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The participatory method, a major factor for a successful post-disaster reconstruction (PDR) project, is applied in various stages of the PDR. However, the application of this method for PDR involving indigenous populations is underexplored. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the critical factors that can influence the participatory PDR in the indigenous context.

Two large-scale, indigenous, post-disaster relocation projects after the 2009 Typhoon Morakot were selected as case studies. The qualitative and quantitative methodology (semi-structured interview and questionnaire) were applied in the research.

A participation-friendly policy, community organization, the extent of damage, flexibility of nongovernmental organizations, understanding of the participatory concept and mutual trust were found to be essential factors that profoundly influence participation in PDR projects.

This study contributes by providing guidelines for future participatory PDR projects, especially in the indigenous context.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss policy-relevant findings regarding strategies for mainstreaming gender in achieving sustainable post-disaster reconstruction (PDR).

An exploratory case study was used to explore the implementation of gender mainstreaming strategies and the link to sustainable PDR. The Bantul and Sleman regencies of Yogyakarta province provide a unique site for researching PDR as they are located in a region that is more strongly affected by earthquakes than nearly any other in Indonesia. Data were collected through interviews with 17 key stakeholders and 26 beneficiaries who were involved during and after the earthquake. To support the interview findings, surveys involving 50 policy makers and 150 beneficiaries were conducted. Content analysis and t-statistics were used in analyzing the data.

Gender mainstreaming strategies within sustainable reconstruction should incorporate strategies for protecting against gender vulnerabilities and for promoting gender capacities. Both are fundamental to the achievement of sustainable PDR.

The paper establishes comprehensive strategies for mainstreaming gender under three pillars (i.e. economic, social and environmental) of sustainable development. The findings benefit relevant policy makers by improving the policy performance of gender mainstreaming in the affected communities in enhancing sustainable PDR.

This paper sets out in the context of three strands of knowledge; disaster management, strategic management and project management and builds upon the authors’ (2009) theory for the delivery of post-disaster reconstruction (PDR) projects. With the expected increase in the magnitude and frequency of natural disasters in coming years, more people than ever will be faced with PDR scenarios. In many cases, non-government organisations (NGOs) are in a position to make interventions to improve conditions for people facing the impacts of disasters and it is essential that responding agencies deploy appropriate configurations of competencies to mitigate project barriers. Using a mixed-methods approach, a study incorporated four case studies in post-tsunami Sri Lanka and four case studies in post-cyclone Sidr Bangladesh. Exploratory interviews with expert NGO participants were combined with direct observations and the collection of quantitative survey data. The mechanisms and phenomena observed within the case studies contributed to the development of a conceptual theoretical framework. The study reveals that NGOs face barriers in seven key areas and that they must deploy certain configurations of organisational and operational competencies in order to effectively develop and implement strategies to address these barriers. The theoretical framework demonstrates how the utilisation of these competencies, deployed in targeted clusters, has the potential to create positive outcomes for beneficiaries as measured by PDR Project Success Indicators (PDRPSIs). If dynamic tools can be developed that effectively model competency and predict success, all organisations involved in disaster response and recovery could benefit. In addition, the knowledge is highly transferable to other sectors and environments.

Despite the extensive research on post-disaster reconstruction projects (PDRP), there is a paucity of studies that examine critical challenges for the project practices in post-war-developing countries, particularly, Africa. The purpose of this research is to investigate the key project management challenges impacting the post-disaster reconstruction projects (PDRP) during the construction and planning stages in Angola, with an aim to fill the knowledge gap.

The primary data was collected from 130 project management practitioners working with planning, provincial government organisations including consultants, and contractors within the Angolan public sectors organisations. Response data was subjected to descriptive statistics, mean scores, and inferential statistics (One sample t-tests) and Kendall's concordance.

