1. Thematic Group 1: Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience
13th Meeting of the Community of Users on Secure, Safe and Resilient Societies
Thematic Group 1: Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience
Risk-Informed Development: Implications
Magda Stepanyan, MA, MSc, CIRM
March 2019
Brussels, Belgium

2. Introduction Magda Stepanyan, MA, MSc, CIRM:
Over 20 years of management and consultancy work. Portfolio: risk governance, enterprise risk management (ERM), national risk assessment, risk management of trust funds and other pooled funding operations, resilience programming, disaster and climate risk governance, civil protection, PDNA, DRR/DRM, M&E, strategic planning. 
Risk Society is a consultancy firm based in The Hague and operational across the globe. Focus: risk management for sustainable development.

3. Risk-Informed Development: mainstream understanding
‘if it’s not risk informed, it’s not sustainable development’
Mainstream understanding of ‘risk-informed development’ equals to ‘disaster risk informed development’:
Hazard
Vulnerability of assets, people, environment
Capacities to withstand & recover from disasters

4. Risk-Informed Development: alternative perspective
Mainstream understanding of risk-informed i.e. ‘disaster risk informed development’, is too narrow. Risks to sustainable development are broader than only ‘disaster risk’. / However this is subject to another discussion.

5. Risk-Informed Development: alternative perspective
(b) ‘Hazard, vulnerability, capacity’ formula works only in one case: single object and one hazard
In all other cases (multiple assets, communities, environment + various hazards), we cannot discuss RISK without considering three main qualities of RISK:
Risks are time bound; hence, agree on time horizon
Risks are attached to objectives; hence, agree on objectives
Risks are socially constructed; hence, (a) understand ‘risk footprint’, i.e. causes and effects of each risk and therefore, those who contribute and those who bear the impact of the risk, (b) run concern assessment, i.e. whose risks matter?

6. Risk-Informed Development: alternative perspective
Understanding qualities of risk is critical to inform disaster risk thinking, if we want to
create shared understanding of risk profiles and prioritize risks, and
ensure coordinated efforts towards disaster risk reduction (DRR)

7. Thank you!