Integrating Disaster Risk Reduction into Everyday Work Practices.

A range of government representatives and community leaders from multi-lateral, non-government and civil society organisations came together on Friday 23 March at the Tradewinds Hotel in Lami to unravel the links between development and disaster risk reduction and explore the idea of a network to exchange knowledge and practices in the area of disaster risk reduction.

The workshop sought to help participants demystify the concept of mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into everyday work practices by providing them with a grounded understanding of how their own development practices, programs and policies can contribute to disaster risk reduction. While a shift in focus from disaster response to risk management was advocated, the ongoing importance and complementarity of disaster preparedness, response and recovery were stressed. The workshop also provided participants with a practical understanding of the principles and strengths of local level risk management. Local Level Risk Management is defined as the process through which society manages to reduce the levels of disaster risk and foresee and control the emergence of new risks, through local governance and community planning and preparedness, as well as through individual participation and motivation.

Hosted by UNDP’s Pacific Centre, the workshop drew on the experience of Ms. Angeles Arenas, Regional Disaster Reduction Adviser for UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) in Latin America and the Caribbean Region.  Ms Arenas shared her eleven years of professional experience working with a range of multilateral, bilateral, and non-governmental organizations in Central and South America in the areas of disaster reduction, gender and development, and rural development and environmental protection with participants through the use of a number of case studies and examples of initiatives in local level risk management from the Caribbean and Latin American Region.

In the Pacific Region Disaster Risk Reduction is often perceived to be an isolated issue requiring specific strategies that are the responsibility of one agency at the national level. However, experiences from the Latin America and the Caribbean show that local authorities and communities are often the best placed to identify risks and to articulate strategies to address them.  The workshop therefore highlighted the importance of linking community strategies with policy and program interventions at the provincial and national levels and ensuring that disaster risk reduction is seen as everyone’s business and an integral part of all development planning.

The workshop also highlighted the benefits of sharing experiences, knowledge and best practice in disaster risk reduction and explored the potential benefits and challenges involved in developing a Community of Practice for disaster risk reduction in the Pacific region. Participants explored a number of common areas of interest and the need for developing a systemised way of sharing experiences and best practice. The Pacific Centre will explore these possibilities further with stakeholders over the coming months.

Requests for the DVDs shown at the workshop, Forseen Disasters or The Caribbean, in the Hurricane’s Road should be forwarded to isikeli.valemi@undp.org.
 

1. For further information on the Workshop or the Centre’s Disaster Risk Reduction Programme please contact Ruth Lane at ruth.lane@undp.org or Peter Muller at peter.muller@undp.org or call +679 3000399.

 

UNDP is the UN's global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. The Pacific Centre, UNDP’s knowledge and regional programme centre in Suva, Fiji is focused on Small Islands Developing States in the Pacific and serves 15 Pacific Island countries. The Centre aims to boost aid efficiency in the Pacific by providing policy advice and technical back stopping in the areas of Crisis Prevention and Recovery, Democratic Governance and Poverty Alleviation and Millennium Development Goals Achievement. Pacific Centre is complemented by two additional centres, one in Colombo focusing on trade, human development, and HIV/AIDS prevention, and a centre in Bangkok focusing on knowledge development.