Disaster Risk Management Networks & Communities

Apiário

Apiário is a platform to promote social business for greater efficiency in support of emergency situations in Brazil. A call to action is promoted for young social entrepreneurs, to implement projects that help solving problems in emergency and risky situations in Brazil. The platform takes place under the organizational environment, to foster social business entrepreneurs to implement different links needed to support an excellent management of natural disasters in Brazil, facilitated by groups of people and entities that can meet financial, technical and coaching demands.

Asian Disaster Reduction Response Network

Their main aim is to promote coordination, information sharing and collaboration among NGOs and other stakeholders for effective and efficient disaster reduction and response in the Asia-Pacific region.

Asian University Network of Environment and Disaster Management (AUEDM)

AUEDM is a network of universities undertaking education and research in the field of environment and disaster management. AUEDM was established in 2008 with 14 members, and as of January 2011, consists of 22 universities from 17 countries and areas. The network is hosted in Kyoto University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies. The network has one president, two vice presidents (education and research), and an Executive board. The board runs for 3 years, and currently consists of 7 members from Asian universities. Additionally, there are observers and /or advisors which also include civil society (NGOs).

The aims of the network are:
1. To share and work together in promoting environment and disaster management in higher education
2. To collaborate on field-based and policy oriented research
3. To broaden the scope of education and learning with other stakeholders
4. To document, develop and disseminate knowledge products
5. To provide a forum for consultation, information sharing and cooperation among universities on matters and themes of common interest
6. To enhance recognition of the vital role of universities in implementation-oriented education and research in environment and disaster management

BCMIX - Business Continuity Management Information Exchange

BCMIX is a free and non-commercial virtual group created for professionals with a genuine interest in Business Continuity Management (BCM/BCP), Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP), COOP, Emergency Preparedness and Crisis Management.

Coastal area disaster mitigation efforts (CADME)

CADME is a coalition of twenty five voluntary organisations working together on disaster preparedness in coastal areas of Andhra pradesh and Orissa. Establishment of task force groups at each vulnerable village to mitigate the effects of Disasters is main intervention of CADME. So far as many as 521 taskforce groups have been formed in 480 vulnerable villages of coastal andhra and orissa. All these taskforce groups are well capacitated and disaster drills are held at regular intervals. The chief funtionary and Disaster manager/Chief trainer on Disaster preparedness, Mr. Meda Gurudutt Prasad is the recipient of UN SASAKAWA award for the year 2003/04.

Coastal Zone Community of Practice (CZCP)

The CZCP of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO; see http://www.earthobservations.org) brings together scientific and non-scientific experts in an effort to support coastal zone management through utilization of Earth observations and derived products. The CZCP focuses both on research and practical applications related to coastal zone management. A strong focus of the CZCP is on information for disaster risk management in the coastal zone.

Disaster Grads Listserv

Disaster Grads is an e-mail listserv for informal discussion and information sharing among undergraduate and graduate students who do research in the area of hazards and disasters. The discussion list is a great way to contact other students with similar interests and to ask for support and resources. Disaster Grads also regularly sends out calls for papers, announcements about assistantships and fellowships, and information on an assortment of programs, conferences, and workshops. Disaster Grads currently has more than 700 subscribers with international representation from 24 countries around the world. Subscribers include students who are enrolled in many institutions and a variety of departments and graduate programs, such as geography, engineering, public health, sociology, and economics.

Disaster Preparedness Network (DPNet)

Established in 1996, the Disaster Preparedness Network (DP-Net) is envisioned as a loose association of individual organisations within the development sector in Nepal, which are concerned with disaster management. The network aims to assist individuals and organisations to prepare for, and respond to and manage disaster should it strike. DP-Net works closely with Government of Nepal through its agencies, which are concerned with disaster preparedness and management. DP-Net complements the effort of these agencies to inform and prepare organisations and communities to deal effectively with disasters. DP-Net are concerned with natural disasters such as earthquake, floods, droughts and landslide. It will also cover disasters such as epidemic, flood and fire that occur often in towns and villages. DP-Net work closely with the Government institutions but as facilitator to Disaster Preparedness activities in Nepal. Thus, DP-Net allows and encourages promoting effective coordination and communication as well developing knowledge management with its all stakeholders in Nepal.

