A group of agencies, including Practical Action, asked ourselves when we were discussing how to effectively monitor and evaluate our DFID funded disaster risk reduction (DRR) projects. As a result of this debate we commissioned John Twigg and a team of academics to design a resource tool to support us in this work.

The outcome has been the desk-based development of The Characteristics of a Disaster Resilient Community, a guidance note for government and civil society organizations working on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) initiatives at community level in partnership with vulnerable communities. It shows what a 'disaster-resilient community' might consist of, by setting out the many different elements of resilience. It also provides some ideas about how to progress towards resilience.

Based on literature from all over the world (including Spanish), the characteristics are multi hazard and subsequently highly comprehensive to cover different village settings and scenarios. The organisation of the characteristics is in synergy with the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), which is especially relevant for those who are keen advocates to ensure that the HFA targets the most vulnerable at the community level.

This is the second edition of the Characteristics. It is based on desk research, discussions with experts and feedback from an extended period of field testing of the pilot edition by a number of agencies, and now contains more explanation of how it can be used, along with illustrative case studies.