Challenges and Opportunities of Public Participation in Disaster Management Policies in IRCS(مقاله پژوهشی وزارت بهداشت)
INTRODUCTION: Considering the high number of incidents and disasters in Iran and the importance of the issue, this research investigates the challenges and opportunities of people's participation in the implementation of disaster management policies in the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS). METHOD: The research is applied in terms of purpose and mixed in terms of method. In the first stage, structured interviews were conducted with 20 experts and informants in the field of disaster management. Then, data was analyzed through content analysis and open coding, and components of challenges and opportunities were extracted using Maxquda software. Finally, a researcher-made questionnaire for challenges and opportunities based on the findings of the qualitative part was design and its validity and reliability using was confirmed by experts and Cronbach's alpha respectively and were distributed among 365 managers and employees related to disasters. FINDINGS: According to the findings, in the qualitative section, the main challenges include coordination and organization, lack of people’s participation in decision-making, conflict of interests, participation sustainability, level of knowledge and awareness, and resistance to change, as well as the opportunities include increasing efficiency and effectiveness, the use of local knowledge, strengthening the sense of responsibility, communication improvement, cost reduction and strengthening social solidarity. The results of quantitative part, showed that strengthening the sense of responsibility, use of local knowledge and communication improvement with an average of 11.86%, 10.38% and 9.46% respectively of the most important opportunities and conflicts of interest, the level of knowledge and awareness and coordination and organization with an average of 10.43%, 9.37% and 9.35% respectively are the most important challenges. CONCULSION: The results showed that solving the challenges and strengthening the opportunities for people's participation will lead to the success and effectiveness of the implementation of the policies and will lead the society to the direction of prosperity, prevention of wastage of resources, casualties’ reduction and sustainable development. Thus, it is suggested to develop educational programs, strengthen organizational structures, etc. in order to improve people's participation in disaster management.