DRM-Asia

Disaster Risk Management Asia (DRM-Asia) is an e-mail based Community of Practice (CoP) which was established in 2006 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The aim of the CoP knowledge sharing of DRM best practices, guidelines, lessons learned, information and resources across Asia-Pacific. Up until now, DRM-Asia has been an internal community for UNDP practitioners only. However, the community has now expanded its membership beyond UNDP, and hereby invites DRM practitioners from the following organizations to register with DRM-Asia:

* UN agencies working in the field of Disaster Risk Management
* Government Disaster Management agencies/ ministries
* IFRC and NGO/ CBO partners
* Academic/ research institutions engaged in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation related research

In additon to the e-mail based Community of Practice, DRM-Asia has a virtual 'home' on the Solution Networks of Asia Pacific (SNAP) web portal. Many thanks for your cooperation and as DRM-Asia expands we look forward to your participation within the Community!

EU Exchange of Experts Programme and Financial Instrument

EU exchange of experts system is designed to complement a training programme tailored to the needs of civil protection interventions within the framework of the Community Mechanism for civil protection. It is open to partners of the European Union civil protection mechanism including the candidate country Croatia and the European Economic Area (Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland). The Community Mechanism consists of a series of elements and actions, which aim at facilitating both adequate preparedness and effective response at Community level.

Gender and Disaster Resilience Alliance (GDRA)

The Gender and Disaster Resilience Alliance (GDRA) brings together practitioners, academics, advocates, and policy makers in the United States to promote gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and emergency management at home. It is a sister network to the global Gender and Disaster Network, and welcome like-minded individuals, organizations, and networks working on US concerns.

Geohazards Community of Practice

The GHCP is a Community of Practice (CoP) supporting the Group on Earth Observations (GEO, http://www.earthobservations.org). The GHCP originated from the IGOS Geohazards Theme, which formed in the frame of the IGOS-Partnership.

The GHCP brings together groups and individuals involved in various aspects of geohazards, including research, monitoring and risk assessments, mitigation, and adaptation. The GHCP aims to provide a link between the broad geohazards community of practice and GEO in order to:

- ensure that the needs of this community are taken into account in the development of Global earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS),
- facilitate support and participation of this community in the building of GEOSS, and
- promote the use of GEOSS for geohazards-related applications.

The GHCP also provides a communication and coordinating platform for high level policy makers and the broader geohazards community.

Global Development Network (GDNet)

GDNet provides southern researchers with a space to profile their work and opportunities to engage with others working in development policy and practice including topics such as Disaster Risk Reduction or Climate Change Adaptation. The tools and services that it offers have been developed specifically to support researchers working in developing countries and to make their work known to an international audience.

The GDNet Knowledgebase is a comprehensive internet portal to development research produced in developing countries. Free to use, it features more than 16,500 research papers which are accompanied by clear conclusion based summaries. You can browse by topic through the GDNet Thematic Windows.

Green Recovery and Reconstruction Toolkit (GRRT) CoP

The Green Recovery and Reconstruction Toolkit (GRRT) is a training program designed to increase awareness and knowledge of environmentally sustainable disaster response approaches. The GRRT is made of ten modules which are designed to be delivered in a one-day training workshop: (i) opportunities after disasters - introduction to green recovery and reconstruction; (ii) project design; (iii) monitoring and evaluation; (iv) environmental impact assessment tools and techniques; (v) green guide to strategic site selection and development; (vi) green guide to materials and the supply chain; (vii) green guide to construction; (viii) green guide to water and sanitation; (ix) green guide to livelihoods; and (x) green guide to disaster risk reduction and greening organizational operations.

Humanitarian & Development Network (HDN)

HDN functions as a loose association of consultants who join HDN for specific assignments, selected for their competence and knowledge, and their expertise and skills in relation to the consultancy. 



Through tailored consulting and project management, HDN provides advisory and operational services in a variety of activities:
• Review and evaluation of organizational strategies
• Programme design and project development strategies
• Facilitation of private and public sector partnerships (PPPs)
• Advice on corporate social responsibility strategies (CSR)
• Coordination of events and fora
• Facilitation of international workshops and meetings, and private bilateral meetings in support of the humanitarian-development agenda
• Drafting of strategy, programme, and budget documents;

HDN works in:
• Humanitarian aid and coordination
• Disaster risk reduction and risk management
• Global migration including refugee and displacement problems
• Environment/climate change and poverty reduction
• Food security
• Health

In its first four years of operation, HDN has undertaken a variety of assignments in Geneva and outside by both its partners as well as with collaborating associates.

