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Community Based Disaster Management Course (CBDM-10)

Closing Speech by the Honorable Pakistan Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Muhammad Hasan Aqil

Dr. Suvit Yodmani, respected executive director of ADPC, management and staff of ADPC, resource persons and facilitators of this course and dear participants of the 10th Community-Based Disaster Management, good afternoon.

Indeed, community based disaster risk management or CBDM is what disaster prone countries need, to be able to address the vulnerability issues confronting these countries. Local communities, under the local government should be the focal point for partnership and cooperation amongst higher level of governance, NGOs, donors and institutions. Because all disasters happen at the local level, no matter how great the extent of the destruction is, we can not take for granted, CBDM.

I learned that ADPC has been promoting the CBDM since the early stage of its establishment through encouraging governments of a bottom-up approach. However, the CBDM as an international course started only in 1997. Since then, it has benefited about 350 alumni including you, dear participants. From my understanding, the course has been adapted in several countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. They have adapted the course utilizing their own experiences, considering their own culture and capabilities and translating to their own language.

I congratulate ADPC for this pioneering effort. I learned from the report of the Director of Training that ADPC will again take a look at the course, assess the content and methodologies used and redesign the course that will suit the needs of the region. ADPC’s method of involving its regional partners to identify the needs is commendable. Anchoring the courses to the actual , real and felt needs of those involved in managing risks is an important and crucial aspect in designing a course.

Obviously, the participants comments—be they in the form of praise, constructive criticisms, or concrete suggestions are being taken seriously by ADPC. And this is good news for the next round of participants!

The list of participants showed that there are so many countries represented here. I am impressed of the diversity of experience, language, culture and nationality within this room. I’m sure that you had a wonderful experience relating your own field practice. I’m happy to note that Pakistan is represented in the person of Mr. Syed Jalaluddin Shah. I encourage you to promote the concepts of CBDM back home. I encourage all of you to promote community-based disaster management.

At this point, I would like to congratulate each one of you for successfully finishing this training course. I wish you all success in your respective career in disaster risk management.

Thank you.