Increasing urban flood resilience through public participation: A case study of Tuti Island in Khartoum, Sudan

Over the past 30 years, Sudan has experienced several severe floods which have caused loss of life and significant damage to property. The frequency and intensity of floods in Sudan are predicted to increase as a result of climate change. The main objective of this research was to assist policymakers in establishing a mechanism for public participation in Sudan to enable communities to be engaged in improving flood risk management. This paper focuses on Tuti Island, which is located near the confluence of the Blue and White Niles in Khartoum which is severely affected by flooding. The research was based on surveys and interviews with both officials and the public to examine the degree of public participation in mitigating flood risks. The research concluded that Sudan has no policy or official way of engaging the public in disaster risk reduction; however, the traditional method of social mobilization called Nafeer (building together) can play a significant role in increasing communities' flood resilience. Establishing a clear framework for public participation, such as Nafeer, for the various stages of the flood management cycle that coordinates with decision‐makers can help increase the resilience of urban areas in low‐income countries like Sudan.

climate change (Adelekan, 2016;Egbinola et al., 2017;Lumbroso, 2020).Transformative change will be required to meet complex flood risk management challenges in many African cities (Lumbroso, 2020).One of the key barriers to transformative change in many African countries is the lack of participation community leaders and stakeholders living in flood-prone areas in terms of developing flood risk and disaster management strategies, as well as implementing measures.Where communities actively participate in flood risk management solutions it can increase their resilience to floods, for example, by raising stakeholders' awareness and improving their preparedness (Lumbroso et al., 2008).
Over the past 75 years, Sudan has experienced a number of serious flood events, which have caused significant damage.In 2020, floods injured 875,000 and killed 120 people, as well as incurred US$3.34 billion in losses (UNOCHA, 2020).Sudan's capital Khartoum is located in central Sudan and has a population of 8.4 million.It is frequently affected by floods from the River Nile and the urban drainage system (Zerboni et al., 2021).Figure 1 shows the number of people affected by floods in Sudan since 1988.
The 2020 floods affected many neighborhoods in Khartoum, including Tuti Island.Tuti Island is located at the confluence of the White and Blue Niles.It is surrounded by the "Three Towns" that make up the greater Khartoum urban area, that is, Khartoum, Omdurman, and Khartoum North, also known as Bahri.Tuti Island covers an area of around 3.8 km2 and has an approximate population between 18,000 and 21,000 people.It has long been highly vulnerable to floods; however, during major flood events, including the one in 2020, the island's inhabitants did not suffer any loss of life owing to their indigenous knowledge and skills.For example, early warning systems based on the different tones of drums, horns, and whistles have been developed by the islanders to alert the community of impending floods.The frequency and intensity of floods in Sudan are predicted to increase as a result of climate change.The main objective of this research was to assist policymakers in establishing a mechanism for public participation in Sudan to enable communities to be engaged in improving flood management.The context of the study was Tuti Island, an island that is severely affected by flooding.The paper discusses how the lessons learned by the communities on Tuti Island can help increase the flood resilience of communities in other urban areas in Africa.The paper is organized as follows: Section 1 provides an introduction, Section 2 reviews the emerging literature on the effectiveness of public participation in flood risk management, Section 3 outlines the design of the research, the study area and description of data collection, Section 4 discusses the findings and Section 5 provides conclusions.

| THE ROLE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT 2.1 | Background
In recent decades there has been a strong shift from topdown decision-making toward a more diverse and inclusive process of governance where multiple stakeholders are involved in steering decisions and practices with The number of people affected by floods in Sudan over the past since 1988.Source: World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal, 2021.
regards to developing flood risk management strategies and measures.Public participation has progressed through different stages (Reed, 2008): increasing awareness in the 1960s; the incorporation of local perspectives in the 1970s; the recognition of local knowledge in the 1980s, a subsequent critique as part of the agenda of sustainable development in the 1990s, and recently best practice "post participation."In addition, international and regional treaties (Palerm, 1999) have recognized the importance of public participation in flood risk management in the decision-making process with regards to environmental issues such as the Aarhus Convention (Palerm, 1999).Wehn et al. (2015) presented a framework developed for analyzing the potential for participation via information and communications technology enabling citizen during different phases of the flood cycle across three countries (UK, Netherlands, and Italy) in order to identify and compare the transposition of the EU Floods Directive for increasing citizen participation in flood risk management.Their framework builds on the "democracy cube," which is a tool for understanding the potential and limits of participation to classify the different dimensions and "range of institutional possibilities for public participation" (Fung, 2006).Their results showed that different countries have differing citizen participation perceptions in flood risk management, in terms of their influence and roles, these perceptions are related to the emphasis that the authorities place on the different stages of the disaster cycle.There is a strong focus on prevention/mitigation in the Netherlands and Italy, whilst in the UK, more emphasis is placed on preparedness and response.The variety in public participation approaches in these cases could also be the result of the lack of a clear framework.

