Community is a solution, not a problem: A systematic review on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic on improving the capacity of the last mile through community-based approaches

Community involvement in disaster risk reduction plays a vital role in various aspects. It enhances understanding of the challenges and risk dynamics at the local level, as well as potential solutions. Community-based approaches have been proven effective for disaster risk mitigation, particularly in resource-limited settings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many community-based interventions emerged as alternative strategies and coping mechanisms, which are the primary focus of this paper. Data for this study were collected through a systematic review using databases such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Emerald Journals. After a thorough record mining process, 38 records were selected for analysis—30 from peer-reviewed journal articles and eight from grey literature. Thematic analysis was employed to examine the qualitative data gathered from these manuscripts, utilizing NVivo-14 software. Initial coding and focused coding were applied to identify key themes. The findings indicate that many communities in developing countries effectively utilized community-based approaches to address the primary challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. These challenges were closely related to health system overloads, implications of responses during lockdowns, low acceptance of preventive measures, difficulties in data management, risk communication, and early warnings. Other issues included livelihood disruptions and food safety, social isolation and mental health concerns, public health information management, and severe impacts on vulnerable and marginalised communities. Furthermore, affected communities collaborated with local stakeholders to implement many community-based interventions. There is a pressing need to document and assess these initiatives as part of regional and national disaster risk reduction frameworks to enhance evidence-based practices • Community involvement is critical in disaster risk reduction at the grassroots level. • Community-based approaches demonstrated effectiveness in COVID-19 prevention. • Empowering communities lowers the burden on the health system during a pandemic. • Acceptance of control measures can be increased using community approaches. • Community interventions were potential to be incorporated into local policies.