Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction and Adaptation Planning: Tools for Prioritizing Potential Solutions

This guide provides instructions to review and prioritize solutions identified through participatory community-based assessments while taking economic efficiency into consideration. Most traditional economic analysis, such as cost benefit analysis, is too complex to be used for community-based activities and interventions, especially when climate change considerations have to be incorporated. This guide bridges this gap by providing tools and methods for answering the following questions: Which solutions identified in the VCA and in subsequent action planning are more economically feasible than others? Which solutions should have priority over others, considering specific factors such as who they benefit, how benefits are affected by gender, and so forth? This guide provides step-by-step instructions for the implementation of an approach for prioritizing solutions where the Participatory Cost-Benefit Analysis (PCBA) is a central tool that allows communities to compare the costs and benefits of several identified disaster risk reduction measures. The guide was developed by the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET) and commissioned by the Global Disaster Preparedness Center.