Among its clients are the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC, Bern), the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN (Geneva) and a consortium of donors, the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR, Geneva), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, Geneva), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HDC, Geneva), the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA, London), Geneva University, EPFL (Lausanne), the Fleet Forum (Geneva), the German Committee for Disaster Reduction (DKKV, Bonn), the Global Risk Forum (GRF)/International Disaster and Risk Conference (IDRC, Davos), and InSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases & Disasters, Palo Alto, CA, USA).

Humanitarian Practice Network (HPN)

HPN is an independent forum for humanitarians to share and disseminate information, analysis and experience, We publish specialist resources for practitioners and policy makers alike and facilitate debate through regular events and the Online Exchange discussion forum.

IDRC Davos 2010 (networking)

IDRC Davos 2010 is a linked-in group of the connections acquired during the International Disaster and Risk Conference in Davos, 2010. The purpose of this group is to keep in touch with the colleagues and friends made during the IDRC Davos 2010 and to expand connections throughout the disaster and risk research community.

Jaringan Unggulan Pengelolaan Bencana (Disaster Management Network)

Dalam rangka lebih mengefisiensikan kegiatan pengura ngan resiko bencana, dipandang perlu untuk menghimpun berbagai pengetahuan (pengalaman praktis, hasil penelitian, m odal sosial, model sinergi, dll), yang pernah/sedang/aka n dikembangkan selama ini, dan ke mudian melakukan kegiatan berbagi pengetahuan dimaksud secara terpadu dan berkelanjutan.

Kegiatan tersebut selanjutnya dituangkan dalam suatu wadah yang disebut Jaringan Unggulan Pengelolaan Bencana atau Network of Excellence (NoE) on Disaster Management atau DM-Network.

Knowledge sharing platform on disaster risk reduction

DisasterPreparedness.ICIMOD.org is a Knowledge Sharing Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) practitioners. The website is community driven, and mainly serves as a dynamic online repository for materials such as publications, reports, articles, links and news related to DRR.

For more information, visit: http://www.disasterpreparedness.icimod.org/dipecho-list.php We welcome you all to join our Group Mail which facilitates knowledge-networking among more than 400 DRR practitioners.

LADRR - Landscape Architects for Disaster Reduction and Response

LADRR is an open special interest group created for LinkedIn to promote the position of landscape architects and other green professionals in disaster (risk) management.

Learning from mega-disasters community of practice

Learning from Mega-Disasters Community of Practice (CoP) is a knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Exchange program that is established by the Government of Japan and the World Bank to collect and analyze information, data, and evaluations performed by academic and research institutions, nongovernmental organizations, government agencies, and the private sector, with the intent of sharing Japan’s knowledge on disaster risk management (DRM) and post disaster reconstruction with countries that are vulnerable to disasters. This CoP will serve as a venue where experts can share views, discuss new topics, upload documents and add comments and suggestions.

LinkedIn groups on disaster risk management

LinkedIn is a professional network which provide an opportunity to create discussion groups on particular topics.

The following groups are available on LinkedIn:

Landscape Architects for Disaster Reduction and Response (LADRR)
The group focus is on the role of landscape architects and other green professionals in emergency and post-disaster situations.

Visit the group's page online.

Canadian Risk and Disaster Network
This 'network' is designed to connect practitioners, academics, and public officials with interest in risk and disaster reduction across Canada and elsewhere. This effort is to promote collaboration, communication and intelligence on related topics.

Visit the group's page online.

Coastal Adaptation - planning to adapt to coastal climate change
This group is being developed by the IMCORE project partnership. This online tool is the final output of the IMCORE project and the most valuable learnings come from the real life experiences of 9 partnerships (ECNs) who have gone through the process of planning for adaptation in a broad range of contexts (and different “starting points”) through building the evidence required and the capacity of organisations and stakeholders, testing a variety of innovative tools and developing adaptation strategies.

Visit the group's page online.

Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in European Forestry
This group connects professionals working in forest research, forestry and the forest-based sector as well as in policy and decision making and in non-governmental organizations to discuss impacts of climate change and options for adaptation in European forestry. The discussion forum will serve as the place to ask questions, share recent information and discuss policy relevant matters.

Visit the group's page online.

AdaptAbility° Climate Adaptation Network Climate Change Professionals
AdaptAbility° is the international community of practice for sustainability, risk and disaster professionals working on or interested specifically in ADAPTATION and resilience to inevitable climate change impacts as a complementary strategy to global warming mitigation efforts. Sub-themes addressed include but are not limited to land use planning, infrastructure redesign, and disaster prevention.

