Rethinking Sustainable Livelihood Approaches for Post-disaster Reconstruction and Recovery

In view of the direct and indirect impacts of disasters on communities and their livelihoods, governments, the private sector and civil society organizations have been faced with tremendous challenges in identifying best practice solutions for revamping community functions in the aftermath of disasters. Although there are myriads of approaches for ensuring communities get back to normal including the ‘bouncing back’ or ‘building back better’ mantra, contemporary studies have scarcely discussed transitions from the traditional modes of livelihood recovery to digitization and other forms of ‘self-protection’ and ‘social protection’ where individuals and communities are empowered to reduce risks and their own vulnerability in response to shocks and amidst an ailing global or local economy. This scholarly piece therefore explores sustainable livelihoods recovery in the context of rethinking a systemic approach to recovery that is more inclusive, empathic and considers neutrality in humanitarian interventions. It builds on the foundational and contemporary works of founding and contemporary disaster risk management researchers and risk governance policy experts to shed more light on facilitating accessibility to improved and sustainable humanitarian interventions particularly in rapid and slow-onset disaster recovery.