Technical Session 1

IFRC&

ADRRN

Executive Summary

Chapter 1: Introduction & BackgroundHFA1 & beyond : The Need of Building Community Resilience in the Context of

Asia PacificMessage and Recommended Actions for HFA2

Chapter 2: Enhancing Resilience at Local LevelsThe development of Community Resilience as an approach to tackle risks at the local level

Key components and characteristics of Resilient Communities

Chapter 3: Experiences in addressing national - local integration gapsEvidence from Asia Pacific : GAR, APDR Report findings, Other ReportsExperiences (if any) from recent events in Asia Pacific (both catastrophic as well as local)Success stories, findings and recommendations from national platforms, other

international thematic meetings, Technical Expert Recommendations

Chapter 4: Conclusions and RecommendationsMain conclusionAdditional actions to build Community Resilience: Targets, StandardsKey Messages emerging for HFA2

Table of Content: Technical Session

Introduction & Background

As communities become increasingly globalized and connected, they are exposed to larger number of stressors, complex and wicked problems, that need to be tackled more effectively using a systems-based, integrated approach. Within this context, the appeal of using concepts of resilience has increased.

Poorly planned and managed urban areas, environmental degradation, poverty & inequality, and weak governance mechanisms contribute to increase in loss and damage.

In addition, low-severity but high frequency localized disasters that occur year on year, affect private citizens and communities in the region who pay the highest prices.

Studies show that disaster databases under-report ‘everyday’ disasters by as much as 400%. Local level monitoring of everyday disasters is essential.” (Views from Frontline beyond 2015)

Give more attention to local level implementation of national polices and priorities. Strengthen local government capacity and build a culture of safety among disaster-prone communities (The Hyogo Framework of Action in Asia-Pacific 2011-13)

Good local governance, sustainable urban management and development, effective decentralization and good devolution of resources to the local level help to build the resilience of nations and communities (UN system Task Team on the Post – 2015

Messages & recommended Actions for HFA2

Building community resilience to small and medium scaled disasters (Key Area 1)

Supporting the development of instruments to ensure that adequate budgets are available to local governments to build community resilience, (Key Area 1)

Promote inclusion and strengthen volunteer networks for effective local level action (Key Area 3)

Local Level action in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) will help to shift communities from being passive observers to active stakeholders in building safer and resilient local communities (key area 3)

Stronger community-local government partnerships is key to improving both the relevance and effectiveness of policies that help reduces risk.(key area 6) Clear roles and responsibilities with establishment of Terms of Reference across public and private institutions would underpin accountability in a governance framework. (key area 6)

Enhancing Resilience at Local level - components

A key message of the 2012 Asia Pacific Disaster Report advocates the use of community-led efforts to instill a culture of safety, whilst the proposed sub-theme of the 6AMCDRR is to unpack local or sub-national resilience.

1.Building capacity on community resilience2.Developing Local Disaster Risk Reduction( DRR) strategies 3.Need for Social Protection4.Facilitating robust local action groups5.Strengthening local government – citizen interface6.Inclusion of women, vulnerable and marginalized in decision making processes.7.Working with vulnerable groups to build community resilience8.The need for social protection9.Participatory M&E systems10.Strengthening Institutional Frameworks for DRM

Experiences in addressing national - local integration gaps

Developing long-term and sustainable national strategies to enable community resilience - In Vietnam, the Government is collaborating with key civil society actors to scale-up a national community-based disaster risk reduction programme covering 70% of communes in the country.

Instruments for reducing vulnerability and building local resilience - role of law as a foundation for building community resilience can be found in Vietnam and New Zealand.

Building Urban Community Resilience - Nepal has identified (through the Nepal Risk Reduction Consortium), the urgent need to understand how the government and other actors can address the growing vulnerability in urban areas through community-based DRR adequately.

Disability Inclusive DRR Network (DiDRRN) - Disability is included as a cross cutting issue and make it essential for people with disability to be acknowledged and to be included as proactive participants towards DRR policy and frameworks post 2015 in HFA 2.

Peace Boat- Disaster Relief Volunteer Center - Training of communities and volunteers for relief and recovery efforts.

