Improving Post-Disaster Housing Reconstruction Outcomes in the Global South: A Framework for Achieving Greater Beneficiary Satisfaction through Effective Community Consultation

The purpose of this paper was to examine the community consultation practices carried out by implementing agencies when managing post-disaster housing reconstruction (PDHR) projects, identify the obstacles they face, and evaluate the effect these obstacles have on the quality of information obtained in relation to achieving a high level of beneficiary satisfaction. The aim was to develop a framework for community consultation in PDHR, which ensures that the needs of beneficiaries are more accurately reflected in the housing produced. A qualitative research methodology was adopted with data first being obtained through a literature review of relevant publications and implementing agency reports as a means of establishing common themes among community consultation practices and identifying indicators that influence beneficiary satisfaction. This was followed by a case study analysis to further an understanding of how these indicators were affected by the community consultation practices undertaken in a real-world context. The results of the research indicate that community consultation often forms a central role in the planning and delivery of PDHR projects, however, despite the implementing agencies’ best intentions, there are often obstacles that prevent the process from achieving the desired result. The community consultation framework proposed here has been developed to address the identified obstacles with the aim of ensuring that beneficiary requirements are included in housing design as a means of improving the level of beneficiary satisfaction in the housing provided.

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