Zurich Flood Alliance Phase 2

Practical Action worked with communities in the Rímac watershed to address gaps in flood forecasting and early warning communication by building community capacity to access, share, and understand flood forecasts. As a result of long-term engagement with Peru’s national hydrometeorological department, Practical Action’s community-based early warning system approach was expanded across the watershed, with government funding and support.

Six years of impact enabled by long-term, flexible funding and evidence-informed programming.

The vision and case for resilience

Floods affect more people globally than any other type of natural hazard and cause some of the largest economic, social, and humanitarian losses. Climate change is making this worse.

The Alliance’s vision was a world in which floods have no negative impact on people’s and businesses’ ability to thrive – achieved through improved practice, policy, and financial investment in community-based flood resilience.

This report covers the second phase (2018-24) of the Alliance, for more info on the first phase 2013-18) read here, and to find out about our current work, read here.

For more information, please read Section 1 of the full impact report »

People we impacted

Impact stories

Indonesia »

1.3m people impacted

Indonesia (Mercy Corps)

Mercy Corps Indonesia developed a technical model that illustrated the causes of flooding and solutions to reduce flood risk, and a resilient livelihoods approach that showcased approaches for reducing flood risk while improving livelihoods. For government actors, this illustrated how development could address both the root cause of flooding and support adaptation and resulted in policy change that moved beyond hard infrastructural flood protection measures.

Peru »

457k people impacted

Peru (Practical Action)

Practical Action worked with communities in the Rímac watershed to address gaps in flood forecasting and early warning communication by building community capacity to access, share, and understand flood forecasts. As a result of long-term engagement with Peru’s national hydrometeorological department, Practical Action’s community-based early warning system approach was expanded across the watershed, with government funding and support.

Kenya »

360k people impacted

Kenya (Concern)

Concern Worldwide’s community advocacy work resulted in the Tana River County government increasing its budget allocation for disaster risk reduction from 2% to 10%. This was the first time funding was allocated towards flood resilience, and in a way that was aligned with priorities identified by communities. During severe flooding in Tana River County in 2023, the earmarked funds supported better preparedness, response, and community recovery.

For more information, please read Section 1.3 of the full impact report »

Spending we influenced

Impact stories

USD 20 billion »

COP26

The Alliance, alongside many actors, influenced the COP26 policy commitment to double adaptation funding from USD 20 billion engagement to USD 40 billion by 2025. The Alliance’s role in this win entailed direct engagement with the UK government, compiling and disseminating evidence of the gaps in adaptation finance through the ‘A Fair Share of Climate Finance’ report, and Alliance leadership in key coalitions.

GBP 5.2 billion »

UK

UK

LSE and Zurich UK influenced the allocation of the UK’s GBP 5.2 billion investment in flood and coastal defenses in England in 2020. Areas of allocation included better protection for 300,000 homes by 2021, nature-based solutions, and a new Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme to fund local resilience-building efforts.

USD 850 million »

GCF

Mercy Corps and Plan Canada played a role in influencing a 19% increase in the Green Climate Fund’s allocation of adaptation funding – amounting to a total of USD 850 million in funding – towards countries most vulnerable to climate change (Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, and African countries).

USD 150 million »

Peru

Practical Action influenced the integration of flood resilience measures and considerations into large-scale national investment projects planned by Peru’s National Authority for Reconstruction with Changes – these programmes total over USD 150 million in investment towards flood resilience.

The Alliance counted a portion of money from its advocacy wins towards its spending influenced target, based on its estimated contributions towards those wins.

For more information, please read Section 1 of the full impact report »

Where we worked​

Where we worked

Phase II had 29 programmes across 24 countries, delivered via new and existing partners.

Changes we achieved

Our knowledge, community programming and advocacy efforts led to the following changes, many of which have been sustained beyond the programme lifespan. See Section 6 of the full impact report »

Global policy influence

Global policy influence

At COP27 in 2022, the global community finally agreed to set up a new fund for Loss and Damage, which was a significant step forward for vulnerable communities who are paying for climate disasters. Though the Alliance was one of many actors advocating for this, the Alliance was able to exert pressure on the global community through its locally grounded research and long-term relationships with national governments, climate change champions, and civil society coalition.