FAO – DRR in Agriculture - Cross sectoral integration of DRR in development is important

Decentralization of Risk Governance & Accountability in Indonesia & Pakistan : The lowest tiers of the governance lack legislative mandate, fiscal resources and technical capacity to integrate DRM with overall governance and mainstream development planning.

Community Monitoring in Uganda :Community monitoring led to improved quality of health delivery. The report cards provided the basis for an informed dialogue with community members, and between community members and health workers.

Strengthening Local Governance –a case study from Eravur Urban Council, Batticaloa district, SriLanka : revealed lack of awareness of this Act in general and among education personnel in particular, was the greatest difficulty facing the government. More than that of insufficient financial resources, culture of secrecy within the bureaucracy and the low levels of literacy of the people also impeded the implementation of changes in Education sector.

Environmental Citizenship Strategy:It involves actively encouraging, supporting and empowering the community, business and organizations to create lasting pro-environmental behaviour change driven by: accessibility, participation and responsibilit,,environmental equity and restorative actionenvironmental leadership.

Conclusions and RecommendationsDevelop a community resilience framework : to identify the characteristics of a resilient community and guide the development of sustainable programmes, projects, services and other activities that strengthen the safety and resilience of people and communities

Develop a monitoring tool to assess community resilience (Community Resilience Index) with clearly defined parameters along with indicators and benchmarks.

Development of legal instruments to ensure that individual projects are based on risk assessments and are linked with developmental programmes and plans.

Secure political commitments and develop specific and relevant legislation to allocate budget to finance

Ensuring that capacities of local government are built so that community resilience initiatives are sustainable in the long-term.

Increasing engagement and coordination with the private sector, working with them to expand their business continuity planning to include at risk communities.

Invest in sustainable solutions/technologies to foster resilience especially among the vulnerable populations - Bringing together traditional knowledge and technological advancements for economical and locally appropriate solutions.

Institutional Capacities: The capacities of local administration are very low and the inadequate capacities become starker when DRR issues need to be addressed. Strategies for improving local capacities through technical assistance, training, exposure programmes and civil society interfaces.

Inclusion: All relevant stakeholders across the local community and social sectors, inclusive of most vulnerable & marginalized are included DRR process

People’s/ Local Participation: Clear Strategy to ensure people’s engagement. Local level participatory action plan needs to be facilitated to enable an effective environment for DRR.

Accountability & Transparency: Roles & responsibilities of decision makers at all levels. Clear DRR legislations need to be framed at local levels and a robust audit mechanisms, performance indicators need to be in place.

Convergence, Partnerships and linkages: Need to converge and mainstream CCA, SD and DRR policies into local level operational plans. All interest groups at the local level need to come together for building capacities for DRR through a integrated framework.

Communication & Advocacy: An effective communication & advocacy strategy is necessary for institutionalizing & mainstreaming DRR approach in local plans and National Development Agendas

Enhanced Monitoring Systems: Need for integrating indicators of local level action with Sustainable development goals.

Policies & laws should connect with the reality of development on the ground: National Consultations have demanded stronger linkages between national and local government – including the alignment of national policies with local needs.

Clear delineation of responsibilities –clear cut roles, norms, institutions and interactions: Several consultations called for clarity on roles and responsibilities with establishment of clearer accountability lines.

Setting Indicators & Benchmarks for measuring outcomes: clear indicators and specific targets, would facilitate measuring outcomes and thereby strengthen the review and evaluation process overall.

Common Terminology for DRM at all levels: could be part of a common knowledge base that that UNISDR is managing through the Prevention Web

Inclusive Accountability: Through an inclusive accountability process, governance could be shared among stakeholders.

Queries

1. Clarification on the length of TS background document

2. ‘Regional Evidence’ What does it mean?

3. Analysis of key gaps and challenges with a futuristic perspective

4. Recommendations focusing on implementation of DRR in specific areas/ actionable items in the next 2 years– in fact there is less than a year before the WCDR

5. Integrating results from Key Area 4 (on Women) in the discussion along with other vulnerable groups.

Thank You