Regional UN Volunteers (UNV) Project Planning and Capacity Building Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction

Summary

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was adopted by UN Member States on 18 March 2015 at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in Sendai City, Japan. To monitor global progress of the Sendai Framework a set of global and national Sendai Framework indicators is being developed by an open-ended intergovernmental working group (OEIWG), for which technical support will be provided by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and a group of experts. The Sendai Framework indicators will be agreed by December 2016 and will to the degree possible align with the monitoring and review mechanisms of the SDGs and the climate conventions. Therefore at the same time UN Agencies are proposing disaster risk reduction indicators to be included in the SDGs, through the ‘Open-ended Working Group’ in New York. While a set of mandatory core indicators developed by the open-ended intergovernmental working group (OEIWG) will monitor the global targets of the Sendai Framework, the Sendai Framework also states that countries should develop national indicators to monitor the implementation of the Sendai Framework as appropriate. There is a need for educating and discussing the links between the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2013 and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and explore how DRR and Resilience are addressed and outlined in 2013 Agenda for Sustainable Development document.

The UNV Strategic Framework (SF) 2014-2017 articulates the scope and dimensions of UNV’s strategic direction, results and associated resource requirements over a four-year period.

The present regional project was designed and aimed to support the United Nations Plan of Action on Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience in South and East Asia and Pacific through volunteerism in a number of countries that were affected by the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. The scope of the regional project is to allow the organization to deliver its results in community resilience for environment and disaster risk reduction, in accordance with the individual requirements of programme countries and partners, by supporting seven UN Resident Coordinators (India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand), their offices and UNCTs, with one international and, wherever feasible, one national UN Volunteer specialists in DRR, as well as establishing a results and resources framework to guide regional and country-specific initiatives in support of national/regional efforts and UN engagement in disaster risk reduction.

Expected outputs of the project: Output 1: UN Country Teams’ (UNCTs) and UN entities DRR capacities are strengthened in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, to provide effective support to country driver efforts to address disaster risk; and Output 2: The importance of disaster risk reduction and resilience for sustainable development, as well as the relevance of the role and importance of volunteerism as a strong people-centered approach to achieving this, is demonstrated to and recognized by stakeholders of the post-2015 development agenda and the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction.

About the Workshop

The workshop was attended by 37 participants from 8 countries of Asia pacific region and various UN agencies, partner organizations, and international organizations active in the area of DRR and CAC in Asia Pacific region. This regional capacity development/planning workshop was structured around following main components with their objectives and planned to be addressed at this 4 day workshop:

• Component 1: Integrating DRR into the UNDAF/UNPAF
• Component 2: Emergency preparedness planning for UNCT
• Component 3: Planning for 2016