Reconceptualizing community-based disaster risk management: From external-led projects to community-centered resilience building through a systematic review

Abstract

Despite recognition of Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) as essential for building resilience, protecting development gains, and reducing poverty in disaster-prone regions, a fundamental paradox persists: CBDRM initiatives mostly remain externally-driven projects, led by external agencies, implemented top-down with varying degrees of community involvement that cease after funding ends, failing to address the structural vulnerabilities that perpetuate poverty and inequality. This systematic review analyzed 33 peer-reviewed CBDRM cases (2005–2024) from Asia, the Americas, and Australia to examine: (1) how CBDRM has been applied across contexts; (2) the roles and power dynamics among stakeholders; (3) benefits and limitations for vulnerable populations; and (4) contributions to sustainable development outcomes. Through thematic and co-occurrence analysis, we identified four interconnected pillars of effective CBDRM: community networking, policy frameworks, participatory approaches, and local/indigenous knowledge integration. Our findings suggest that community-centered initiatives demonstrating bottom-up approaches and self-reliance tend to exhibit greater sustainability and resilience compared to purely top-down implementations, which typically cease after project completion. However, successful implementation requires balancing community autonomy with external support while explicitly targeting structural inequalities. We propose the ‘Resilient CBDRM Framework’ that reconceptualizes the traditional donor-recipient relationship, positioning communities as primary development actors within a tiered support system. This framework offers practical guidance for development practitioners, policymakers, and communities to transform CBDRM from short-term, dependency-creating projects into sustainable mechanisms for poverty reduction, democratic participation, and inclusive development. Our findings suggest that effective disaster risk management requires addressing the root causes of vulnerability poverty, inequality, and powerlessness rather than merely managing hazard exposure.