Community-led action

Community-led action

Concern Worldwide supported communities living on Bangladesh’s floodplains to advocate for their resilience needs. Concern strengthened community access to local government and helped the community identify evidence-backed resilience needs and practical interventions to suggest to the local government. As a result, local government invested in a variety of disaster resilience activities, including small-scale infrastructural projects, livelihoods skills building and support.

Institutionalization of local priorities

Institutionalisation of local priorities

LSE researchers worked with the local government in Lowestoft, UK to assess local flood resilience via the FRMC. Their resulting evidence-based recommendations were integrated into local and national policies and plans, and Lowestoft’s grant proposal for building coastal resilience. Lowestoft authorities found FRMC data useful for going beyond flood protection measures and identifying non-structural flood resilience measures. Based on Lowestoft’s experience, Great Yarmouth committed to implementing the FRMC to develop its local resilience.

Inclusive decision-making

Inclusive decision-making

The Honduran Red Cross created the Flood Resilience Alliance in Northern Honduras to convene a multi-stakeholder platform for communities, local organizations, local government representatives, and private enterprises to work together on disaster risk management. The platform influenced local municipalities to prioritise disaster risk reduction measures that integrate local development needs. Given its success, the platform was replicated in two neighbouring departments.

Adoption/scaling of good practices

Adoption/scaling of good practices

Government restructuring in Nepal in 2017 resulted in increased municipal responsibility for disaster risk management, but a significant capacity gap. The IFRC and Nepal Red Cross Society, in collaboration with Practical Action, Mercy Corps, and local and national governments, developed a Municipal Disaster Risk Governance self-assessment tool, based on IFRC’s Disaster Checklist. The Alliance piloted the tool in 12 municipalities. In 2024, the government endorsed the tool, priming it for roll-out across all 753 municipalities.

Flood-resilient livelihoods

Flood-resilient livelihoods

In Zimbabwe, wood-fired cooking practices come with significant costs to people and the environment – it is burdensome, causes health impacts, and causes deforestation which increases flood risk. As an alternative to wood-fired cooking, Practical Action trained local engineers to construct and install biogas digesters that use animal dung. The adoption of biogas for cooking, lighting, and powering appliances has improved the quality of people’s lives and provided the engineers with independent income.

Local funding for
resilience

Local funding for resilience

In Sudurpaschim province, Nepal, Mercy Corps and UNDP influenced the adoption and disbursement of a 5% budget provision for resilience activities. They used a combination of a budget study to illustrate the lack of spending on resilience, messaging that investing USD 1 in DRR would save on average USD 5 in future losses, and community resilience data to highlight community needs. Over 500 million people have been impacted by this new spending.

Resilient infrastructure and services

Resilient infrastructure and services

In November 2024, the Hue Provincial Government in Vietnam endorsed and provided funding for the installation of high-power EWS sirens across the entire province, after two sirens installed by the Alliance program were effectively used in October 2024. ISET developed the approach with the provincial DRM office, provided funding for the installation, and advocated for approval and annual funding for operation and maintenance. This is the first time such sirens have been used for early warning in Vietnam.

Improved flood outcomes

Improved flood outcomes

In El Salvador, Plan established community-based groups responsible for disaster risk management and response and trained them to develop warning levels based on rainfall and river data. By strengthening real-time communication between flood-prone communities and official response teams, early action was improved. These groups conducted response operations with government authorities during the 2024 floods, evacuating more than 900 people to safe shelters.

The evidence

Our validated, standardized community resilience measurement tool – the Flood Resilience Measurement for Communities (FRMC) – supported us to engage with communities and develop evidence-informed programmes.

The FRMC (now the Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities) is the only empirically validated community resilience measurement tool available globally, and the only resilience measurement tool that measures multiple sources of resilience over time.

In Phase II the FRMC:

  • Was applied in 325 communities in 22 countries
  • Collected over 4.8 million data points
  • Provided data on baseline and post-intervention resilience and post-flood outcomes

For me I’m trying to visualize resilience through the different lenses. Previously if you had asked, I would have said it is very vague. After using the FRMC we can now, in a way, inform our policy makers, government etc. exactly what is flood resilience.

