In early June 2025, YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU) participated in the international forum Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) organized by UNDRR in Geneva, Switzerland. This forum brought together humanitarian actors, governments, academics, and global communities to assess and strengthen collective commitment within the framework of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR).
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR) is a global agreement that guides governments, civil society, and development actors in reducing disaster risk and impact. It emphasizes the importance of proactive, evidence-based, and inclusive risk management.
The SFDRR outlines four priorities for action:
- Understanding disaster risk, including through data, analysis, and public education.
- Strengthening disaster risk governance, including legal frameworks and multi-stakeholder coordination.
- Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience, including infrastructure, early warning systems, and social protection.
- Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and building back better in recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.
In addition, the SFDRR defines seven measurable global targets to be achieved by 2030:
- Significantly reduce disaster mortality.
- Reduce the number of affected people globally.
- Reduce direct economic losses relative to global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
- Reduce damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services (health, education, etc.).
- Increase the number of countries with national and local DRR strategies.
- Enhance international cooperation for developing countries in DRR.
- Increase availability and access to early warning systems and disaster risk information.
GPDRR 2025 served as the official platform to review progress on SFDRR implementation globally. This year’s focus was on accelerating disaster risk reduction through transformative and innovative approaches, with special attention to the future of youth and the most at-risk groups.
One of the key messages of GPDRR 2025 was the need to mainstream local voices and community-led action into national and global strategies, and to bridge traditional knowledge with technology and public policy.
Reflection: When Local Voices Reach the Global Stage
One of the key moments during GPDRR 2025 was a bilateral meeting with Mr. Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and co-chair of GP2025. In this dialogue, YEU directly shared experiences from community accompaniment and the importance of providing direct funding to grassroots organizations. This meeting was facilitated by the Huairou Commission, of which YEU is a member, and is currently implementing the Community Resilience Partnership Program (CRPP), which strengthens the resilience of women-led groups to the impacts of climate change.
We emphasized that many community innovations are hindered by limited access to funding and the need for stronger institutional capacity at the local level. We advocated for flexible, adaptive, and risk-based financing mechanisms that empower local actors.
We are grateful that these voices were not only heard but also reflected in the official GP2025 Co-Chairs Summary, particularly in Recommendation 23, which states:
"Decentralised disaster risk reduction financing enables funding to reach local actors based on risk profiles, prioritising fragile and vulnerable contexts. This should support institutional capacity to assess risk, plan and implement disaster risk reduction, and manage finances at the subnational levels to ensure targeted and effective use. Good practices in co-designing programmes between financial institutions and community-based organisations should be promoted and scaled up to enhance direct local finance access. Governments should increasingly commit a percentage of bilateral and multilateral funding to support locally-led disaster risk reduction initiatives."
This recommendation is a significant milestone, paving the way for a more just, evidence-based, and community-driven disaster risk financing system.
Bringing Local Innovation to the Global Stage
As part of the GPDRR 2025 agenda, YEU was selected as a speaker at the Ignite Stage through a concept note titled "Fostering Locally-Led Disaster Resilience through Community-Led Innovation Partnership". Through the Community-Led Innovation Partnership (CLIP) initiative, implemented with local innovators since 2021, YEU demonstrated that local innovation can offer practical, inclusive, and sustainable solutions to disaster risk.
In the session, YEU presented several examples from the IDEAKSI program, including:
- Karang Taruna Prima Gadung with their “Bambu Jawa Jahit Bumi” landslide mitigation innovation.
- A mobile public kitchen for rapid disaster response.
- Inclusive educational games for children with disabilities.
- Smart mist irrigation for water efficiency in farming.
- Eco-friendly farming practices for drought mitigation.
These stories highlight that communities are not just beneficiaries, but key agents of change. YEU, as the innovation hub through IDEAKSI, supports innovators by building capacity, connecting them with technical experts, and bridging them to humanitarian and disaster risk stakeholders in Indonesia.
In addition to the Ignite Stage, YEU was also entrusted as a panelist in the Ministerial Roundtable at GPDRR 2025. The session, titled "Innovation and Strategic Foresight for Disaster Risk Reduction", gathered government leaders, multilateral agencies, and civil society representatives to share transformative approaches and long-term visions in DRR.
YEU brought insights from Indonesian communities through CLIP and shared four key recommendations based on field experience:
- Recognize and meaningfully engage community leadership in the design, implementation, and evaluation of DRR programs.
- Provide flexible funding to enable local communities to test, learn, and adapt innovations sustainably.
- Strengthen technical capacity and confidence at the community level for self-managed risk reduction.
- Establish equitable partnerships between communities and other stakeholders—academia, government, media, and private sector—so local solutions can inform national and global policies.
YEU’s presence in this high-level forum not only highlighted local best practices from Indonesia but also affirmed the central role of communities in shaping inclusive and future-oriented DRR strategies.
In various panels and breakout discussions, YEU also emphasized the importance of:
- Strengthening inclusive community-based early warning systems and anticipatory action,
- Mainstreaming at-risk groups in DRR policies, and
- Bridging grassroots innovation with technical and policy support.
As part of the Indonesian Delegation, YEU also participated in a bilateral meeting with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) to explore further synergies between local initiatives and the global humanitarian coordination system. The meeting, led by the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture of Indonesia, addressed topics such as strengthening ASEAN collaboration, national cluster development, and partnerships with the private sector in disaster risk reduction.
GPDRR 2025 provided YEU with a valuable platform to learn, share, and reaffirm our role in the global disaster risk reduction ecosystem. We return with renewed energy to strengthen local innovation, build new partnerships, and continue advocating for the recognition and leadership of grassroots communities in building resilience.