Community involvement in Flood Risk Governance in the Mekong Delta

Abstract

A review of existing literature indicates the importance of involving the community in decision-making processes to strengthen national policies. However, this ‘bottom-up’ approach is not always taken into consideration when creating national policies or implemented in local projects, especially not when focusing on floods. Unfortunately, no research has been done to assess the involvement of communities in flood risk governance. The aim of this research is to evaluate the level of community involvement in the decision-making processes of flood risk related policies and projects in the Mekong Delta. Based on this level, recommendations will be made to strengthen a bottom-up approach on flood risk governance. To do this, a new framework has been made of good Flood Risk Community Involvement (FRCI). With this new framework two national policies, a national implementation report, and a local project evaluation report are being analysed and evaluated. This will eventually show to what extent the local communities have been involved in flood risk related decision-making processes, in the Mekong Delta (Vietnam).