The descriptive and empirical analysis demonstrated a disparity of the ranking of the 21challenges affecting the PDRP among the groups; with statistically significant differences amongst the 10 challenges. Based on the overall sample, 6 out of 10 critical challenges are between (24–25) levels of agreement close to the mean. The results of the mean score ranking indicate that “working with poor or restricted access to location”, “project culture that fits the needs of local people”; “improving the capacity of local government”, “minimizing the negative effects of local people” and “relocation issues by establishing property rights during the reconstruction project” were the five critical challenges to managing PDRP whereas “improving information and communication processes”, “securing adequate resources (material and machinery)”, “dealing with rising costs of materials and labour” were considered to be the least critical.

The study was restricted to one province and Country (out of 18) namely, Luanda, Angola. Therefore, the findings may not be generalized to public sector organisations operating in different countries with different contexts, political settings and disaster complexities.

The establishment of challenges in PDRPs helps the key stakeholders by providing the foundation to project teams to address the challenges during planning and construction stages, and thus improving project delivery in the future. Understanding the uniqueness of PDRPs and interdependency of project management from the implementing organization is of particular value for the managers of future projects and other decision-makers, especially in the emerging countries. Moreover, the findings could be used to reflect on the need to formulate policies appropriate to post disaster environments, which among other issues could address building policies, which could include land ownership regulations and procedures together with property rights.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge on the subject within a previously unexplored post-war context with a focus on public organizations perspective. The study provides insights on the challenges affecting the post-disaster reconstruction across the Angolan public sector.

One of the key elements contributing to successful post-disaster project teams is individual competence. Each project participant brings his or her own knowledge, experience and ideas to the collective. The kind of chaotic and fragmented environment that is common in post-disaster scenarios presents specific barriers to the success of projects, which can be mitigated by ensuring that staff members possess competencies appropriate for their deployment to particular contexts. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, incorporating unstructured interviews to extract key factors of competence, project barriers and strategy, and a subsequent questionnaire survey, designed to quantify the various elements. Interviews were undertaken and analysed using a cognitive mapping procedure, while survey data were processed using SPSS. The data were then utilized in the development of a software prototype using Design Science Research methodology, capable of modelling the deployment of staff under various disaster scenarios.

Analysis of the survey and cognitive mapping data, in conjunction with relevant established frameworks, has allowed the classification of relevant competency elements. These elements have subsequently been measured and modelled into the competency-based tool and developed into a working prototype.

The developed system offers novel disaster competency assessment criteria. The system contains a variety of real-life scenarios derived from extensive data collection. These multi-hazard scenarios are embedded with knowledge and competency valuation criteria that can facilitate actors to assess their team’s knowledge based on selective scenarios. In disaster response, time is a critical element, and this tool assists decision makers. It can enable disaster response actors to evaluate and assemble the appropriate personnel to deploy into disaster areas and into specific types of disaster environment.

Several post-disaster housing extension and modification studies have indicated that owner-driven modification behavior relates to socio-economic and livelihood factors. This study aims to clarify housing extension patterns and examine the relationships among spatial characteristics, sociocultural factors, livelihood factors and housing extensions. This research also highlights the implications of post-disaster housing design for indigenous communities.

An indigenous community case study was conducted using a literature review. Moreover, interview surveys and housing measurements were implemented based on purposive sampling to diversify interviewees’ backgrounds and the extent of housing extensions.

This study confirms that housing extensions are closely related to the number of household members and their associated functions and cultural and livelihood factors that were ignored during the design stage. Furthermore, the housing extension process was confirmed to match households’ economic recovery. A post-disaster housing implementation framework for the indigenous population is proposed.

This research only targeted one indigenous community with a limited number of interviewees and samples because of the connection with households.

The study’s proposed resilience post-disaster housing framework can be used to develop post-disaster housing design guidelines, which can benefit policymaking. The proposed participatory concept can be further adopted in future disaster risk-reduction programs.

This study uniquely focuses on the pre- and post-disaster housing layout and the livelihood of an indigenous community. It offers valuable insights for post-disaster reconstruction planners and practitioners.

Post-disaster reconstruction poses a double-edged sword to its implementers as it demands addressing survivors’ need for speed as well as meeting the growing expectation to trigger resilience. While an owner-driven housing reconstruction (ODHR), inter-disciplinary and long-term approach has been promoted internationally; however, there is limited research focussed on the long-term impacts (>10 years after a disaster) of ODHR. Furthermore, there is no one accepted framework for practitioners to guide through the process of ODHR projects to carve pathways for disaster resilience. The purpose of this paper is to assimilate findings—contingent and generalisable—into a novel framework for future change in practice.

