Participants of the leadership training course on Urban Resilience pause for a group photo.

ADPC organized a leadership training course on Urban Resilience for senior government officials from key agencies working on disaster risk management and climate change adaptation in Pakistan. The event was held in Bangkok with support from the World Bank, and in partnership with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Pakistan. The delegation comprised of the representatives of the Ministry of Climate Change, NDMA, Ministry of Finance, and the Planning Commission.

The objective was to discuss what challenges Pakistan faces in making its cities more resilient to disasters and what options could be considered over a more extended period. The training course was designed to also discuss international frameworks on disaster risk reduction and climate change with respect to urban resilience, such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction, and Sustainable Development Goals.

Mr. Hans Guttman, Executive Director, ADPC talks about the role of risk financing in urban resilience.

Mr. Hans Guttman, Executive Director, ADPC said that achieving risk reduction is the ultimate goal of our efforts we all are putting together at national and regional levels. He said that more people are needed who have the capability of operationalizing the international frameworks.

Brig. Mukhtar Ahmed, Member, Operations, NDMA shared the initiatives of the government of Pakistan for taking the agenda of disaster risk reduction to the next level. He said that there have been a lot of promising improvements in disaster management systems more recently, particularly in disaster response and risk information dissemination.He emphasized the importance of strengthening the capacities of District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) to enhance urban resilience.

Brig. Mukhtar Ahmed, Member, Operations, NDMA (left) and Haris Khan, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist with the World Bank in Pakistan share their views.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Haris Khan, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist with the World Bank in Pakistan, said they are committed to working closely with NDMA and other partners to strengthen urban resilience in Pakistan. The participants also visited the Royal Irrigation Department of Thailand and benefited from a detailed briefing about how the government has introduced several initiatives over the past few years to safe communities from floods.