Regionalisation process
This issue describes the experiences and result of the implementation of GRIP regional workshops in different parts
of the world. The purposes of a regional meeting are as follows: a) to bring all the stakeholders to the table, includ-
ing key government officials, regional organisations’ focal points and UN Country Office focal points, b) to learn from
their work and experiences on disaster risk management in general and risk assessment in particular and identify
their risk assessment needs and the challenges they face in doing their work, c) to introduce GRIP and its services,
d) to match the needs of the countries with the services offered by GRIP and agree on concrete activities to be
implemented in each participating country, and finally, e) to promote regional collaboration and interaction.
Three regional meetings have already been conducted. The first one, held in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 9 countries
of South Eastern Europe, and the second one, held in Sri Lanka for 7 countries of South Asia, was implemented by
GRIP in collaboration with the Government and the UNDP Country Office of the host country. The third one, held
in Senegal for 16 countries of West Africa, was implemented in collaboration with the UNISDR Secretariat and the
World Bank. Detailed articles on the first two regional meetings are included in this issue. Similar regional meetings
are now being prepared for Central Asia, South-Eastern Africa and Latin America.
In this issue
Regionalisation process
Regional workshop on
integrated risk management,
Bosnia Herzegovina
Regional workshop on disaster
risk reduction based on risk
assessment, Sri Lanka
GRIP support to UNDP country
programmes
News
1
2
number 4 - December 2009
1
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GRIP IMPLEMENTATION UPDATE
GRIP
NEWS
The newsletter of the Global Risk Identification Programme
Figure 1: GRIP progress
GRIP is hosted by the
United Nations Devel-
opment
Programme.
The information and
opinions expressed in
this publication do not
necessarily reflect the
policies of UNDP.
2
3
4
DESIGN
PILOT IMPLEMENTATION
SERVICE PACKAGE
REGIONALISATION
23/10/2006 approval by PSC
OUTREACH
2006
2007
2008
2009
Official launching
Side event
FUND RAISING
GRIP is in its fourth year of operation and ready to expand worldwide the implementation of its services. To achieve
this, the programme has developed and is already implementing a Regionalisation Strategy that is the main topic of
this issue of the GRIP Newsletter.
It has taken a systematically executed process to reach this stage. Since the GRIP was initiated in 2006 by the inter-
national community as an official platform of the ISDR system for implementing Priority 2 of the Hyogo Framework
for Action – Risk Identification, the Programme has focused in identifying the most fundamental risk assessment
needs of high risk countries, especially in the developing world. After its official launching at the First Global Plat-
form for Disaster Risk Reduction held in Geneva in June 2007, GRIP worked with institutions, authorities and experts
of several countries to identify those needs. The findings indicated that countries, especially the developing ones,
are in urgent need of risk assessment activities to: a) learn from their disaster history to understand their vulner-
abilities, high-affected areas and recovery capacities, b) compile basic risk information and generate risk baselines
to set up measurable goals and prepare evidence-based disaster risk reduction strategies, c) develop monitoring
and evaluation mechanisms to measure progress (or lack of it) in disaster risk reduction and evaluate and correct
existing strategies, and d) build local capacity to produce realistic and locally supported solutions and ensure sus-
tainability.
To match those identified needs, GRIP developed its service package in 2008 and presented it officially at the Second
Forum of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held in Geneva in June 2009. The GRIP services focus on
4 main products: a) national disaster observatories, which are sustainable institutions for the systematic collection,
analysis and interpretation of disaster loss data, b) national risk assessments, which are multi-hazard risk assess-
ments to understand the characteristics and distribution of risk and identify disaster risk reduction options, c) urban
risk assessments, which are assessments to support urban risk reduction policies and actions, and d) capacity devel-
opment to ensure that all the work is done by local institutions, authorities and experts. These services are already
being implemented in many countries around the world. Just within the UNDP’s disaster risk management portfolio,
GRIP is collaborating with UNDP’s Country and Regional Offices to support the implementation of risk assessment
components included in the country programmes of about 33 countries worldwide (as of December 2009). Articles
describing GRIP support to UNDP country programmes and the current GRIP portfolio are presented elsewhere in
this issue.
To satisfy an always growing demand for its services, GRIP has developed a Regionalisation Strategy whose
implementation has started already. The main components of the Regionalisation Strategy includes, among others,
the creation of a global network of Regional Technical Support Centres to provide better support to the countries,
the implementation of regional workshops to introduce GRIP services to the countries, and the development of
capacity building programmes for UNDP Country Offices.
