Working on behalf of the Global Center for Adaptation, we supported neighbourhood-scale flood risk planning in Burundi and the Republic of Congo, collaborating with communities and local authorities to strengthen risk-informed urban development in flood and erosion prone urban areas.
In rapidly urbanising cities in the Republic of the Congo and Burundi, many communities face growing flood risk alongside land degradation and erosion. Informal settlement patterns, inadequate drainage, limited land-use controls, and constrained infrastructure investment are intensifying these pressures and compounding exposure in high-risk areas. As a result, communities experience repeated flood and erosion impacts. Despite these challenges, risk information has not consistently been accessible or actionable at neighbourhood scale.
The project applied a community-centred, risk-informed planning approach, recognising that local knowledge and current actions are critical to understanding how flood risk is experienced and managed in practice.
Working on behalf of the Global Center on Adaptation, and alongside project partners Landell Mills and Sayers and Partners, we supported participatory risk mapping and structured dialogue between residents, civil society groups, municipal authorities, and technical experts. This process brought together lived experience of flooding with existing hazard and risk assessments, helping to validate data and build a shared understanding of risk.
Through this collaborative process, Community Resilience Spatial Frameworks (CRSFs) were co-developed for vulnerable neighbourhoods in both countries. The CRSFs provided a practical planning framework to:
CRSF are grounded in strong technical analysis, however they go further, supporting informed dialogue and coordination around realistic, locally supported actions.
The project strengthened urban flood resilience by improving access to locally validated risk information and enhancing capacity for inclusive, risk-informed planning at neighbourhood scale.
By aligning community priorities and current actions with formal planning processes, the project supported coordinated and scalable resilience actions, contributing to safer urban development, reduced long-term vulnerability to flooding, and improved wellbeing for communities exposed to recurrent flood risk.
Contact our team to learn more about this project.