Alliance implementing partner

The tool let us to know more information about the community – important information that is about different points of view. Before the tool we didn’t see the risk management from the 5Cs, it was maybe viewed from natural and social, now with the tool we have different points of view.

Alliance implementing partner

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Knowledge sharing

Our many different stakeholders and audiences needed different kinds of knowledge and evidence, and they needed to access it in different ways.

Alliance Solutions

Solutions

The Alliance ‘Solutions’ series shared practical and replicable local knowledge from our work across the world on how to build resilience to climate hazards.

Post-Event Review Capability (PERC)

PERC

The award-winning Post-Event Review Capability (PERC) is an Alliance methodology for reviewing hazard events that become disasters and identifying practical entry points for strengthening resilience. PERCs were conducted across the globe after floods, wildfires and tropical cyclones, in both urban and rural settings. Multi-PERC reviews were developed to identify common global strengths and gaps.

Alliance research

Alliance research

Global and country Alliance teams produced a vast array of research presented in reports, books, academic papers, and policy briefs. These products supported (and continue to support) Alliance community programming and advocacy efforts, donor interest and investment in Alliance solutions, and building the Alliance’s profile.

Digital knowledge portals

Portals

A flood resilience portal was developed to house the repository of Alliance and external flood resilience knowledge. Regional portals were developed for LATAM, Bangladesh, Nepal and French West Africa and were critical for reaching non-English speaking stakeholders. By the end of 2023, the flood resilience portal housed more than 14,000 publications and had received over 1.7 million portal views.

Global learning events

Global learning event

In 2023, the Alliance hosted a resoundingly successful Global Learning Event. It brought together 80 participants from across 13 organizations and 22 countries to share learning on resilience solutions and build cross-regional linkages and collaboration. As a result, Alliance teams found new ways to engage in their countries and communities; for example, trialing new early warning system approaches and facilitating new ways of engaging communities in advocacy.

Monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring & Evaluation

Alliance M&E tracked internal progress and change against the global Theory of Change, including Alliance key performance indicators. The M&E system also generated substantial learning on how change is achieved and what good resilience work looks like. Alliance annual progress and learning reports can be found here.

For more Alliance resources browse our extensive resource library »

Recognition

Endorsements and awards

Endorsements & awards

The Alliance received significant endorsement for its work, including the Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Hurricane Centre (USA) in 2019, the National Civil Protection Award from the Mexican Government in 2019, and the Innovation Award from Business Insurance in 2019.

Adoption of the FRMC

Adoption of the FRMC

The Alliance’s FRMC tool was adopted by Habitat for Humanity in Cambodia and Lutheran World Relief in Nepal and India.
  • 2019: Lutheran World Relief found the FRMC so useful that they scaled their use of the tool from four to 12 communities.
  • 2019: Habitat for Humanity in Cambodia conducted pilot research using the FRMC in Battambang. They intend to further incorporate the FRMC into relevant programmes as a key assessment tool.

Additional funding

Additional funding

Alliance work led to additional donor funding to expand, extend, and scale Alliance programmes and solutions. Key examples include:
  • 2021–2024: The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Practical Action developed a regional programme to strengthen Early Warning and Early Action in the Andes, significantly expanding Alliance EWS approaches in Latin America.
  • 2022: USAID provided USD 1.7 million to Practical Action to expand their community resilience programming in Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe.

Media Coverage

Media coverage

Context Logo
Context Logo

How we delivered

We built flood resilience through a combination of our community-centred programming, advocacy at local to global levels, and high quality, relevant knowledge.

Our community programming and advocacy were grounded in deep knowledge of the contexts we worked in, combined with rigorous data on community resilience gaps, priorities, and capacities.

What made the Alliance unique

The Alliance was structured to maximize impact, and as a result we over-delivered on our ambition.

  • Our long-term funding coupled with mutual trust supported flexibility and experimentation.
  • Our self-governed, collaborative approach and focus on learning allowed us to leverage shared resources and capacities and be greater than the sum of our parts.
  • Our change-oriented focus combined with budget flexibility allowed us to adapt and seize new opportunities.

From flood to climate resilience

After more than a decade of experience in building community resilience to floods across the world, the Alliance has extended its approach into additional climate hazards, including heatwaves and wildfires.

In 2024 we became the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance – find out more about our new areas of focus and our current country programmes »