Samir Huseinbašić, Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Regional workshop on integrated risk
management,
Bosnia Herzegovina
South Eastern Europe and West Balkans are prone to natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, landslides
and fires. Upon the end of armed conflicts, the countries of the region have become more aware of the
importance of disaster risk reduction. International organisations such as UNDP, ISDR, EU, etc. are work-
ing together with the national governments in the region to put in place comprehensive regional disaster
risk management programmes which integrate the efforts of all the major stakeholders: national and local
governments, UN system, INGOs and NGOs, public and private sectors. To start the implementation of such
programmes, a regional workshop for South Eastern Europe – ‘Integrated Risk Management - Challenges and
Development Perspectives’ – was held on 21 – 23 January 2009 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
Upcoming events
4th Jan 2009 - 4th Jan 2010
Diploma in disaster management,
International Centre for Emergency
Preparedness Training, Kenya
1st - 19th Feb, 2009
39th Disaster management course,
Asian
Disaster
Preparedness
Centre, Thailand
number 4 - December 2009
2
FROM OUR PARTNERS
The event was organized by the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Security, Sector for Protection and Rescue, Danish Emergency
The event was organized by the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Security, Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA), UNDP
Regional Bureau Bratislava, UNDP Country Office and GRIP. The workshop’s main objectives were to understand the current situation of disaster risk
reduction and risk assessment of the region, the challenges and needs of countries in the regions and align those needs with the services offered by
UNDP and GRIP. The workshop was attended by 66 participants and representatives of nine countries (Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro,
Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, and Turkey), international organizations (NATO, EU Police Mission, UNDP) as well as universities and
other scientific institutions.
Presentations made by representatives of the countries highlighted the experiences in their respective countries in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and
risk assessment. Most of the country presentations showed emergency preparedness as their priorities. The participants acknowledged that that there
is lack of understanding in concepts related to risk understanding throughout the region, probably reflecting limited capacities and arrangements to
address existing risks. Appropriate legal and institutional frameworks for DRR and risk assessment are missing and there is no connection between de-
velopment and planning and DRR.
The participants also collectively identified the needs of the region in DRR and risk assessment, and possible solutions to address the challenges and
accomplishment of the needs. The workshop triggered DRR awareness of the critical issues, and encouraged the participants, especially the representa-
tives from government and international institutions, to adopt risk reduction activities into development planning process with engagement from local
and national governments and institutions, experts, and others. The workshop also helped develop the understanding of the role of risk assessment
within the risk reduction process among government officials and UNDP Country Offices.
Jianping Yan, Risk Assessment Specialist, GRIP
Regional workshop on disaster risk reduction based on risk
assessment , Sri Lanka
Asia and the Pacific region is one of the most disaster-prone areas in the world subject to many major natural hazards such as earthquakes, tropical
cyclones, floods of various types, droughts, and landslides. For example, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and 2005 Kashmir earthquake were devastating
and caused severe loss of lives and livelihoods, damaging infrastructure and impacting local economy. The negative effects of such disasters have had
major impact on lives of people and development in the region. Although there has been a widespread awareness of negative effects disasters and some
governments of the region have initiated some progress towards disaster risk reduction, there is still lack of understanding of basic concepts, political
commitment, legal and institutions frameworks and a long-term vision. In order to address those issues, the Disaster Management Centre of the Gov-
ernment of Sri Lanka, in collaboration with UNDP Sri Lanka Country Office and GRIP, held a 3 day “International Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction
Based on Risk Assessment”. The event was held on March 30 – April 01, 2009 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Specific objectives of this workshop were in-line with
the main purposes behind conducting a GRIP regional workshop: to bring all the major stakeholders to the table, to understand the current situation and
needs, to develop participants’ understanding of DRR and risk assessment, to introduce UNDP/GRIP and its services, to match the region’s needs with
the services offered and agree on the next steps, and to promote regional interaction and collaboration. There were about 90 participants from Nepal,
Pakistan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines in the workshop representing major stakeholders.
All of the objectives of the workshop were fulfilled. Presentations made by the national representatives outlined the current DRR efforts in the region.
The workshop triggered awareness of these critical issues, encouraged the movement from emergency response to risk reduction, and promoted the
adoption of risk reduction activities into development planning. There was also common understanding of the need for regional effort on DRR with bet-
ter interaction among national institutions, highlighting the potential role of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
Figure 2: Participants in the Regional Workshop in Sri Lanka.
GRIP support to UNDP country
programmes
Considering the capacity of UNDP client countries and their special needs for risk information, GRIP has
developed a comprehensive solution to support countries in the implementation of risk assessments
at different levels and to help them understand the risks they are facing. This solution package consists
of 5 services: Country Situation Analysis (CSA), National Disaster Observatory (NDO), National Risk As-
sessment (NRA), Urban Risk Assessment (URA), and Capacity for Risk Assessment (CRA), which can be
implemented either entirely or partially as needed.
Technically, GRIP’s support and services to the countries include 15 aspects of support within the typical
UNDP project cycle: Overall vision on DRR based on risk assessment, preparation of concept notes, scop-
ing workshop, proposal development, review and evaluation of technical proposals, project document
finalization, access to financial support, interaction with other countries, coordination and overview,
provision of appropriate methodologies and tools, hands-on trainings, technical support and advice,
monitoring and review, result review and evaluation, closing workshop.
