The most important mission of subnational governments in terms of disaster risk management is to plan and create structures and processes necessary for the construction of governance, stimulating communication among all the actors involved to strengthen the bonds of trust and the assumption of common responsibilities and individuals, and for a more efficient use of resources. On one hand, this raises important demands in terms of organizational redesign, counting on decision, communication and flexible relations processes that allow the articulation of people and resources within the organization and outside of it, in order to establish the different functions and results to be achieved through collaborative work, based on the objectives of disaster risk management. On the other hand, it requires a review of planning processes, with the participation of actors from all areas and levels, indispensable in the design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation of such planning. In this paper we analyze the ways in which the government of the province of Córdoba (Argentina) designs its organizational structure and raises its disaster risk management planning processes in a participatory manner, in order to guarantee joint work between government, civil society, private sector and at-risk populations.

La gestión del riesgo de desastres (GRD) ha comenzado a tratarse en las agendas gubernamentales como un proceso que conduce al planeamiento y aplicación de políticas, estrategias, instrumentos y medidas que debe ser asumido por todos los sectores de la sociedad. Este enfoque supone un desafío para los gobiernos, quienes se ven interpelados por la necesidad de dar respuestas a situaciones de crisis generadas por fenómenos naturales o antrópicos, a través de la participación social y el trabajo colaborativo. En estas agendas se aborda especialmente la necesidad de que los gobiernos locales se transformen en actores clave para generar soluciones. El artículo tiene por objetivo analizar la incorporación de normas, reglas y discursos internacionales sobre la GRD en las políticas y prácticas de los gobiernos locales de la provincia de Córdoba (Argentina). Para ello se diseñó una matriz colaborativamente entre el ámbito académico y funcionarios de gobiernos locales. La hipótesis es que los gobiernos locales incorporan cambios a nivel discursivo y en componentes organizacionales más rápidamente que en la implementación de proyectos específicos. Además, se adoptan primero en procesos de toma de decisiones centralizados en los gobiernos locales, para luego incorporar procesos participativos que conduzcan a un enfoque de gobernanza.

Introducing changes and innovations related to people management processes in organizations is always a challenge. Mainly because any change impacts, directly or indirectly, on people's work lives, either on their jobs, the assessment of those jobs, their training and development expectations in the organization – and outside the organization – and their compensations, to name a few. In some cases, companies seek for professional services from external consulting firms to carry out these change processes. The need to have the point of view from outside the organization adds value. This chapter aims at presenting and characterizing an external consulting methodology in people management, with a participative approach, and at assessing its contributions, scopes and challenges, based on two application cases. Conclusions are presented as lessons learned from the participative approach for external consulting firms, and the main challenges to face in order to advance on this work methodology.

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