Democratizing Risk Communication
On this website, you will find resources that can guide agencies, community residents, and others in interpreting and communicating risk information regarding extreme weather events such as storm surge, mudslides, floods, and others. It includes a step-by-step toolkit, accompanied by a workshop design guide that can assist you in creating learning workshops wherein participants learn risk communication. Click on one of the boxes below to learn more.
Download Training Workshop material (multi-lingual).
Teaching to the
nth Power
Narrative accounts of survival, vulnerability, and resilience.
Risk communication in the Rohingya camp
Using virtual reality for risk communication
photos used with permission from the Bangladesh Centre for Disaster Preparedness and the Center for Disaster Preparedness
Relational Approach: Messages are done in everyday language, as if delivered face-to-face.
Democratizing Risk Communication: Community members are not just recipients; they are risk communicators as well.
Translation: Participants train in interpreting official bulletins and translating them to everyday language.
Action Research: Workshops involve some aspects of doing; not just learning but also taking even a small action now.
The approach reduces the strong directionality of classic risk communication. Knowledge is not simply transmitted from expert to local but shared among equals. Instead, participants develop and design information for their use and become active risk communicators. Community is an active participant; people act upon risk knowledge. For more on the theory and research behind this approach, click on the Publications tab above.