| Public participation in Africa
Flood risks in African countries challenge sustainable development and undermine efforts to decrease poverty (Carter et al., 2007).In Africa, low-income, small, and medium-sized cities are vulnerable to natural disasters.Rapid population growth, low state capacity, and limited financial resources aggravate the problem.Therefore, enhancing individual and community resilience to extreme climate events is critical and vital to promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth (Benson, 2016).
Flood risk management entails local understanding and involvement.Dissemination of information can play an important role in guiding, increasing awareness, and building the capacity of community members in preparation for unavoidable flood risks that negatively affect their livelihoods.However, accurate flood forecasts, early warnings, and risk information do not always allow vulnerable communities to protect themselves sufficiently (Ayeb-Karlsson et al., 2019).For instance, despite accurate flood forecasts and early warnings in Malawi and Mozambique, for tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth in 2019, many people did not know how to respond effectively and protect their livelihoods because they failed to fully understand the impacts of the predicted floods (Norton et al., 2020).Potential explanations for the failure of the risk communication include issues related to the delivery of information, mistrust in local authorities, and the level of the risk awareness of communities (Ayeb-Karlsson et al., 2019).Knowledge and awareness are insufficient as a basis for flood mitigation (Cook & Zurita, 2019), it should be associated with practices and supporting actions.The preparedness can be improved by increasing the awareness of the community through education campaigns (Gaurav et al., 2011).This can increase the willingness of stakeholders to participate in managing and reducing flood risk for vulnerable communities (Leeffers, 2022).In Dakar, Senegal, studies have shown that encouraging cooperative activities through community-based organizations enhanced neighborhood cleanliness and decreased flood risks (Newman et al., 2019).In the coastal city of Quelimane in Mozambique, engaging community representatives in the dissemination of information has increased communities' awareness of floods and helped to facilitate effective mitigation actions at a household level (Leeffers, 2022).In Accra, Ghana, Almoradie et al. (2020) found that incorporating participatory processes into flood risk management by including local experience and information, as well as fostering collaboration between various stakeholders, helped to improve the capacities of local communities to find solutions to flooding.However, results showed that local response and contexts are grounded in the exactitudes of social, experience, and network configuration that are needed when translating national policies into local-level policies and plans (Sitas et al., 2021).

| Review of disaster risk reduction policies and plans in Sudan
Over the past century in Sudan, five structural development plans have been developed including: McLean (1913); Doxiadis plan (1959); MEFIT plan (1975) (MEFIT, 1975); Khartoum structural plan 1991; and Khartoum structural plan KPP5 2008.All these structural plans focused on controlling the urban sprawl and land use in Khartoum without addressing its exposure to the flood hazard posed by the Nile.None of these different plans has been implemented as required owing to frequent changes of government, civil wars, the fragile economy, and environmental problems (Hamid & Bahreldin, 2014).There is no clear law in Sudan regulating activities related to disaster risk reduction, the current flood management mechanisms are mostly focused on rescue and relief management activities rather than on disaster risk reduction.This has led authorities in Sudan and in Khartoum to prepare a strategy and action plan that support preventing and reducing exposure and vulnerability to disaster risks, increasing preparedness, and strengthening response and recovery.This strategy has been developed in the action plan for disaster risk reduction for Khartoum 2019-2023, which is aligned with both the national and state strategies.The action plan was developed with the participation of the key stakeholders and is part of the "Making cities sustainable and resilient: Implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 at the local level", which is a 3-year initiative by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), supported by the European Commission.The main objectives of the plan include raising the awareness of stakeholders and enhancing coordination among them, providing early warning and emergency communication, and building a resilient social network.The action plan consists of 10 objectives, divided into 68 actions (UNISDR, 2019).The instability of the political and economic situation in Sudan has led to many of actions not being implemented, with the exception of early warning, which is concerned with effective preparedness and disaster response.

