Leaving No One Behind. A Public Policy Perspective on Disability-Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction

Resumen

National and local Disaster Risk Reduction strategies struggle to include the voices of people with disabilities despite the disproportionate exposure of this community and the requirements of international legal frameworks.  Multiple institutional and research papers have primarily focused on analysing field initiatives and technical tools developed to enhance disability inclusion in risk assessment and emergency planning processes. Instead, this essay examines the implementation gap through public policy lenses. The research is based on quantitative-qualitative policy analysis, supported by official reports and global tracking tools. Findings show an insufficient number of national and local policies and a limited level of inclusion along the formulation process. This paper also identifies possible drivers for adopting disability-inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction strategies. The suggested policy framework implies engaging all the relevant stakeholders (starting with persons with disabilities and their organisations) throughout the policy process, from agenda setting to policy formulation, supporting the process with a distributed governance model and inclusive budgeting, pursuing a cross-sector approach, and leveraging the enabling factors.