ISLAMABAD, Apr 16 (APP): The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) on Tuesday signed a Letter of Understanding (LoU) to foster disaster resilience in Pakistan.
NDMA Chairman Lt Gen Inam Haider Malik witnessed the singing of LoU. Shabnam Baloch, Country Director of IRC-Pakistan and Raza Iqbal signed the LoU on behalf of their respective organisations.
“This initiative marks a significant collaboration between the NDMA, Pakistan’s leading disaster management authority and IRC – a global humanitarian organization,” as NDMA news release said.
The NDMA chairman, in his remarks, said that the Authority’s National Emergencies Operation Centre (NEOC) had provided a comprehensive outlook on potential hazards and emergencies expected in next six months.
“This crucial information serves as a foundation for the country’s disaster management organizations to strategize and outline their response plans effectively, ensuring readiness and swift action in the face of adversity,” he added.
He called for incorporation of anticipatory actions for resilient interventions in humanitarian organisations’ annual plans.
Ms Shabnam Baloch of the IRC-Pakistan on the occasion expressed her organization’s commitment to the newly formed partnership, stressing the critical significance of collaborative initiatives, tackling the multifaceted challenges presented by climate change and natural disasters specifically in the context of Pakistan.
Both the NDMA chairman and the IRC Pakistan Country Director expressed their resolve to advancing the resilience agenda through tri-party partnerships involving relevant state institutions, civil society, and community voices into decision-making processes.
The scope of the IRC-NDMA collaboration encompasses joint efforts in strengthening community-based disaster risk management/reduction models, creating toolkit of best practices and the outlook for anticipatory actions. This includes consultations on innovative programmes and stakeholder engagement for strengthening resilience in communities, civil society organizations (CSOs), and other local institutions.
According to the LoU, the partnership involves extending technical assistance for the development of a multi-sectoral resilience building initiatives, through capacity-building sessions for stakeholders and technical support for the robust functioning of National Emergencies Operation Center (NEOC).
In the realm of policy advocacy, NDMA and IRC will collaborate on providing technical support to academic working groups focusing on disaster management, preparedness, and resilience building upon evidence-based research analyzing existing policy frameworks and alignment with ongoing multi-sectoral climate adaptive efforts.
Both entities will also jointly host engagements for dissemination of findings and learning with relevant stakeholders nationally and provincially.