| Stakeholder participation in flood risk management in Sudan
For Africa's rapidly urbanizing cities, flood risk needs to be taken into consideration in formulating future plans in order to make cities more resilient.As a result, governments and local authorities need to develop clear, robust, and forward-looking strategic plans that are informed by a strong evidence base, and that engaged extensively with affected stakeholders (Egbinola et al., 2017).Sudan is a member of the African Union recognized under the African Union Constitutive Act.Although the Act does not directly refer to disaster management, it promotes good health and the eradication of preventable diseases.In 2004, the African Union, the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) developed a strategy for disaster risk reduction that provided a common approach framework to shared risks in the region.In 2007, the 30th International Conference of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent drafted the International Disaster Response Law (IDRL) guidelines to help governments prepare their regulatory systems for international disaster response.Numerous agreements and guidelines have been developed by the African Union for disaster management; however, the effectiveness of these mechanisms for reducing disasters and their impacts is limited.Many African countries still lack a comprehensive framework and single reference document for disaster risk management.This is true for Sudan.At a local level, there are multiple organizations and government institutions dealing with different elements and issues in the disaster management cycle; however, Sudan does not have a specific law that determines the roles and responsibilities of local actors, with no clear mechanism for coordination.
In Sudan, there is no policy or official way of engaging stakeholders in disaster risk reduction (IFRC, 2019).However, during the 2013 flood, a group of youth volunteers formed a community-relief initiative called the "Nafeer," as a consequence of the slow response of the Sudanese government to the situation.The Nafeer carried out several activities in flood-affected areas in Khartoum, and they gained local and international recognition.In the 2013 floods over 12,000 volunteers registered for the Nafeer campaign (Bashri, 2014).Organizing themselves into groups, they worked in 2-h shifts, receiving emergency calls, 24 h a day through hotlines.In addition, hundreds of Sudanese living abroad joined the Nafeer campaign, setting up a page on Facebook to receive donations from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries (Kushkush, 2013).
The Nafeer consists of a flat-management structure and is divided into 14 committees, where each committee has several responsibilities (Table 2).It has also succeeded in managing donations for activities such as providing basic health care; food provision; environmental sanitation campaigns; raising awareness; managing the social network; construction and reinforcement of flood barriers.In the 2013 floods, the Nafeer carried out all its activities in 6 weeks, a relatively short period of time, and without any reported damage to property or personal injury to affected people and its staff.It was praised by The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for its achievements.However, at the time the government of Khartoum State restricted the Nafeer's activities arguing that it was an unregistered entity.However, spontaneous independent voluntary initiatives such as the Nafeer can improve community resilience and play an important role in the humanitarian response to floods (Albahari & Schultz, 2017).Eltahir (2021) outlined that technology is the key reason for the Nafeer's success and that the government has cancelled any technical consultancies in flood risk management.Social networking technologies have played a key role in connecting different social groups through sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, bringing together the affected communities, professional emergency workers and motivated volunteers (Li & Goodchild, 2012).Including initiatives like the Nafeer in Sudan in the overall humanitarian response, both at the planning and implementation levels, can be a valuable approach.Objective evaluations should be conducted to assess their effectiveness and inform decision-making.

| RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research used a triangulation approach that included a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of the context in which the study took place, a questionnaire survey, and semi-structured interviews with public authority officials, Non-Governmental Organizations and community groups.

