ADB, AusAid and development partners renews support to Pakistan’s first disaster risk management fund

ISLAMABAD: Chief Executive Officer of National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) Lt. General (R) Nadeem Ahmed termed disaster risk reduction and risk transfer as guiding factors for selection of projects to be funded by NDRMF.

He stated this while addressing the closing ceremony of a two-day Orientation Workshop organized by NDRMF here Tuesday, aimed to create an in-depth understating about Fund management structure and operational functionality, focusing on accreditation process and project proposal guidelines.

He emphasized that multi hazard vulnerability risk assessment (MHVRA) will help all stakeholders in informed investments while proposing the projects, whereas Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) strategy will help in transferring the unmitigated risk, through the existing DRF instruments available in the market.

He mentioned that ten million dollars have been assigned to develop DRF strategy and conduct a pilot project, whereas six million dollars have been set aside for the MHVRA. NDRMF, in close coordination with the provincial governments, will also set up Coordination Committees headed by the ACS/Chairman Planning and Development Departments to ensure effective implementation of the projects. He thanked Government of Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank for taking the initiative in establishment of NDRMF which will substantially contribute in making Pakistan a disaster resilient country.

The Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan Margaret Adamson in her address mentioned Pakistan as among the 10 most disaster prone countries. She termed NDRMF as a landmark step at national level and congratulated GoP and ADB for successfully launching NDRMF, to mitigate risks posed by climate change and other nature-induced disasters in Pakistan. She assured full support of the Australian Government in seeing this initiative, delivering to its full potential, after a successful launch ceremony. She emphasized that gender dimension as well as social and environmental aspects must be taken into account while designing the interventions.

On behalf of Chairman NDMA, Brig Mukhtar Ahmed congratulated NDRMF team for their efforts in operationalization of the Fund which will contribute to the national resilience agenda. NDMA with the support of NDRMF will start a process of filling the gaps identified as part of different need assessment exercises undertaken in the past.

The workshop was attended by senior representatives of the National, Regional and Local DMAs, relevant Government Ministries and Departments, Donors, UN Agencies, International and National NGOs and Academia.

The participants discussed in detail Fund operations, accreditation criteria, project proposal guidelines, thematic priority areas and Fund linkage with National Disaster Management Plan-(NDMP) and National Flood Protection Plan (NFPP-IV).

The participants of the workshop appreciated the establishment of NDRMF and for being provided an opportunity to gain better understanding of fund modalities and project selection process. They urged to maintain a balance between structural and non-structural risk reduction projects and recommended to accord priority to projects that lie in the most vulnerable districts and hazard prone areas.

During interactive question and answer session, the panel of experts from NDRMF and ADB responded to questions relating to applicability and conditionality for award of grants to the projects and how can the processes be further simplified.

Exhaustive discussions and group work provided great learning opportunity to gain feedback and recommendations from stakeholders and fund implementation partners, to further fine tune the systems and procedures of NDRMF.