‘Don’t call us vulnerable!’: Rethinking flood vulnerability and community-led governance

Abstract

Traditional views on flood vulnerability often present a simplistic government-community relationship, portraying communities as passive recipients of aid. This perspective overlooks the dynamic agency of urban residents in shaping their own governance structures. Recent research challenges this binary thinking by revealing how communities actively manage flood risks. However, the intricate interplay between government absence and community-led actions, and their role in everyday governance, remains underexplored. Drawing on scholarship in flood vulnerability and community-led governance, this paper examines the experiences and management strategies of flood-prone residents in Dansoman, Accra, using interviews, focus groups, and “follow-along participant observation.” Three key themes emerged: “anticipate and navigate,” “collaborate and compensate for,” and “rupture and replace.” These themes illustrate how residents acquiesce to, reconfigure, or challenge government roles in flood management, establishing self-governance through community-led initiatives. These efforts often legitimize and strengthen community resilience, sometimes even usurping and replacing state authority. The findings underscore the need to recognize community agency in managing flood risks and compensating for insufficient government support through solidarity and self-help. Policymakers can enhance flood management by incorporating these community-driven insights, fostering more effective, inclusive, and sustainable strategies that reflect the fluid, evolving relationships between government and communities.