| The study area and background to Tuti Island
Tuti Island was used as a case study to research the value of community engagement and participation, including the Nafeer, in flood risk management in Sudan.Tuti Island was chosen as a case study for the following reasons: • All the inhabitants of the island survived the major floods occurred in 1946, 1988, 1998, 2006, 2013, 2014, and 2020.There was no loss of life.• There is a strong sense of community amongst the island's residents and the Nafeer ideology is considered one of the basic features of the island (Osman, 2004); • Various members of the island's community have been recognized as champions of disaster risk reduction in 2015 by the United Nation International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) (UNDRR, 2015).
The location of Tuti Island is shown in Figure 2. Tuti Island is divided into four zones: old Tuti; central Tuti; farm land and the cornice.Old Tuti was built in a random, "organic" pattern resembling old Islamic towns.The informal growth pattern of residential areas was guided by the culture and social order of Islam, the housing areas are compact with varied plot sizes and the roads are narrow and winding.The houses consist of single floors and they are built with mud and red brick.Central Tuti has a linear pattern with slightly wider roads, single and two-floor semi-detached houses, built with red brick and concrete, which extend toward the north-west and south-east side of the island.There are farmlands adjacent to the river banks although much of this is being built on (Bahreldin & Eisa, 2014).
Most of the buildings on the island are connected to the electricity and water networks.However, there is no public sewerage system; with the majority of the inhabitants using septic tanks to dispose of their solid-waste.Most of the buildings on the island have not been constructed to cope with flooding and intense rainfall.The island was badly flooded in 2020, as shown in Figure 3.
As part of the research, a short survey was carried out of a representative sample of the island's population to of these interviews were to understand the role that authorities and communities play in flood risk management on the island.Before commencing the surveys and interviews a brief SWOT analysis was carried out for Tuti Island in the context of flooding.

| SWOT analysis for Tuti Island
Before the socio-economic survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted, a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis was carried out for Tuti Island to assess the general circumstances and the development potential of the area and to help in formulating the questions for the semi-structured interviews.A summary of the SWOT analysis is provided in Table 1.

| The questionnaire survey
The most recent census in Sudan was carried out in 2008; hence, there is a lack of information about the socioeconomic status of the islanders.As a result, the authors conducted a brief survey of a representative sample of the Tutti islanders.Three hundred and 60 questionnaires were distributed to Tuti residents.The residents of the five neighborhoods in Tuti Island completed a total of 315 questionnaires, the response rate was 88%.The survey included a random sample of house locations, gender, household size, age, educational level, employment status, income level, lifestyle, housing conditions, the level of public services and infrastructure in the area (Figure 5).The survey took place between July 2022 and October 2022.The main objective of the socio-economic survey was to help in formulating realistic proposals for establishing a mechanism for public participation in Sudan to enable communities to be engaged in improving flood management (Appendix A).
The demographic analysis showed that 56% of the respondents were males and 44% were female; the size of households ranged between 5 and 7 people.The majority of respondents lived in extended families with 61% of the respondents aged between 25 and 45 years old; 71% of the respondents were university graduates; 29% of the respondents were secondary schools graduates; 80% of the respondents were civil servants, professionals, and workers in the public and private sector, 8% were selfemployed, 7% were farmers, and 5% owned their businesses; the majority of respondents earned between US $50 and US$100 per month The population density was 56 people per hectare and there were 3573 housing units; 72% of the respondents owned their houses and 28% rented their houses.Quantitative data of the survey questionnaire was analyzed by calculating percentages and means, and are presented in charts by using SPSS Statistics V28 and Microsoft Excel.
T A B L E 1 SWOT analysis carried out for Tuti Island, Khartoum.

Strengths
Location: Tuti Island is located at the heart of Khartoum state.Its close proximity to decision makers assists policy makers to monitor and understand the extent to which different stakeholders participate in the response to floods.Social interaction: The ethnic group endogamy on the island is quite high.The island is home to a homogeneous and harmonious community; resulting in a strong sense of community.This helps the concept of the Nafeer to play a key role in responding to floods.Land ownership: There are no official documents relating to land ownership and tenure.The land is registered as Tuti Island's residents (Brandes, 2020), and the citizens are considered as stakeholders, they are aware of a common threat which motivates them to seek a common response so their participation in the official policy is important.
Weakness Accessibility: The island can only be accessed from the southern side via a bridge constructed in 2009.This delays the arrival of volunteers from Khartoum North and Omdurman.Urban growth: Housing demand has led to a loss of the agricultural areas in the northern and western parts of the island to residential land use.The loss of agricultural land on the island has been estimated to be about 98 ha (Bahreldin & Eisa, 2014), which is about 25% of the fertile land loss.This has led to an increase in runoff which has increased local flooding on the island.The increase in the urban area on the island is shown in Figure 4. Household income: The majority of land that is owned by relatively low-income families meaning that there are limited funds to implement structural flood risk management measures on the island.Lack of urban planning: This has led to irregular roads and a lack of urban drainage in some plots which can lead to localized flooding.
Opportunities Heritage and location: Tuti Island has a distinct location, fertile agricultural land, an attractive waterfront and heritage.These characteristics help to motivate the residents to protect the island from floods.

