South Eastern Europe Disaster Risk Management Initiative

A partnership between the World Bank and the Inter-agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR)

The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) aims at building disaster resilient communities by promoting increased awareness of disaster reduction as an integral component of sustainable development, with the goal of reducing human, social, economic and environmental losses due to natural hazards .

ISDR is a global movement, which engages a wide range of actors in an effort to build “a culture of prevention” in society. The ISDR is not an “institution” but rather a system made up of governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, international financial institutions and technical bodies and networks as well as civil society and the private sector, all of which have essential roles to play in disaster risk reduction at the global, regional, national and local levels.

The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, the World Bank and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction partnership, is implementing a South Eastern Europe Disaster Risk Management Initiative. The South Eastern Europe Disaster Risk Management Initiative has been initiated in the autumn of 2006 under the GFDRR, which is operating as a multi-donor trust fund aiming to provide technical assistance to assist low and middle income countries to mainstream disaster risk reduction in strategic planning, particularly the Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS) and various sectoral development policies.

The SEE Disaster Risk Management Initiative proposes activities that are aimed to close SEE's capacity gaps and promote rapid introduction of global best practice and closer regional cooperation. The Initiative incorporates three focus areas:

1. Hydro-meteorological forecasting, data sharing and early warning;
2. coordination of disaster mitigation, preparedness, and response; and
3. financing of disaster losses, reconstruction and recovery, and disaster risk transfer (disaster insurance);

and is developing an additional key activity addressing the land use planning and building safety. The aim is to build on the cooperation that already exists in the region, and will aim to complement and consolidate activities . promoted by the EU, the Council of Europe, the UN, the NATO, and the Stability Pact, the CMEPC, OECD and others to promote more effective disaster mitigation, preparedness and response.

The first planned step to be undertaken within the implementation of Part III) Disaster Financing and Risk Transfer Initiative, is the assessment of financial and social safety nets for disasters caused by the impact of natural hazards. This study aims to assess the extent to which the existing inter-regional government funded social safety nets (both at country and the EU level) and the private insurance industry can cope with the adverse financial impacts of disasters' caused by the impact of natural hazards on the regional economy. Based on the outcomes of this assessment, the study will lead to policy-recommendations on re-shaping the existing post-disaster government social safety net programs and extending the level of catastrophe insurance penetration for businesses and homeowners.

For the purpose of performing this assignment Ms Denisa Dumitru, from Stellar Re Intermediaries, has been contracted.

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