Launching of One UN Joint Programme on Community Resilience in Chitral

Chitral: WFP and UNDP together with PRCS launched a One UN Joint Programme on Resilience in Chitral on Wednesday; March 07, 2018 in which, over 40 participants from NDMA, DDMU, Department of Education, Forest Department, TDMAs, AKAH, AKRSP, SRSP, Other Government Line Departments and Civil Society Organizations participated.

Pakistan is prone to disasters and the considerable cost of recurrent natural and man-made disasters continues to contribute to already high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. Pakistan’s vulnerability to frequently occurring, large-scale natural disasters highlight the need for effective preparedness and coordinated disaster response.

WFP and UNDP are working closely with Government of Pakistan/National, Provincial and District Disaster Management Authorities as well as other partner organizations for building & developing capacities, providing policy, technical, institutional and implementation support for the implementation of the National Disaster Management Plan of Government of Pakistan.

The scope of this One UN Joint Programme covers natural hazard-induced disasters. It is context-specific and prevention-oriented and addresses comprehensively the risks which threaten the survival and dignity of the population living in selected union councils of district Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The main objectives of the project as presented to the participants of the launching event are to:

• Create awareness among communities and disaster management authorities on DPRP.
• Facilitate identification and analysis of basic hazards and calculation of risks.
• Contribute towards minimization of losses of lives and properties of vulnerable communities.
• To equip schools with kits, training education and mock drills.
• Vocational skills-based training along with suitable kits.

The Programme will upscale and complement the ongoing initiatives of WFP, UNDP and PRCS in Chitral. The approach adopted in this programme takes into consideration multiple dimensions including environmental factors and disaster risk reduction/management including climate change adaptation.

The launching ceremony was organized in PRCS office Chitral and was attended by all key project stakeholders including WFP, UNDP, NDMA, PRCS, Government line departments, District Nazim, local, national and civil service organizations, and local activists.

The Chairman & Deputy Secretary, PRCS Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Programme Policy Officer DRM of WFP Pakistan and National Project Coordinator of UNDP were among the key speakers and presenters in the launch who briefed the participants of the event about the overall objective, expected outcome, targets, implementation mechanism, planned interventions, target beneficiaries and criteria for selection of villages, schools and beneficiaries etc.  They also elaborated on the overall mandates of WFP, UNDP and PRCS.

It was jointly resolved that community-driven and need-based interventions shall be effectively implemented within the planned project period while ensuring close coordination with DDMU, PDMA, NDMA,  District Nazim and other stakeholders.  Furthermore, it was reiterated that beneficiary feedback mechanism shall be effectively established to ensure transparency, accountability to the affected population while internal monitoring shall be ensured by PRCS while external and joint monitoring visits shall be carried out by WFP, UNDP, PDMA and DDMU Chitral.