Addressing the cultural gap between humanitarian assistance and local responses to risk through a place-based approach

This policy brief argues that disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts often fail because they ignore local cultural interpretations of risk. Despite trillions of dollars in aid, climate-related risks are rising, partly due to a disconnect between international aid actors and on-the-ground realities. The authors propose a place-based approach to integrate cultural knowledge into DRR policy to avoid wasting resources and reinforcing social inequalities.

• Despite an estimated $3 trillion in aid over the last twenty years, climate-related risks and disasters continue to increase, suggesting that international humanitarian efforts to build resilience and reduce risk have not been fully effective.
• There is a significant disconnect between international disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts and local cultural interpretations of risk. Because references to culture in DRR are often vague, they are difficult to operationalize, leading to organizational culture clashes and a detachment from ground realities.
• When external aid actors ignore local cultural knowledge and project their own biases, they risk bypassing existing social arrangements. This can lead to the inequitable distribution of aid, the creation of new power dynamics and favoritism, and the reinforcement of inequalities based on disability, ethnicity, or gender.
• The authors advocate for a place-based approach to DRR that integrates cultural knowledge into policy and practice. They argue that without tools and frameworks that reflect diverse, culturally-influenced understandings of risk, development plans will be mismatched, resulting in increased risk and wasted resources.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2016). Addressing the cultural gap between humanitarian assistance and local responses to risk through a place-based approach. https://www.sei.org/publications/addressing-the-cultural-gap-between-humanitarian-assistance-and-local-responses-to-risk-through-a-place-based-approach/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Addressing the cultural gap between humanitarian assistance and local responses to risk through a place-based approach. 2016. https://www.sei.org/publications/addressing-the-cultural-gap-between-humanitarian-assistance-and-local-responses-to-risk-through-a-place-based-approach/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Addressing the cultural gap between humanitarian assistance and local responses to risk through a place-based approach |date=19 April 2016 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/addressing-the-cultural-gap-between-humanitarian-assistance-and-local-responses-to-risk-through-a-place-based-approach/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2016addressing, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Addressing the cultural gap between humanitarian assistance and local responses to risk through a place-based approach}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2016}, month = apr, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/addressing-the-cultural-gap-between-humanitarian-assistance-and-local-responses-to-risk-through-a-place-based-approach/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }