UN disaster reduction: Is it keeping the customers satisfied?

Your phone beeps. You've got a text message. It may be news from a friend, or an invitation for the evening. You look and it says: "This is a survey about disaster preparedness in your area. Your response will be submitted to the UN. You will be compensated in airtime for its completion."

You look up, to the fields, dykes and embankments that surround you. Your home town is Shariatpur, on the coast of Bangladesh. You spend three months every year battered by cyclones and surrounded by flood waters. You have strong feelings about disasters and their impact, so you decide to respond.

This spring, people who are exposed to disasters in many countries around the world have made that decision. In an unusual social experiment, more than 36,000 people have responded by text or on the internet, giving their views on the progress of "disaster reduction" plans in their locality. The survey is geared to the biennial UN conference on the subject – the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction – held in Geneva this week to review progress in lessening the impact of disasters.

What difference can a survey make, and why use texts? The organisation responsible for the Views from the Frontline project, the Global Network for Disaster Reduction, believes that "if you want to help people affected by disaster, you should try talking to them".

The survey itself was conducted before the 2009 conference, and had a major impact. The UN assistant secretary for disaster reduction said it "changed the agenda" of the conference. As a result of its success, the project has snowballed, with the number of countries represented in the survey growing from 33 to 69 this year. Organisers were also aiming to increase the responses from 7,000 to 14,000. The strength of the survey lies in the fact that it gathers hard facts about what the "customers" for the UN's 10-year programme to reduce disasters actually think about the work being done.

However, conducting the survey is extremely labour intensive. More than 500 organisations are involved in gathering face-to-face responses. But, the increasing use of mobile phones offers the chance to gather more information electronically. Txteagle – an innovative platform for mobile phones in the developing world – partnered with the Global Network to do just that. And so far, this approach has reaped rewards.

Ultimately, the face-to-face survey exceeded its target, gathering 20,900 responses, while the electronic survey gathered more than 36,000. The text responses were especially valuable as a higher proportion came from rural rather than urban areas – from people on the "frontline".

Both surveys had the same clear message. When people were asked whether the UN goal of a reduction in disaster losses was being achieved, the answer was a resounding "no". In fact, 57% of respondents believe that disaster losses over the five years of the UN programme have increased.

This is a worrying statistic. Even the UN's own report acknowledges that "while many countries report improvements in their legislative and institutional arrangements and have decentralised functions to local government, this is not necessarily leading to greater effectiveness in implementation".

However, the Views from the Frontline project isn't simply an exercise in complaining – it identifies, from its consultations, what ought to happen. Evidence shows that effective plans for action start with people finding out and talking about the risks they face. The clear message is that over the next two years (until the next review) everyone in disaster prone countries should work together to conduct thorough "disaster risk assessments" and develop plans to address the risks. The Global Network is calling for the 168 countries that signed up to the UN programme to commit to this at this week's conference.

The Views from the Frontline survey report is entitled If we do not join hands, echoing the message of a Zambian development worker, Lawrence Temfwe, that it is only when partnerships are forged between governments and their people – to discover what the real needs are and how to meet them – that there will be progress. Text "yes" to participate.