Visit the group's page online.

Crisis, Emergency & Disaster Recovery Professionals
This group is intended to provide a network of Crisis, Emergency and Disaster Recovery Professionals to engage, share contacts and information, and provide assistance when needed.

Visit the group's page online.

Local Emergency Assessment Response Network (LEARN) in Sumatra Island, Indonesia

Local Emergency Assessment Response Network (LEARN) is HEKS's Project in Indonesia. The LEARN is unique in its kind on Sumatra. LEARN is situated at an important interface of the Indonesian Disaster Risk Reduction (DRM) structure closing the gap between the local disaster management entities (BPBD), NGOs on the spot, community organizations and most importantly the affected communities. Despite the vast Indonesian DRR efforts, local and regional government officials do not yet have a sound enough knowledge of the complex issues regarding preparedness and emergency response in all its details and they are often too far from the grassroots level. Moreover, due to the LEARN trainings aspects of preparedness and disaster risk reduction are integrated into the daily project work and the resilience of people at the lowest level can be strengthened. This is a particular advantage of the project as the community level has so far not been reached by the Disaster Management efforts of the Indonesian government. Experiences show that behaviour patterns regard-ing preparedness and the reaction to disaster situations only happens gradually and over time and re-quires continuous training, simulations and repetition in all parts of society. The knowledge about pre-paredness and the behaviour during and after disasters all over Indonesia has doubtlessly improved compared to the time before the devastating Tsunami in 2004 but is still in the beginning of a long pro-cedure. The development of reparedness strategies at the grassroots level is currently mainly supported by NGOs, hence, LEARN can contribute much to the strengthening of this process. The following modules are incorporated in the twelve day LEARN training cycle: Module 1: Introduction into the topics Emergency Response, Disaster Risk Reduction, Preparedness and Disaster Management and the LEARN Approach Module 2: Preparedness and mitigation measures before a disaster occurs Module 3: Safety and Security Module 4: First Aid in Disasters Module 5: Risk Analysis Module 6: Rapid Needs Assessment - Reporting Module 7: Communication - Technical Know How - Equipment use Module 8: Emergency WASH and Shelter Module 9: Psychology – Coping with Stress and Trauma Basics Module 10: Logistics – Distribution – Proposals Module 11: Evacuation Module 12: Design and implement disaster management trainings and community based disaster management plans There are 8 cycle of training for 75 NGOs in Sumatra.

Milis Bencana (Google group)

A mailing list for disaster management and disaster risk reduction, particularly in Indonesia, available at: http://groups.google.com/group/bencana. This list complements the website: http://bencana.net

National Humanitarian Network - NHN Sindh

Mission

The mission of the NHN is to “voice the concerns and advocate for the vulnerable and disaster affected communities for improving policies, procedures and strengthening institutions for rights based disaster mitigation and humanitarian response, and to strengthen the role and capacities of national and local humanitarian actors in setting humanitarian and sustainable development agendas and humanitarian action in Pakistan”.

Objectives

• To act as an institution that engages with all stakeholders that represent National / local NGOs/Civil Society through efficient and effective coordination mechanism
• To conduct evidence based policy advocacy for pre, during and post Humanitarian crisis (disaster preparedness/ mitigation / management issues)
• Facilitate all stakeholders in capacity building to promote community based disaster risk management, emergency response and action.
• To help in organizing and facilitating to make responsive and accountable civil society for humanitarian response and disaster risk management.
• Advocate for and promote empowered partnership in, based on GHP’s agreed principles of partnership and new business model to develop local capacities in humanitarian action.
 

National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)

National VOAD supports the coordination of planning efforts by voluntary organizations responding to disaster. Member organizations provide more effective and less duplicative service by getting together before disasters strike. Once disasters occur, National VOAD, or an affiliated State or U.S. Territory VOAD, encourages members and other voluntary agencies to convene on site. This cooperative effort has proven to be the most effective way for a wide variety of volunteers and organizations to work together in a crisis.

Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR)

The Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) is a global partnership comprised of UN agencies, international and regional NGOs as well as specialist institutes that collectively aim to influence policy, enhance implementation and better coordinate efforts in environmental management for disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and sustainable livelihoods. It promotes ecosystems management as the key strategy to reduce disaster risk, increase local resilience and adapt to a changing climate. As a global thematic platform of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) system, PEDRR works to reduce underlying risk factors related to the environment and mainstreams ecosystems-based DRR in development planning processes at global, regional, national and local levels.