Threats
Floods: Tuti Island suffers from frequent floods that occur during the rainy seasons, the flooding and subsequent soil erosion have been responsible for the loss of eight farms out of the original 88 farms (Bahreldin & Eisa, 2014), as well as damage to houses and people's livelihoods.

| Semi-structured interviews
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders including public authority officials, Non-Governmental Organizations and community groups.
The study adopted interview questions from the European Union research project on floods entitled STAR-FLOOD.The STAR-FLOOD project researched the strengthening and redesigning of European flood risk practices with respect to appropriate and resilient flood risk governance arrangements.The semi-structured interviews determined the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders involved in flood risk management and highlighted the relationship between public and private actors including citizens.The interviews were conducted with five public authority officials and seven civil actors.The objective of the interviews was to understand the extent to which different stakeholders participated in the response to floods which occurred on Tuti Island in 2020.
The semi-structured interviews for public officials were centered around the following questions: • What are the measures/procedures taken to mitigate flood damage or respond to floods?• Do emergency services make use of volunteers' citizens during flood events?• Do volunteers make a significant contribution to the formal emergency response?• How is this volunteering initiated?Is it organized prior to the event by local authorities?
For communities, the questions focused on the following: • What role do citizens play in the management of flood risks?• Is there sufficient involvement of communities in the development of flood risk management measures and strategies by authorities?• Would you be interested in participating in the emergency planning for floods, for example, drafting emergency plans at the neighborhood level?• Do people in your neighborhood take their own measures to prepare for floods and to protect their houses from flooding?• Did people help each other during and after the flood?• Are residents supported by authorities with regard to floods, for example, via subsidies, material support, or expertise?• Do residents have sufficient access to the flood risk management decision-making process?
T A B L E 2 Nafeer committees and their responsibilities.Participants agreed that the National Council for Civil Defence is the official body responsible for disaster risk reduction in Sudan.The measures taken to reduce or mitigate floods include several strategies and measures, namely: engineering measures, institutional and administrative, societal (safety culture), economic framework, planning and infrastructure.For example, Dr Amir Al-Hussein Al-Siddiq mentioned:

Coordination
The procedures in the government agency entrusted with the management of disaster reduction in Sudan, namely: The National Council for Civil Defence and with the pamphlet for the measures represented in radical solutions to prevent the accident and the dangers of floods include: a) Automatic preparation for next year's report.b) Consultancy works that include providing strategic inputs to the centre and the states, including materials for medicine and books.c) Activating teams for operations in centres and States The government agencies have access to all affected areas and depend on volunteers to carry out the task for the National Council of Civil Defence and work to reduce flood risks.
Participants had similar responses when asked about the citizens' response to flood hazards and said that the citizens engage voluntarily in flood mitigation to reduce the flood magnitude and damage to property and people.For example, Dr Sumia Ahmed Abdelwahab mentioned: "the community originally inherited the process of volunteering, especially during the flood period, and this appears in the local culture and the songs." They also agreed that emergency services make use of citizens who volunteer only during the disaster and that citizens do make a significant contribution to formal emergency response.Participants added that citizens organize themselves into groups according to their professions (e.g., health care, construction) and support institutional responses.For example, Police Captain Mohamed Abu Baker Hussein mentioned: Volunteers carry the job efficiently.For example, in Tuti islands the Nafeer (community committee) plays an important role in flood risk management as they work parallel with the civil defence administration and are available to provide help at any time.
The participants agreed that the five structural development plans of Khartoum do not provide a framework for public participation and there is no method to help to bring public participation into practice.The participants also stated that there has been an evolution in volunteer work as citizens from several professions become involved in mitigating flood damage and that they have accumulated their own indigenous knowledge and experience in flood risk management.However, the citizens are not officially involved.Being dissatisfied with the response of the government, they established the Nafeer campaign to provide direct and immediate flood relief (mentioned above in the local context).For example, Captain Hamdi Bushra mentioned: When the flood occurs, the following measures are considered: firstly, connecting the emergency line to respond to the flood emergency at the three levels of the emergency plan (Before, during and after the flood disaster).Secondly, preparing and activating the tasks of community committees, previously assigned by the National Council of Civil Defence (The National Council of disasters management in Sudan).Thirdly, coordinating with community committees to carry out voluntary tasks efficiently."All participant's detailed answers are attached in Appendix B.
The interview questions also included seven participants who were civil actors (three Non-Governmental Organizations, two popular committees, and two neighborhood groups who are Nafeer members).The participants explained the roles volunteers played in mitigating flood risks.They summarized these roles and all the answers to the questions asked of them by identifying the different activities carried out by the Nafeer members.The Nafeer in Tuti Island has a different mechanism from other areas to mitigate flood damages, the Nafeer members are usually divided into several committees, and each committee has several responsibilities, such as providing basic health care; food provision; managing the social network; construction and reinforcement of flood barriers These are shown in Table 2.However, the Nafeer members in Tuti Island are divided into river observation units called Altayat.
Altayat is a traditional system which comprises tents located in inhabited areas vulnerable to flooding.This tent is used as a place where the Nafeer members monitor floods.It is also a central logistical meeting point for them to coordinate flood protection measurements.Nafeer members take responsibility for the construction and maintenance of traditional dams by mobilizing the community and dividing the tasks among themselves.The different tasks that are organized by Nafeer members in Altaya include: • Warning systems: Mosques produce different announcements, whistles and horns with different tones that warn of impending flooding; social media such as Facebook, are also used.
• Measurement of flood water levels: the inhabitants of Tuti Island mark signs on trees trunks and their boats to measure the water level.• Fund-raising by the Tuti Emergency Committee; • Human bodies to act as a barrier to flood water to slow down the flow of the water flow as a preparatory step to erect a sandbag dams; • Songs about floods as a traditional way to encourage and motivate the inhabitants and remind them of their success in confronting past floods; and • Providing food and resources to carry out the job.
The system depends on a hierarchical organization system supervised by a local head (expert), each Taya consists of a selected team of seven to eight members led by two senior members who communicate with the Taya head.There are usually between six and seven Altayat (Figure 6).
The problem of flood risk management in the study area exists because there is a gap between the policy makers and the public sector (citizens).This is mainly due to three factors.The first factor is the lack of trust and conflicts of interest (e.g., the government's vision for the area is recreational and tourism, while inhabitants have loyalty and attachment to the island and its history).The second factor is the lack of communication, coordination and integration between the local authorities and the citizens.The third factor is the government's financial problems in implementing development programs (e.g., shelters, civil defence training and improving flood forecasting services).To fill this gap, it is important, firstly to have public meetings, where local authorities provide opportunity for citizens to receive information concerning the decisions being made and citizens may contribute by writing or verbally submitting their comments during the hearing.This approach provides an opportunity for citizens to participate and have their voices directly heard and express their opinions.Tuti Island is a fragile society that is vulnerable to flooding and lacks the capacity to deal with natural disasters.The only way to improve this is through its strong social cohesion.Hence, decision-makers have accepted the need to share information with local communities to share and to ensure their direct participation in order to help them survive floods.The public hearing also provides a platform for citizen engagement and innovation.First, it can be effective at the highest level (i.e., policy formulation and legislation decrees and statutes), where concepts, approaches and strategies are developed (e.g., structural plan level).Second, it can be included in the program development and planning activities (e.g., local planning level).Thirdly, it can be part of concrete projects (e.g., action plan level).All the above- mentioned benefits of public hearings could raise awareness levels; particularly since the inhabitants do not intend to evacuate the island.

