Insurance Journal (1st Quarter 2019)

Guest Contribution
Dr. Zafar Qadir
Chairman, Board of Directors
Taleem Foundation and Kashmir
Education Foundation
Mitigating Disaster
Risks
Possibilities for Developing
Countries
Dr. Zafar Qadir is a former civil servant of “Pakistan Administrative Service”. He has held challenging
assignments in public sector both at home and abroad, including that of Federal Secretary IT & Telecom,
Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority and Economic Minister to the World Trade
Organization at Geneva, Switzerland. He has been Chairman of PTCL, Telecom Foundation and Virtual
University Boards; and a member on the Boards of Universal Service Fund, ICT R&D Fund, OGDCL,
Inter State Gas System (ISGS), Government Holdings (Private) Limited and Agricultural Development
Bank of
Pakistan.
Dr. Qadir has a wide experience of public administration, project management and trade promotion. He
attained the management, law and trade related skills at the University of Connecticut (USA), University
of Manchester (UK), ADB Institute (Philippines), International Trade Institute (Singapore), Advisory
Centre for WTO Laws (Switzerland) and the International Trade Centre (Switzerland).
In his private capacity, Dr Qadir is operating a number of philanthropic endeavours, including ‘Taaleem
Foundation’, ‘Kashmir Education Foundation’, ‘TF Health Initiative’ and ‘TF School of Skills’.
As a social entrepreneur, he owns a technology company called ICT4E that has developed and deployed
“Interactive Learning Solution” (ILS) for formal schooling in Pakistan with the brand name of e-School
(www.e-school.com.pk). The e-School solution is gradually being rolled out to all 400 plus schools of the
Federal Directorate of Education in Islamabad.
He has a PhD degree in Development Studies; and holds three Masters Degrees: Business Administration,
Economics and Political Science. Has excellent proficiency in English, Urdu, Punjabi and Saraiki: with
working knowledge of French, Hindi and Pashto. He is on aculty of at the University of Cambridge UK
and a number of local universities in Pakistan.
Background:
The World Conference on Disaster
Reduction convened in Kobe, Japan
in 2005 identifies following five
priorities in its action plan – The
Hyogo Framework for Action
(HFA)1:
o Ensure that disaster risk reduction
is a national and a local priority with
a strong institutional basis for
implementation
o Identify, assess and monitor
disaster risks and enhance early
warning
o Use knowledge, innovation and
education to build a culture of safety
and resilience at all levels
o Reduce the underlying risk factors
o Strengthen disaster preparedness
for effective response at all levels
At the 28th National Conference of
the Red Cross and Red Crescent,
National Societies together with the
member states adopted “The Agenda
for Humanitarian Action” that
specifically “acknowledged the
importance of disaster risk reduction
and to undertake measures to
minimize the impact of disasters on
vulnerable population”.2
Disaster mitigation refers to structural
and n o n - s tructural measures
undertaken to limit and control the
Insurance Journal January, February, March 2019
09
Find us at: www.insurancejournal.com.pk — www.facebook.com/insurancejournalpakistan