This paper deployed a mixed methods methodology with a comparative case study research method. Two case study projects were from the Indian state of Gujarat, 13 years after the 2001 earthquake and the other two from Bihar, 6 years since the 2008 Kosi river floods. Due to multi-disciplinary nature of research, empirical data collection relied on a mix of social sciences methods including 80 semi-structured interviews, and architectural research methods including the visual analysis of photographs and sketches. Three sample groups of agency members, beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries were purposively selected. Thematic content analysis was used for the data analysis.

The paper provides empirical insights on how ODHR projects in Indian states of Gujarat and Bihar succeeded at enhancing disaster resilience of communities. It suggests that the civil society organisations acted as “enablers” at four stages: envisioning strategically based on systemic understanding, building soft assets including community trust and dignity for social mobilisation prior to, proposing minor modifications to construction technology for its multi-hazard safety as well as cultural relevance, and sustaining capacity building efforts beyond reconstruction completion or beyond one project life-cycle.

The author of this paper cautions that the spiral framework needs further development to make it flexibility and customisable to suit the specifics of a particular context.

The implications of the findings discussed in this paper are primarily for practitioners involved in disaster recovery and development sector. Since prevailing models or frameworks neither incorporate multi-disciplinary approach (demanded by socio-ecological systems resilience concept), nor represent project scale, a novel, four-pronged framework for ODHR has been proposed in this paper for strategic success. The framework has been illustrated in spiral and tabular forms, and has been kept abstract to provide practitioners the much-needed flexibility for adapting it to suit the specifics of a particular context.

Historically, post-disaster reconstruction policies and practice ignore the embedded knowledge of the affected population; the process following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti followed this trend. This paper aims to examine the production of social space in self-settled post-disaster settlements in Leogane and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the paper demonstrates the role that traditional settlement patterns played in the production of social capital.

A multi-sited case study approach was implemented to uncover the patterns of the lakou, which is a primary Haitian, traditional settlement pattern reflecting the familial social structure, present in self-settled post-disaster settlements. The study took place between February and June of 2012, two years after the 2010 earthquake across settlements in Leogane and Port-au-Prince. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 inhabitants across the settlements to uncover meanings attached to the creation of space. Together with behavior mapping and participant observations, the interviews were analyzed to validate the reproduction of the lakou.

This paper demonstrates that endogenous inhabitants create the lakou in post-disaster settlements in Haiti. This case study validates the resilience of the lakou, the inclusive nature of the lakou system, and the important role it plays in the production of social capital within post-disaster communities.

This study demonstrates the importance of traditional settlement patterns in post-disaster community well-being and it demonstrates the need to incorporate traditional settlement patterns into post-disaster planning strategies. Furthermore, the study validates that traditional settlement patterns support the production of social capital within a community.

This paper aims to describe an in-depth study conducted on transition of recovery into subsequent recovery phases after the 2010 super floods in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The objectives of this research were to examine the post-disaster activities after the floods and highlight the critical areas hindering the transition into an effective recovery phase.

A case study approach based on literature reviews with semi-structured interviews with disaster management stakeholders were applied as the primary source of data.

The study found that long-term recovery was the most neglected phase of post-disaster recovery (PDR). The factors hindering successful transition following short-term recovery activities are lack of following: community-level involvement, local administration and community capacity, disaster governance, different stakeholders and coordination, information and knowledge management.

This paper examines the long-term disaster recovery after the 2010 super floods in three districts of Sindh. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to investigate the factors in other areas for different types of disasters.

These findings are critical to planning future post-disaster recoveries in the region. It also provides a basis to investigate other types of disasters.

The transition of recovery into long-term phase has never been investigated before. The recovery phase is an opportune time to incorporate strategies for building back better, resilience, mitigation and preparedness. A PDR that does not incorporate these strategies in the long-term leaves affected communities in more vulnerable conditions for future disasters.