A global review of disaster reduction initiatives - Welcome to the ...

anism that has been exploited to only a limitedextent is by working with a more concentratedeffort to involve the artisanal carpenters,masons and other locally skilled tradesmenwho provide the great majority of technicalexpertise in construction. As they are local residentsthemselves, they can work as motivatorsfor both current and future improvements. Toaccomplish this form of risk reduction training,it is necessary to recognise the role of these artisansmore fully and to engage them in betterunderstanding about the issues involved andby encouraging them to use technical knowledgein their work. Where the time has beentaken to do this, such as in the Core Shelter ConstructionProgramme in the Philippines and theNSET activities in Nepal, considerable interestwas shown by the participating communitieswith rapid replication of the principles inneighbouring locations.A significant advance in disaster education hasbeen observed in Latin America and theCaribbean in recent years. There has been agrowth in educating and employing professionalswith skills necessary for risk reductionfrom within the region in contrast to an earlierreliance on external technical advice and abilities.This practice of developing local capabilitieshas been encouraged by international agencies.A few years ago, most courses andinstructors had to be imported but that is nolonger the case.Building understanding: development of knowledge and information sharingtraining of disaster managers, the transfer oftechnical abilities or expertise, the disseminationof traditional knowledge and know-how,strengthening infrastructure or organizationalabilities at local community, national andregional levels.Most of the Programmes and agencies of theUN system are geared to provide and supportcapacity building in their respective areas ofcompetence. For example, in 2001, UNDPthrough its country offices, Regional Bureauxand specialised programmes, strengthened disasterreduction capacities in over sixty countries.These programmes included buildinglocal capacities for disaster reduction in CentralAmerica and Jamaica, developing a newnational risk and disaster management systemin Haiti, strengthening national disaster officesin the English Caribbean countries, developingregional strategies for disaster managementin the SADC countries and in the StabilityPact area (South-Eastern Europe countries),addressing flood risk reduction in the TiszaRiver Basin (Hungary, Romania andUkraine), and addressing drought risks inIran, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. UNDP alsosupported several capacity-building programmesincluding in Albania, East Timor,Romania, Madagascar, and Malawi (see moreinformation on UN agencies in chapter 6.2).Latin America and the Caribbean4Capacity buildingThe concept of capacity building is to providea target group with skills, resources and technicalabilities to enable it to better help itself. Inrecent years, increased emphasis has also beenplaced on developing overall policy frameworksin which individuals and organizationsinteract with the external environment in theirrespective areas of endeavour.Capacity building can be achieved throughmeans such as training and education, publicinformation, the transfer, provision or access totechnology or other forms of technical assistanceintended to improve institutional efficiency.In the field of disaster risk reduction,the concept can also relate to the formulation ofan appropriate policy framework such as in theInstitutional initiatives to develop capabilities inhazard and risk reduction have been particularlyevident in Latin America and the Caribbean formany years. The Organization of American Statesand the Pan American Health Organization(PAHO) have sought to relate their particulartechnical abilities and practical experience throughexpanded opportunities for education. PAHO'spublication, Catalogue of Disaster Publicationsand Information Resources, contains a detaileddescription of all PAHO disaster training materials(books, CD-ROMs, slides and videos) andother sources of information, including the VirtualHealth Library for Disasters and principal websites that contain PAHO content. The catalogueis available on the Internet at www.paho.org/disasters/publications,and print copies are available onrequest to disaster-publications@paho.org/crid@crid.org183