Understanding stakeholder participation in post-disaster recovery (case study: Nagapattinam, India)

Chandrasekhar, Divya

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/16018 Copy

Description

Title

Understanding stakeholder participation in post-disaster recovery (case study: Nagapattinam, India)

Author(s)

Chandrasekhar, Divya

Issue Date

2010-05-19T18:32:05Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Olshansky, Robert B.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Olshansky, Robert B.

Committee Member(s)

• Hopkins, Lewis D.
• Miraftab, Faranak
• Flint, Courtney G.

Department of Study

Urban & Regional Planning

Discipline

Regional Planning

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• disaster
• recovery
• stakeholder participation
• Participatory
• planning
• development
• Land Use Planning
• international development
• community development

Abstract

Stakeholder participation is widely acknowledged as a critical component of post-disaster recovery because it helps create a shared understanding of local hazard risk and vulnerability, improves recovery and mitigation decision efficacy, and builds social capital and local resilience to future disasters. But approaches commonly used to facilitate participation and empower local communities depend on lengthy consensus-building processes which is not conducive to time-constrained post-disaster recovery. Moreover, these approaches are often criticized for being overly technocratic and ignoring existing community power and trust structures. Therefore, there is a need for more nuanced, analytical and applied research on stakeholder participation in planning for post-disaster recovery. This research examines participatory behavior of three stakeholder groups (government agencies, non-local non-government organizations, local community-based organizations) in three coastal village communities of Nagapattinam (India) that were recovering from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The study found eight different forms of participation and non-participation in the case study communities, ranging from 'transformative' participation to 'marginalized' non-participation. These forms of participation and non-participatory behavior emanated from the negotiation of four factors, namely stakeholder power, legitimacy, trust, and urgency for action. The study also found that the time constraints and changing conditions of recovery pose particular challenges for how these factors operated on the ground and over the course of recovery. Finally, the study uses these insights to suggest four strategies for recovery managers to use in the short- and long-term to facilitate more effective stakeholder participation in post-disaster recovery.

Graduation Semester

2010-5

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16018

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2010 Divya Chandrasekhar

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