Community Disaster And Risk Reduction: The Role Of Social Workers In Botswana
Keywords:
Botswana, Social work, Risk reduction, CommunityAbstract
The aim of this study is to appraise the issues of natural disasters and the role of
social workers in risk reduction at individual, household, group, and or community
levels. Communities in Botswana are constantly affected by natural disasters such
as droughts, floods, windstorms, heavy rains, and wildfires. The same individuals,
families and communities appear to be repeatedly affected without the means for
recovery and /or rehabilitation. Although the impact of disasters could be mitigated
and prevented, there is little or no effort made towards disaster risk reduction by
communities. There could be several reasons for the in-action either by individuals,
groups, and communities and/or by the government. One of such reasons may be
limited technical ability in disaster management science amongst communities,
particularly community development workers. Social work is one of such
professions that aims at improving the social functioning of individuals, groups,
and communities within their environment. The improvement must address threats
from disaster hazards, vulnerabilities, and risks within communities. In most cases,
those vulnerable to disasters are the poor who find it difficult to bounce back to
normal functioning due to a weak socio-economic base. As such, social workers,
who drive community development, must design and implement community based
disaster programmes in line with the Hyogo Framework of Action 2015 in
Botswana.
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