the National level to consider the zero document. Participants were drawn from the three tiers of government; Federal, State and Local Government, MDAs; Military, Police and Para-military; CSOs; International NGOs; development partners and the private sector. The roundatable discussions generated fresh ideas, observations and recommendations that were incorporated into the NDMF. It has eight sections made up of seven (7) focus areas and a sufficiency criteria:
- Institutional Capacity
- Coordination
- Disaster Risk Assesment
- Disaster Risk Reduction
- Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Mitigation
- Disaster Response
- Disaster Recovery
- Facilitators and Enablers
Section 1 (Institutional Capacity) focuses on the establishment of necessary institutional arrangements for implementing disaster management within the Federal, State and Local Government levels.
Section 2 (Coordination) of the NDMF specifies the Strategic and Operational types of coordination amongst stakeholders. The Strategic type covers the horizontal and vertical coordination mechanisms, while Operational defines field level coordination mechanisms.
Section 3 (Disaster Risk Assessment) addresses the need for disaster risk assessment and monitoring hazards, vulnerabilities and measuring coping/adaptation capacities to set priorities for risk reduction and effectiveness of stakeholders efforts.
Section 4 (Disaster Risk Reduction) introduces planning and implementation as DRR strategies to inform development-oriented approaches to plans, programmes and projects that reduce disaster risks.
Section 5 (Disaster Preparedness, Prevention and Mitigation) deals with strategies to prevent the occurrence of such disasters from having devastating impact on people, infrastructures and the economy; curtail the occurrence of disaster events; and reduce the impact of disasters, if they do occur.
Section 6 (Disaster Response) focuses on the requirements for an integrated, coordinated policy that address rapid and effective response to disasters
Section 7 (Disaster Recovery) dwells on strategies required for bringing back disaster affected area and victims to normalcy through rehabilitation and reintegration.
Section 8 (Facilitators and Enablers) provides sufficiency conditions for, integrating roles of emergency management agencies; information management and communication; monitoring and evaluation; education and training; and public awareness and research. It also covers requisite funding arrangement for disaster management.
Guidelines to be Disseminated
The sections on Guidelines to be Disseminated contain all the disaster management related plans, policies, guidelines, operation procedures etc developed by disaster management related organizations for their operations and activities. They are documented at the last section in all the Thematic Areas of the NDMF. These documents shall be used as operational documents for implementing disaster management activities within the Thematic Areas. In addition, the section shall be updated regularly to ensure that all relevant plans, policies, guidelines, operation procedures are documented for efficiency in coordination.
Muhammad Sani Sidi
DIrector-General
NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
(NEMA)