| DISCUSSION
Sudan is a country that is currently facing several catastrophes, ranging from economic, political, health and environmental problems.In 2020, several states in Sudan suffered significant damage owing to heavy rains and flooding.Measures to manage flood risks remain limited owing to several factors.First, the prolonged disputes and displacement since 2003 are ongoing (FAO, 2020a(FAO, , 2020b)).This is further impacted by soaring inflation rates and the humanitarian situation aggravated by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this study, we assessed interventions intended to improve flood preparedness and risk management.Public intervention through the Nafeer promoted risk awareness and increased preparedness among residents.The interventions promoted increased awareness among households with little experience in flood risks.The results also showed that the Nafeer played a crucial role in information dissemination among residents.Based on qualitative and quantitative data analysis and findings, we concluded that public participation can produce significant benefits in providing easy-to-understand and contextualized risk information to residents before flood events occur.Increasing awareness is the first step toward promoting resilience.The findings indicated that risk awareness can be increased even in cities with extreme climate risks.Public participation through the Nafeer included actionable mitigation approaches.The results also showed that raising apprehensions only is insufficient to mobilize the intention to prepare.An adequate channel to disseminate information is through community watch groups, that is, the Nafeer.These groups are essential in coordinating responses and taking action to mitigate flood risks.They provide essential services such as shelter and healthcare and possess strong networks and a high level of trust within the community.Their ability to foster collective action is instrumental in facilitating and supporting various initiatives.These groups serve as essential facilitators, enabling the community to come together and work toward addressing flood risks effectively." The approach to flood risk management in Sudan has long been associated with complex relations between governmental, non-governmental and civil society.The government is not the only stakeholder managing environmental disasters; however, it has remained the dominant actor in managing flood risks.The interaction occurs only during the time of disaster in terms of managing external funds, and the volunteers act as an independent entity.Hence, the lack of interactions in different disaster phases results in the lack of helpful documentation to assess the affected areas and guide mapping flood hazards in the future.
After analyzing government documents, zoning maps, and flood hazard data of the case study area, the research found that all of these existing structural plans focus on physical planning and land use zoning flood risk management.They considered Tuti Island to be an attractive place for investment and ignored the socioeconomic of local inhabitants and their needs.While the Tutians' local community focuses on policy making to save and preserve the island from flooding because they consider Tuti Island as their own inheritance, reflecting their Nubian culture and traditions.None of these different plans has been implemented as required owing to the frequent changes of government, civil wars, fragile economy and environmental problems.In addition, private land ownership is one of the main key factors behind its failure (Bahreldin & Eisa, 2014).Flood resilience expresses the capacity of the community to adapt to hazards while retaining integrity and identity.Flood risk management in Tuti Island is a good example of a resilient city, as it assists communities to use their very limited local resources to prepare for and mitigate flood damage.Thus, the study proposes public participation policy as an effective and efficient tool in flood risk management to promote flood resilience and improve social networks.Public participation could rationalise, cover gap areas, avoid efforts duplication, focus on joint planning, maximize consultations and enhance monitoring and evaluation.It will ensure that affected people are integrated into the different flood cycle phases.In addition, public participation would help in capturing any complaints from the people during the field monitoring tasks and through group discussions and meetings, this would reduce conflict and encourages mutual support.

| CONCLUSION
During flood events, local authorities often fail to deliver adequate services to the people affected by flood disasters; the citizens in these zones become responsible for their own safety.In 2020, after the transitional government in Sudan declared the country as a natural disaster zone, it became clear that flood risk management through public participation was essential to safeguard the habitability of affected zones.Consequently, collective protection from flood damage has become the major driver of discourse, practice and institutions in flood risk management in Sudan.Nafeer members in the Tuti Location of Tuti Island.Source: https://www.google.com/maps.establish the socio-economic situation of the islanders.In addition, semi-structured interviews were carried out with key stakeholders including public authority officials and civil actors (e.g., Non-Governmental Organizations and neighborhood groups) who have a role in flood risk management and disaster risk reduction.The objectives F I G U R E 3 Photographs of Tuti Island during the 2020 flood.Source: https://english.alarabiya.net.F I G U R E 4 Increase in the urban area of Tuti Island since 1910.Source: Bahreldin and Eisa (2014): Urban growth (1910-2012), The Authors: Urban growth (2012-2020).
3.4.1 | Response of public authority stakeholdersFive public authority officials voluntarily participated in the study and agreed to have their direct quotes shared and published, namely: • Captain Hamdi Bushra Department of Sectors Training, General Administration of Civil Defence • Police Captain Mohamed Abu Baker Hussein, Head of the Planning Department, General Administration of Civil Defence • Captain Salah Ibrahim, National General Secretariat, General Administration of Civil Defence • Colonel Dr Amir Al-Hussein Al-Siddiq, National General Secretariat Council for Disasters and Emergency, General Administration of Civil Defence • Dr Sumia Ahmed Abdelwahab, Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Science and Disasters Management, Assistant Professor.

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I G U R E 5 Socio-economic situation of the residents of Tuti Island.Source: Survey findings.