Disaster Response and the Africa We Want

Munyaradzi Mawere, Louis Nyahunda

• Publisher: Langaa RPCIG
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9789956004829
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Index: Social Sciences

Africa faces an escalating burden of disasters – from extreme droughts and floods to pandemics and devastating cyclones. Driven by climate change, historical inequalities, and governance challenges, these crises are stalling development across the continent. Too often, disaster management relies on a reactive "firefighting" approach – a fatal strategy that exacerbates mortality and structural damage. Furthermore, these events are not isolated; they intersect with deeply rooted vulnerabilities, rendering disasters an ongoing social condition rather than temporary disruptions. Disaster Response and the Africa We Want moves beyond these reactive mechanisms to offer a comprehensive, multidisciplinary exploration of disaster risk and governance. Highlighting the lived realities of affected communities, this volume foregrounds African knowledge systems, local voices, and culturally responsive practices to shape sustainable risk reduction. By challenging existing paradigms, the book provides clear pathways for inclusive, context-specific resilience. It offers actionable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars dedicated to realising the "Africa We Want" – a continent scaffolded by equitable development, epistemic pluralism, and proactive disaster mitigation.

Table of contents

• Front cover
• Title page
• Copyright
• Notes on Contributors
• Table of Contents
• Introduction: Africa Free from Anthropogenic Related Hazards is the Africa We Want
• 1 | Implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in Zimbabwe: A Review of Disaster Risk Governance (2015-2030)
• 2 | Access to Disaster Risk Reduction Information by Persons with Speech and Hearing Impairments in Rural Zaka, Zimbabwe
• 3 | Institutional Barriers to Disaster Resilience-Building Strategies in Gweru City, Zimbabwe
• 4 | Postcolonial Periphery: A Social Work Perspective on Informal Settlements, Disaster Vulnerability, and the Limits of “Just” Transition in South Africa
• 5 | Use of social media in disaster risk management in Africa
• 6 | Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), disaster prediction and mitigation in Africa: Lessons from Cyclone Idai and KwaZulu-Natal Floods
• 7 | Exploring the role of indigenous knowledge systems and crop science in promoting resilience of African agriculture to climate-related disasters
• 8 | ‘Kuwanda kwemaoko kunotsonza ndima/Izandla Ziyagezana’ - The praxis of Leveraging on Indigenous Knowledge Systems for Disaster Risk Reduction in Zimbabwe and South Africa
• 9 | The role of local government in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and mitigation: A case of eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
• 10 | Resilience Strategies Among Women in the Face of El Nino-induced Food Insecurity in Rural Zimbabwe
• 11 | Development and Disasters: Insights from Green Social Work on an Oxymoron with a Reciprocal Intimacy from Zimbabwe and South Africa
• 12 | Resilience and disasters in the African context: A positive psychology perspective
• 13 | The Future is Local: Centring Indigenous Knowledge in Africa’s Disaster Mitigation Strategies
• 14 | Assessment of Community Capacity for Urban Water Resilience in Climate-Stressed Urban Environment in the Face of Climate Change and Disasters: The Case of Chinhoyi Urban, Zimbabwe
• 15 | Role of disaster education and infrastructure in disaster preparedness and mitigation in Africa
• 16 | The vulnerability of Southern African countries to climate change-related disasters and their state of preparedness: A comparative analysis between Zimbabwe and South Africa
• 17 | The historiography, pattern and traditional mitigatory mechanisms of disasters in Zimbabwe: Some critical reflections
• 18 | The integration of Green Social Work model in the social work curriculum and the need fordisaster informed professional development in Malawi
• 19 | Africa, Foreign Aid And Disaster Mitigation: An Understanding Of The 2024/2025 Catastrophic Drought In Zambia And A Way Forward
• 20 | The Environment, Policy, and Disasters in Africa
• 21 | A Criminological Analysis of Human Rights Abuses by Security Personnel in Disaster Situations in Zimbabwe and South Africa
• 22 | Prospects of Achieving Disaster Preparedness in Africa
• 23 | Climate-Related Disasters and Environmental Hazards in Southern Africa: Unmasking the Triggers, Impacts, and Pathways to Preparedness
• 24 | Agricultural Practices, Food Security and Climate Change-Related Disasters Impacts in Africa: Proposed Ways of Reducing Vulnerability and Enhancing Resilience for South Africa and Zimbabwe
• 25 | COVID-19 Pandemic and the Vulnerabilities of Persons with Disabilities in Zimbabwe
• 26 | Resilience Strategies of Grandparent Headed Households (Ghhs) in the Face of Climate Change in Rural Zimbabwe: A Case of Ward 14, Bikita District
• 27 | From Crisis to Commitment: The Role of Political Will and Social Work in African Disaster Governance
• Back cover