Call for contribution
As the ISDR system’s Thematic Plat-
form for Risk Identification, GRIP
would like to promote communica-
tion, exchange of information and
sharing of experiences on Risk Identi-
fication and its applications.
If you are involved in risk assessment
activities and would like to share your
experiences or highlight your efforts
through this newsletter, please send
your article (500 – 800 words) to
number 4 - December 2009
3
GRIP IMPLEMENTATION UPDATE
Related links
GRIP Service Package
GRIP Projects list
Up to now, GRIP has provided technical support and services to around 24 out of the 33 client countries that have risk identification and assessment com-
ponents in their country programmes, accounting for around 70% of the total portfolio. As shown in Figure 3, GRIP’s support and services have assisted
countries mainly in processes for proposal development, review and evaluation, interaction with other countries, and methodology & tool development.
However, most country projects are at their early stages – project definition and initiation accounting for 66% of the countries supported, with a few
reaching the stage of implementation, such as Mozambique, Pakistan, Laos, Sri Lanka and Ecuador. For example, Mozambique, one of GRIP demonstra-
tion countries, is currently implementing three GRIP services, namely country situation assessment, national disaster loss database, and Maputo urban
risk assessment, whereas Pakistan and Laos have initiated their national risk assessment projects by contracting BRGM (French Geological Survey) and
ADPC (Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre) with GRIP helping with the evaluation of the bidding proposals. It has to be mentioned that, due to several
factors, which include weak capabilities on DRR at the Country Offices and instable political situations in a number of countries, the progress of most
country projects is slower than expected.
Figure 4: Distribution of countries supported by region.
Figure 3: Distribution of countries by support type.
News
GRIP side event
GRIP organised a Side Event at the 2nd Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held in
Geneva in June 2009. The side event was chaired by Miguel Bermeo, Senior Deputy Director of UNDP’s
Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) and had the Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs,
Government of Nepal as one of the panellists. At the side event, GRIP and a few of its implementing
partners presented the progress achieved during the two years since the 2007 Global Platform when
GRIP was officially launched. The side event also presented GRIP’s products, services, and future vision
and provided opportunities to forge new partnerships and to strengthen existing ones. Participants of
the side event had an opportunity to share their experiences and increase their understanding of the
importance of risk assessment in disaster risk reduction.
Highlights of the side event include presentations on a Disaster Data (DisDat) portal developed in
collaboration with Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), risk assessment projects
in Mozambique, Nepal, and Tijuana in Mexico, a global programme on Pre-Disaster Shelter Response
Planning being piloted in 3 cities around the world, and the GLIDE project implemented in collaboration
with Asian Disaster Reduction Centre (ADRC).
Mexico project closing workshop
In collaboration with UN-Habitat and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societ-
ies (IFRC) and on behalf of the Global Emergency Cluster of the Inter-agency Standing Committee, GRIP
assisted the City of Tijuana, Mexico to develop a pre-disaster shelter plan. The project was implemented
under the coordination of the Municipal Directorate for Civil Protection. The results were presented
in July 2009 at a public seminar that was widely covered by the media. As a result, the national and
regional governments have decided to replicate the Tijuana experience in the other 4 major cities of Baja
California State under the GRIP programme. For the project implementation, the national government
of Mexico is contributing with $1 million, the state government of Baja California with $95,000 and the
Inter-American Development Bank with $300,000.
Demonstration country - Ecuador update
The Ecuador-UNDP Country Office requested GRIP assistance to implement an international workshop
to discuss the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction. The workshop was held in August in time
for the submission of the Strategy to the Congress. As a result, the Government of Ecuador created the
Ministry of Risk Management that, among other things will coordinate the implementation of the Na-
tional Strategy discussed in the August workshop.
GEM: A Global Earthquake Model
The GEM initiative brings together worldwide expertise on all aspects of earthquake risk in a unique
private-public alliance to produce software and tools that help to reduce earthquake deaths, destruc-
tion, dislocation, monetary losses and adverse socio-economic effects. GEM started in 2009 with
the construction of its first working model; a truly global, open-source model for seismic risk assess-
ment on a national and regional scale that will be finished by 2013. With committed backing from
academia, governments and industry, GEM aims to contribute to achieving profound, lasting reductions
in earthquake risk worldwide.
GEM would like to invite all to participate in its brief online user-need survey. Please visit:
for the survey and more information on GEM.
ISCRAM 2010
The Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management is a community of researchers, practitio-
ners and policy makers involved in or concerned about the design, development, deployment, use and
evaluation of information systems for crisis response and management. The 7th International Confer-
ence on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management is taking place on May 2 - 5, 2010 in
Seattle, Washington, USA. For more information, please visit ISCRAM website:
http://www.iscram.org/
.
Contacts
Global Risk Identification
Programme
UNDP, Bureau for Crisis Prevention
and Recovery
Chemin des Anémones, 11, CH1219,
Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 9178399
number 4 - December 2009
4
NEWS
Editorial board
Carlos Villacis
Jianping Yan
Avani Dixit
Contributors for this issue
Samir Huseinbašić, Ministry of
Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina