National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of Pakistan and Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) will jointly implement a 16-month project aimed at strengthening institutions for developing resilience to disasters in Pakistan. Two national training workshops on disaster risk reduction and climate change mitigation for federal government officials followed by a high-level policy dialogue with development partners will mark the beginning of this project in Islamabad from 16 October 2017.

The World Bank has provided the financial support under the EU-South Asia Capacity Building for Disaster Risk Management Program, which is administered by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery. The Bank intends to facilitate a long-term disaster risk management (DRM) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) capacity development investment in partnership with NDMA.

The current project is expected to engage with senior officials representing the federal and provincial governments on a range of activities, including national and international training workshops, policy dialogues, as well as exposure visits, and lessons-sharing workshops.

“NDMA welcomes this very timely support from the World Bank as it will significantly complement our ongoing capacity building efforts across Pakistan. We believe the design of the project will allow government officials to learn both conceptual and practical elements of DRR and CCA in a more meaningful manner”, said Brig. Mukhtar Ahmed, Member, Operations, NDMA.

As part of the capacity building program, ADPC would be imparting training to senior government officers on advanced concepts of urban and fiscal resilience to disasters and climate impacts.

“We are partnering with NDMA and key stakeholders for improving Pakistan's resilience to natural disasters," said Haris Khan, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist with the World Bank in Pakistan. "Building resilience to disaster and climate impacts is critical to ensuring the reduction of extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity in the country.”