Global Platform for DRR kicks off for NGOs with a preparatory meeting June 4, 2007

I walked up to the conference center today by taking the scenic route today past Lake Geneva. It is a beautiful sunny day in Geneva and it was good for me to walk because I tend to feel stuffy and grow impatient in big conference halls. I must also admit that I don't think Geneva is particularly NGO friendly due to its exorbitant costs, but I am glad that this first session on the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction has actually invited NGOs - it is, in fact, what they call a "multi-stakeholder" conference.

That is the first take-away. NGOs are being encouraged to speak out actively - at least during the breakout sessions which will take place later this week. Today was essentially a way to get six issues out on the table which will be repeated over the next few days (and have NGOs think about them beforehand). Although a position paper has already been agreed upon by the NGOs, today's meeting emphasized six key themes:

1. Making Disaster Risk Reduction a National Priority;
2. Reducing Risk in Health Facilities and the health sector;
3. Education for DRR and Safer schools in communities at risk;
4. Environmental management for risk reduction;
5. Strengthening DRR through Preparedness; and
6. Mainstreaming Gender in DRR.

The group I attended, 'Making Disaster Risk Reduction a National Priority', was led by the only ECB agency presenting, a CARE representative from their Madagascar program. After a presentation by CARE on things that have worked in Madagascar, our group noted all the ideal things one should do to make DRR a national priority such as: integrating it with on-going development programs, ensuring that there is a national level steering committee, advocating for funding within government sectors, linking the communities with national policy, and providing more awareness to Governments and particular ministries. On the latter point of awareness raising with Governments, the question was raised "how do we do this?" Aside from the usual conferences and academic discussions, I felt like I was well placed to add some practical ECB experience.

I talked about how in the pilot projects, we had invited Government officials to visit our projects, and all the training and learning events had actively included Government officials, sometimes even as trainers. I discussed how they are active members of several of the initiatives and will continue to be - as this inclusion and active participation is providing awareness and knowledge about these issues which may not be evident elsewhere. I mentioned the efforts of the Guatemala team to create a HIC-like information site with Government involvement before an emergency so that there is better coordination and information sharing. These examples helped provide some practical ways to move forward on what we would like to see happen.

So basically we agreed that consortia like ECB can be more powerful than individual efforts when trying to influence governments, and that we should join forces to raise awareness. During idea sharing, it was clear that there was confusion about the networks that are available for information sharing and action on DRR. This gave the InterAction and BOND DRR working groups a chance to emphasize that these groups exist and that we invite more participation.

With the preparatory session over, I walked back down the hill by the lake with my co-facilitator of the InterAction DRR group. We commented about the day's discussions and enjoyed the walk in the sun.

Susan Romanski