13 UN agencies combine their strengths to ensure a comprehensive response to Disaster Risk Management in Pakistan
Shaukat N. Tahir. Senior Member, Natural Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Co-Chairs of the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Joint Programme, Ms. Mikiko Tanaka (Country Director a.i. UNDP) and Wolfgang Herbinger (Representative WFP), signed the United Nation’s Pakistan Joint Programme Document in the presence of the Federal Secretary Mr. Farukkh Qayyum and the Heads of the UN participating agencies.
Thirteen UN agencies, operating in Pakistan have planned and developed a Joint programme to address the needs for disaster risk management in Pakistan. The programme is planned for activities till 2010 with an estimated budget of around US$ 66.359 million.
The DRM joint programme will assist the Government of Pakistan in developing national capacities and systems for disaster risk management on a sustainable basis. These will reduce the impact of disasters on the poor and most vulnerable segments of the population, increase national and local level community capacities to be better prepared and to timely respond to the occurrence of disaster and thus contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The Programme will also address disasters resulting from communicable diseases and food shortages. The NDMA and UN will work with relevant Government counterparts at the federal, provincial and district level along with NGOs’ and the private sector for the implementation of this Joint Programme.
On this occasion Shaukat Tahir expressed his appreciation of the support provided by the UN and said that he hoped that “ through these initiatives the plight of the people of Pakistan that suffer every time an earthquake rocks the land beneath them, every time floods wash away their lives, every time man in his attempt to fight for his right tramples on theirs, will be reduced.”
The joint programme will be implemented over a period of two years with emphasis on initiatives that will address the priority areas of the Government of Pakistan. The DRM joint programme outcomes aim to minimize losses from natural hazards and enhance coping capacities in high-risk communities. The objectives are:
· To strengthen institutional capacities at federal, provincial and local levels to take disaster risk management forward in the policy making, planning and development process.
· To enhance understanding and develop knowledge/ information management systems on major hazards, vulnerabilities and associated risks
· To promote Community Based DRM (CBDRM), develop guidelines, tools and mechanisms for CBDRM and provide feedback to the national policy-making process.
The participating UN agencies for this joint programme are FAO, ILO, IOM, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNESCO, UNIFEM, UNFPA, UNHABITAT, UNHCR, UNICEF, WHO, and WFP bring their strengths together to ensure that a cohesive and comprehensive effort is made to achieve the outcomes set in this joint programme. The joint programme is Co-Chaired by UNDP and WFP.
After the signing ceremony both the Co-Chairs said that they felt confident that after the implementation of the joint programme the Government and people of Pakistan will be better prepared to face and respond to any disaster in a timely and efficient manner.
Following the November 2006 report of the High Level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence, Pakistan was nominated as one of eight pilots for One UN in January 2007. Since inception of the pilot in Pakistan, it was unanimously established that the way for achieving unity would be through by UN entities coming together as One Leader, One Programme, One Office and One Budget, with the One Programme being the centre pillar and providing the rationale and strategic framework for all UN joint initiatives to deliver as one and improve lives and help people in Pakistan.
The One Programme builds upon, and stems from the reviewed and extended United Nations Development Framework. It identifies key areas of support, expected outcomes and outputs that all UN entities shall jointly aim for to ensure that the UN contributes to the development goals of Pakistan in line with the established national priorities, MDGs, and relevant international norms and conventions. The UN support to Pakistan was regrouped around five thematic areas and four cross-cutting issues. These thematic areas are: Health and Population; Education; Disaster Risk Management; Environment; and Agriculture, Rural Development and Poverty Reduction. The four cross-cutting themes are: civil society participation, gender, refugees, and rights approach to development (details in annex3).
Programmes jointly planned and jointly implemented, not just stapled together, stemming from the outcomes of the UNDAF, will come together as Joint Programmes falling under the identified thematic areas ensuring that the cross-cutting issues are well addressed.