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Executive Summary
Within the Programme “Building Disaster Resilience to Natural Hazards in Sub-Saharan African Regions, Countries and Communities1 ”, UNDRR and CIMA Research Foundation organized a fiveday Study Tour in Europe – namely Italy and Brussels - for members of African countries.
Delegations from ACP-EU four target countries- Republic of Angola, Republic of Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Republic of Zambia as well as delegations from Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) and the Africa Union Commission (AUC), participated in the visit organized by UNDRR and CIMA Research Foundation 16-20 September. The five day Study Tour was dedicated to two different targets of participants: high level representatives of Disaster Risk Management Authorities of the four target countries and Directors of DRR unit of IGAD and AUC; technical staff, Risk Assessment Experts, Hydrological Experts, Early Warning System experts from Disaster Risk Management Authorities and line ministries of Republic of Angola, U.R Tanzania, Republic of Rwanda, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Republic of Zambia and from IGAD/Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC).
The Study Tour of the two target delegations had the following overall goal and objectives:
● Study Tour for high-level representatives of Disaster Risk Management Authorities. The main objectives were: to familiarize with the inclusive political process leading to the establishment and consolidation over 20 years timeframe of the Civil Protection and Disaster Management systems in Europe; its organization and functioning. The case study of the Italian civil protection system was analyzed in depth, moving from the local to the sub-national and national levels. The delegates visited the Civil Protection structure of the Municipality of Genova, the Monitoring and Forecasting Centre of the Liguria Region, the Regional Civil Protection structures and the National Civil Protection Department in Rome. The visit demonstrated the importance of effective coordination among multiple stakeholders across different levels, including governmental authorities, private and public sectors, academia as well as representatives of civil society. The coordination function is facilitated by the adoption of new technologies, with high performance, free of charge and open source, such as the web-based common platform used by Italian civil protection authorities and other relevant stakeholders to exchange data and information, according to well established roles and rules. The delegates also visited the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) established by the European Commission in the context of the (European) Union Civil Protection Mechanism. The delegates were briefed about the political process, promoted by European member States, to establish a common mechanism to address rare but extreme events which overcome national DRM capacities. The establishment and maintenance of national DRM capacities to manage such extreme events is in fact not sustainable. The European Member States therefore agreed on the development of national capacities having common standards and common procedures, to be pooled together and deployed in support of the most affected country/ies in the case of extreme events, under a unique coordination mechanism. Furthermore, the delegates appreciated the practical demonstration of the adoption of such common tools, data and Standard Operating Procedures to improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of advanced impact based Early Warning Systems (EWS) and transboundary risk management. Finally, the delegates were informed about data and services made available free-of-charge by the European Commission, such as the one provided by remote sensing through the Copernicus programme.
● Study Tour for technical staff. The technical staff visited the local and regional structures of Civil Protection in Genoa. The visit has been instrumental for familiarizing with the organization and functioning of the Italian EWS at National, Sub-National and Local Level. The technical staff continued the visit with an intense three-day training to build in-house capacity for the integration of local knowledge and experience in the risk modelling, to enhance ownership of the tool and its sustainability in the long run. Accordingly, the focus of the training was to consolidate the existing knowledge on risk modelling and on risk profiles prepared during the phase I of this activity; to explore the use of different datasets for characterizing exposures and vulnerability, of population, critical infrastructure, productive sector; prepare for more accurate risk modelling; interpret hazard and risk modelling results; develop new risk metrics targeted to the need of the country; start a validation process of the risk profile. The technical experts were also presented technical solutions for the acquisition, installation and maintenance of lowbudget meteorological stations. The proposed solution meets the standards set by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) but is an open-source hardware which can be produced, assembled and maintained by the already existing staff of national and regional authorities, making the service independent from biggest international firms producing patented hardware and software and delivering expensive maintenance services. The open-source option could also facilitate the development of new economic activities and generate resilient job opportunities locally.