Probability, uncertainty and risk in the environment (PURE)

What is Probability, Uncertainty and Risk in the Environment (PURE)?

PURE has two elements: the PURE Network and the PURE Programme:

PURE Network

The PURE Network is a research and knowledge exchange network, which will run for four years (2011-2015) to stimulate good practice guidance and the standardisation of the assessment and quantification of uncertainty and risk across natural hazards science. The network will achieve this by bringing together researchers, industrialists and policy-makers through collaborative working and knowledge exchange. The network will help to shape the direction of future research and provide valuable information to practitioners in environmental risk management.

The network is hosted on the Technology Strategy Board's Connect-me platform which is open to all to join.

PURE Programme

The PURE Programme is a four year research programme which will run from 2012 until 2016. The aim of the programme is to improve the assessment and quantification of uncertainty and risk in natural hazards by developing new methods and demonstrating their applicability to enhance the uptake of natural hazards science.

A consortium group will deliver the programme and will focus on the following priority hazards:

Flooding hazards
Multi-phase fluid flow hazards such as avalanches, landslides, rockslides and pyroclastic flows
Earthquake hazards
Hydro-meteorological non-flooding hazards such as storms, droughts and heatwaves.

Who will Benefit?

- Academia, industry and government will benefit hugely from the sharing of techniques and methods used to quantify risk and uncertainty in natural hazards science.

What will PURE achieve?

Outputs:

- Enhanced interaction between industry, academia, Government Departments and Research Councils.

- The opening up of new commercial opportunities for UK businesses in the financial services and insurance sectors.

- Good practice user guidance for flooding.

- A web-based Knowledge Portal which willact as a directory of research and data for users of research. The Knowledge Portal may also contain an experimental zone where techniques and knowledge can be shared.

Outcomes:

- Good practice guidance and standardisation of uncertainty and risk assessment and quantification across the natural hazards community.

- Greater clarity and consensus about the most appropriate methods to quantify uncertainty and risk in natural hazards science.

- New and improved methods, tools and benchmarks for quantifying and assessing uncertainty and risk in natural hazards developed, accepted, disseminated and used.

Impacts:

- Improved assessment and quantification of uncertainty and risk in natural hazards science and also in other scientific areas.

- Improved communication of uncertainty and risk in natural hazards science increases public confidence in natural hazards information.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Start and End dates: 2011-2016

Red de Estudios Sociales en Prevención de Desastres en América (LA RED)

In Spanish:

Durante los últimos años La Red de Estudios Sociales en Prevención de Desastres en América Latina (LA RED) ha venido escudriñando, Des-Enredando e interviniendo de múltiples formas en el campo de la gestión del riesgo y la prevención de desastres.

Seminarios, talleres, reuniones, publicaciones e instrumentos de análisis y de intervención, así como la cotidiana participación de sus miembros en sus respectivos países o a nivel internacional en el campo de la gestión de riesgos han incidido, de manera importante, en los nuevos enfoques que se presentan en él y constituyen, por decirlo así, una buena parte de los activos de LA RED.

Durante su existencia, en LA RED se han presentado cambios relativamente significativos a nivel latinoamericano y mundial, tanto en términos de actores, como en términos del tratamiento del tema:

• Desde el punto de vista del enfoque, es cada vez más común un acercamiento al tema basado en su relación intrínseca con los problemas del desarrollo y del manejo ambiental, entendiendo que los riesgos son generados por y dentro de esos procesos, tal como se presentan en nuestros países.
• La necesidad de la gestión local del riesgo y su potencialidad, así como la significaicón de los pequeños y medianos desasres cotidianos y permanentes y sus relaciones con los procesos de ocupación territorial, uso del suelo y crecimiento urbano por ejemplo, es cada vez más comprendida y aplicada.
• Desde un punto de vista institucional surgen en este marco nuevos actores: ministerios de planificación y medio ambiente, municipalidades, banca multilateral y regional, sector privado y ONGs de desarrollo que con anterioridad no se preocupaban en general por el tema.
• Los "Sistemas de Manejo de Desastres" o de "Prevención y Atención de Desastres" atraviesan en cambio, en muchos países por dificultades derivadas tanto de la vulnerabilidad política existente (niveles cambiantes de preocupación-acción de los gobiernos/gobernantes en el tema) como de su propio enfoque tradicional sobre los riesgos y desastres y parece insinuarse nuevas formas de institucionalidad basadas en las nuevas condiciones y enfoques existentes.

En esta situación, a LA RED se le presenta el reto de desentrañar y Des-Enredar las nuevas condiciones y coyunturas con miras a construir espacios de intervención cada vez más amplios en el campo de la reducción y mitigación de los riesgos, red-definiendo, recogiendo y evaluando lo que son sus actuales activos y definiendo líneas de acción para el futuro.

Solution Exchange India: Disaster management community

This learning and knowledge sharing community aims to reduce disaster risk to sustain development gains in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This is done by leveraging the knowledge, experience and energies of development practitioners towards problem solving. It is a group of professionals from a wide range of organizations and disciplines concerned with preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery and rehabilitation issues with respect to disasters (natural and human induced). It is intended for disaster management practitioners in India. Solution Exchange connects the members of this Community and increases the effectiveness of their individual efforts by helping them share and apply each other’s knowledge and experience. Through Solution Exchange, Disaster Management professionals can turn to their peers across India for solutions to the day-to-day challenges they face.

The disaster diary project

An online space to share ideas, commentaries, experiences and perspectives about DRR and thereby encourgae public conversations about processes which can lead to the manufacture of disaster risk. Individuals who wish to contribute regularly are provided with their own blog space, and those who cannot commit to regular contributions may also comment on the webside through "open spaces".

The Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction/Management Circle

The Philippine DRR/M Circle is a social network aimed at assembling online all DRR/M practitioners in the Philippines so that we may know each other, know where we work, and know what are our fields of specialization in DRR/M.

Towards a Safer World (TASW)

TASW is a multi-stakeholder network of practitioners on whole of society preparedness for pandemics and comparable threats, led by the UN System.

The TASW Network is a diverse group of energetic and expert practitioners from a variety of sectors, organisations and countries demonstrating how they have initiated whole-of-society preparedness for pandemic and related threats. They commit to maintaining and refining the best practices they have developed, and agree to communicate it widely, mainstream it within institutions, sustain it, reach out and engage others who might benefit from it, and to continue to learn from each other. They opt to maintain contact through a network that includes a broad range of partners from government, business, civil society, research groups and the military – from five continents.

It builds on the significant investments and broad participation in pandemic preparedness since 2005, which have generated many practical lessons and innovations - relevant not only for improving responses to health crises, but also for strengthening societal resilience in the face of other major threats.

TASW Network promotes key good practices include (i) coordination of multi-actor networks, including professionals from business, Government and civil society, (ii) planning for the maintenance of critical services, (iii) implementation of communication strategies, (iv) simulations to test and validate contingency plans, (v) mobilization of funds for preparedness and (vi) development of tools for measuring preparedness.

This periodic newsletter provides TASW network members with an opportunity to share recent activities, case studies and developments that may be of wider interest.

University network for disaster risk reduction in Africa

The University Network for Disaster Risk Reduction in Africa (UNEDRA) was formed in September 2005 for the purposes of enhancing capacity development in disciplines central to the goals of reducing disaster risks on the continent of Africa. UNEDRA seeks to bring together institutions with mandates and interests in disaster risk reduction training and research through network activities; collaborative research, joint/shared credit professional training programmes and exchange of faculty and students.

The Network has a capacity development relationship with the International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), in the Netherlands (an affiliate of the UN University) which has been helping to coordinate its activities through the Disaster Geoinformation Management Programme.

To-date, UNEDRA has successfully organized training workshops (Kampala, Oct. 2005; Nairobi, June 2006; Johannesburg, Mar. 2007; Johannesburg, Apr. 2007; Abuja, Oct. 2007; Dakar 2008) and sponsored sessions at four International meetings (AARSE, Cairo, Oct. 2006; AfricaGIS, Ouagadougou, September 2007; IAA, Abuja, Dec. 2007; AARSE/EIS Africa, Accra, Oct. 2008); in addition to several consultative meetings on disaster risk reduction organised by regional, sub-regional or national disaster management platforms.

Through a strengthening partnership with National Platforms in West Africa and the ECOWAS Commission, UNEDRA is a member of the Working Group for the development and implementation of a Disaster Risk Reduction Plan of Action for the ECOWAS sub-region. Attempts are being made to encourage the same level of engagement with other RECs.