A group of international organisations has joined efforts to come up with solutions to enhance disaster management in developing countries.
Rockefeller Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) have come together to form the Global Resilience Partnership. One of their first activities is the Challenge that brings together teams of scientists, policy practitioners and other resilience experts who are working on developing solutions to some of the most challenging issues affecting the targeted regions.
The competition will involve 17 teams selected in February from 500 applicants to advance the challenge. The teams received initial funding of Ksh18.4 million (US $200,000) and have a chance to get more funds to implement their proposed solutions.
“The partnership presents a paradigm shift for how the global community responds to shocks today and prepare for tomorrow. Solving the complex and interrelated challenges of the 21st century requires working in partnership with regional and local stakeholders to coordinate resources, build on success and engage new actors,” said C.D. Glin, an Associate Director at Rockefeller Foundation.
According to Mr Glin the project is aimed at preventing future disruptions from becoming disasters and will focus on fields such as climate change, food, water, energy and insecurity. “We face a new reality: disasters and shocks-natural or manmade- along with chronic stresses, are coming faster and lasting longer. Shocks like droughts, typhoons or food price spikes are not always preventable, but the degree of destruction and devastation can be reduced and managed,” he added.
The targeted regions are the semiarid region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal eastward to Sudan, popularly known as Sahel, and other disaster-prone areas in Asia.
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