The NDRRMA's role in building disaster resilience: why leadership matters
The NDRRMA of Nepal is among the youngest in Asia and hence it should be able to take benefit from the network and experience of DRRM institution of other countries.
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In Nepal, the NDRRMA is functioning under the Ministry of Home Affairs and is responsible to manage and address all phases of DRRM in the country. To be effective, the NDRRMA must be an empowered agency and thus adopt a more holistic and integrated approach to disaster risk reduction and management. Disaster Management is a cross-cutting issue and hence demands different approach than the business as usual. Experience from other countries strongly suggest that NDRRMA Nepal should provide farsighted leadership in DRRM and offer practical and localized solutions in the field. It must also seek to find pragmatic, sustainable and resilient solutions through mobilization of all tiers of governments i.e., national, provincial and local governments including local communities in the field.
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The NDRRMA Nepal will not be successful, unless it chooses the right approach to deal with the issues and challenges of continuously evolving DRRM sector in Nepal. The function of NDRRMA should be able to acknowledge and internalize the change in the governance system (from unitary to federal) and significant empowerment and delegation of all four phases of DRRM responsibilities to local governments. Mainstreaming disaster risk while working for risk friendly development should be the priority agenda of NDRRMA in Nepal. As a result, the country requires a truly comprehensive, holistic and integrated approach to DRRM, based on multi-hazard, risk reduction, inclusive and resilience building model.
In view of the above situation, NDRRMA needs a truly qualified and capable leadership, who is proficient and experienced in disaster risk reduction and management in Nepal. Experience and exposure of working in outside countries with international communities will help to bring and integrate global and regional knowledge and best practices to DRRM priorities in Nepalese context and realities. The multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approach to DRRM demands a leader with broad base and having sound knowledge and understanding of all phases of disaster management with focus to risk reduction, disaster preparedness, sustainable and inclusive development and resilience building concept. The head of authority is not a position of generalist (like General Manager post of many public corporations in Nepal) and it demands solid competency in multiple areas (administration, planning and management, coordination and networking, partnership and collaboration, training and capacity building, monitoring an evaluation, donors’ relation, fund raising and others) supported by sound technical knowledge and strong contextual background.
By virtue of its role, NDRRMA is expected to work with large range of international agencies including UN, donors, embassies, development partners and others and coordinate with them to benefit from their technical and financial supports on regular basis. In addition, the organization must work closely with all tiers of governments with priority to empowered local governments, who is now responsible for all phases of DRRM in Nepal. The leader must be experienced and skillful in working with multi-stakeholders and multi-disciplinary team and should be able to mobilize their support for putting collective efforts towards addressing rapidly increasing and evolving disaster management threats and challenges in Nepal. The leader should be able to effectively present country’s perspective in international forums and garner supports and raise funds for solving exponentially growing climate induced disaster risk challenges in Nepal.
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