5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014 Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice 24-28 August 2014 in Davos, Switzerland

1. Crisis communication – the challenges
in setting up policies and guidelines for
5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
citizen engagement
Irina Stănciugelu
Associate Professor
National University of Political Studies and Public Administration,
Bucharest, Romania
Member in Advisory Board of PEP Project

2. 5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
Structure
1. The questions
– What is citizen (community) engagement?
– Why do we need community engagement?
– Who are the actors in crisis communication?
– How do we foster resilience by crisis communication?
– What are the ways to communicate directly with community?
– What are the main challenges to adoption of social media as crisis
communication tool?
2. The answers are to reveal some of the challenges the we
confront when thinking about policies and guidelines
3. The solutions are to find together ….during our panel
discussions!

3. I. What is citizen (community) engagement?
Definition
• “structured dialogue, joint problem solving, and collaborative
action among formal authorities, citizens at-large, and local
opinion leaders around a pressing public matter” [1]
Role in crisis management
• can augment officials’ abilities to govern in a crisis
• improve application of communally held resources in a
5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
crisis/disaster
• mitigate community wide losses
Important related concepts
• Civic infrastructure
• Crisis communication
• reference

4. 5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
Civic infrastructure
Definition
• “dynamic assembly of interdependent people, voluntary
associations, and social service organizations who can pool their
collective wisdom, practical experience, specialized skills, social
expectations, and material assets to work on behalf of constituent
members and, in many cases, for a larger public good” [2].
• Role in crisis management:
• to complement and enhance government’s capabilities and
responsibilities.
• requires strong institutions with which to partner.
Challenge 1 – the very existence of this civic infrastructure (cultural
and societal values and the level of civic education and citizenship are
structural factors)

5. Why do we need community engagement?
5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
Resilience!
Community resilience - definitions
• “the capacity or ability of a community to anticipate, prepare
for and respond to, and recover quickly from impacts of
disaster”
• “the ability of a system, community or society to resist,
absorb, cope with and recover from the effects of hazards”
Resilience is a process that is multi-sectorial, involving multiple
actors: “single sector planning cannot solve the complexity of
problems posed by crisis, nor build resilience to them”
Reference [3]

6. Who are the actors in crisis communication?
I. Authorities
• “blue light” authorities (fire& rescue, police, EMS)
• Municipal departments (management/Major; health & social,
5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
technical)
II. Media
III. Community (civic infrastructure)
• Private enterprises
• NGOs
• Ad-hoc Groups
• Public/citizens
Reference [4]
Challenge 2 – the level of cooperation and common operational
procedures between authorities

7. 5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
How do we foster resilience by crisis
communication?
The mutual giving and receiving of information is a crucial
component of community resilience.
Information has to be:
• Accessible
• Inclusive
Role of crisis communication in fostering community resilience:
• to assist in prevention, preparation and mitigation through
carefully designed and pre-tested communication campaigns;
• to facilitate emergency response during a crisis;
• to contribute to and, where possible, expedite recovery,
through a combination of information and dialogue.
Challenge 3: what are the best ways to make the information
both accessible and inclusive?
• refernce

8. What are the ways to communicate with the
5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
community?
1. ‘Classic’ crisis communication – authorities convey information to
members of the community in a one-way fashion, often with the
intent of educating and informing; feed-back is not necessary;
examples: press releases, public meetings, information flyers,
websites)
2. Consultation - authorities solicit opinions through surveys, polls,
focus groups, and advisory panels; the communication is one-way, the
results inform policy options and decisions
3. Community engagement - two-way flow of information between
authorities and community, where dialogue helps better
understanding of a complex issue on all sides, and where the goal is to
work together to conceive and implement a policy solution [5]
Challenge 4: which is the preponderant way of communication that is
used by organization? what are the organizational resources? there are
organizational resources to engage community?

9. Community engagement as dialogue
Characteristics:
• mechanism for citizen empowerment (civic infrastructure)
• supports community resilience
• supplies specifically required information to those asking for it
and, in the same time,
• informs the providers about what information is being sought
The best way nowadays to implement community engagement
as crisis communication tool is the use of social media.
5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org

10. What are the main challenges to adoption of social
5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
media as crisis communication tool?
Challenge 5 - Technological
– creating usable information from citizen volunteer data is often currently a
time- and resource-consuming process
– power and network outages
Challenge 6 - Social
– the organization has to have a culture of innovativeness
– the existence of social media-savvy individuals
Challenge 7 - Economic
– social media as a broadcasting tool is relatively easy and low-cost to
implement
– using social media for interactive communication it is much more
resource-intensive
Challenge 8 - Legal/ standards (reference)
– legal factors restricting organizations’ usage of social media as source for
data and information
– issues concerning privacy and confidentiality
Reference [6]

11. PEP project’s responses to these challenges
PEP project’s Reports:
• Fostering community resilience through coproduction by response
5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
organisations and citizens // challenge 4
• Experiences of and requirements for a community approach
involving social groups in crisis preparedness and responses//
challenges 1 and 2
• Crisis resilience-enhancing technology: a desk study of accessibility
and inclusiveness// challenge 3
• Enhancing public resilience technology: a desk study // challenges 1,
5 and 7
• Literature review on technology acceptance related to crisis
communication technologies // challenge 6
……and much more: case studies and Guidelines for Public
Empowerment – engaging the public in crisis management!
……and even more: wiki for professionals!!
To be find at: www.projectPEP.eu !!!

12. 5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
References
[1] Working Group on Community Engagement in Health Emergency Planning,
“Community engagement: Leadership tool for catastrophic health events” in Biosecurity
and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science Volume 5, Number 1, 2007,
[2] Ibidem
[3] International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva, 2012 ,
Characteristics of a Safe and Resilient Community - Community Based Disaster Risk
Reduction Study, available at
http://www.ifrc.org/PageFiles/96986/Final_Characteristics_Report.pdf
[4] Haataja M., Rantanen H., Sullivan H., Enhancing public resilience technology: a desk
study , Public Empowerment Policies for Crisis Management (PEP), FP7 Project 284927
Report, available at www.projectPEP.eu
[5] Working Group on Community Engagement in Health Emergency Planning,
“Community engagement: Leadership tool for catastrophic health events” in Biosecurity
and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science Volume 5, Number 1, 2007
[6] Haataja M., Rantanen H., Sullivan H., Enhancing public resilience technology: a desk
study , Public Empowerment Policies for Crisis Management (PEP), FP7 Project 284927
Report, available at www.projectPEP.eu