A Systems Approach to Off-grid Hydropower for Community-led Flood Resilience

Energy availability under both normal and hazard conditions is a key element for sustainable development and resilience against natural disasters. Access to off-grid renewables, such as pico-hydropower, provides multiple benefits particularly to remote communities in low and lower-middle income countries which often lack reliable energy and resources to support hazard planning and response.

Applying a systems approach to these issues could help humanitarian and development practitioners and community stakeholders to co-develop technology-supported projects that address local needs. Systems thinking is a holistic analytic approach that focuses on how different elements within complex systems are interconnected and affect program processes and outcomes. Our study investigates a community systems approach to energy generation and distribution management, and water-based disaster emergencies within a framework of sustainable development. This approach is being applied to localized hydro power and flood warning systems, including a potential hybrid prototype.