Transforming Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction in Ecuador (Phase I): Curriculum-Based Capacity Development and Institutionalization

Abstract

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction calls for inclusive and people-centered approaches, yet significant gaps persist between normative commitments and their realization in everyday governance. This paper examines Phase I of a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) technical cooperation project implemented under Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) framework in Ecuador and argues that the project advances Sendai Framework and Beyond by translating inclusion into institutionalized disaster risk reduction (DRR) practice through curriculum-based capacity development. Grounded in the social model of disablement, functional perspectives informed by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, and disaster sociology on the social production of risk, the study conceptualizes inclusive DRR as a form of localized governance capacity embedded in routine welfare and administrative practice. Phase I employed a systematic curriculum integrating conceptual learning, practitioner-oriented materials, practical tools, and reflective assignments. A Spanish-language practitioner booklet, produced in-house by the JICA Ecuador Office, functioned as a modular backbone linking learning modules to applied governance tasks. The analysis shows that Phase I’s most significant achievement was the institutionalization of inclusive DRR. In four model municipalities, inclusive DRR ordinances were enacted and accompanied by permanent budget allocations, embedding inclusion within local governance structures. At the national level, an inter-ministerial agreement between welfare and disaster management authorities formalized cross-sectoral collaboration. These outcomes marked a transition from project-based initiatives to routinized governance. At the same time, field-based evaluation identified substantial variation in operational workflows across municipalities, revealing the limits of institutionalization without standardized implementation procedures. This finding clarified the necessity of Phase II, which focuses on developing nationally applicable standard operating procedures expressed through operational workflow diagrams. The Ecuador case demonstrates that inclusive DRR advances through staged governance transformation: institutionalization establishes commitment, while standardization enables consistency and scalability. By sequencing these stages through learning-oriented ODA technical cooperation, the project provides a concrete example of how Sendai Framework and Beyond can be realized in practice.

Analytical framework of Phase I