What we do – Pacific Risk Resilience Programme

Risk Informing Development

What is our approach?

PRRP’s approach to mainstreaming risk is centered on strengthening the risk governance building blocks (people, mechanisms and processes) from national, sub-national to community levels and through three key development pathways. This approach to ‘transformational’ mainstreaming involves four key steps: 1) analyse context for mainstreaming risk; 2) identify entry-points for mainstreaming through development pathways; 3) strengthen the enabling environment for mainstreaming in each pathway; and 4) mainstream risk into the project cycle for implementation.

What are the results?

Horizontal Pathway

PRRP has supported central development ministries in its four programme countries to prioritise ‘resilient development’ and gender and social inclusion in their national plans and/or processes. This has been achieved through risk integration into the ‘One Tool-Process’ for delivery of the Tonga Strategic Development Framework (TSDF) in Tonga; the sector alignment process for delivering the National Sustainable Development Plan (NSDP) in Vanuatu; the Medium Term Development Process (MTDP) for delivering the National Development Strategy (NDS) in Solomon Islands; and the Public-Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) in Fiji for delivering the National Development Plan at the divisional level.

Vertical Pathway

PRRP supported the establishment of nine resilient development posts embedded within ministries responsible for local government and disaster risk management across each of the programme countries, five of which have already been absorbed by government. These posts have been pivotal in: integration of risk into bottom-up development planning in Tonga, development of risk informed sub-national planning guidelines in Vanuatu, addressing food security priorities identified in development plans in Temotu, and development of GIS platforms to assist in the implementation of risk informed development projects in Fiji. The posts have also established an informal network of local government resilient development practitioners to share successful approaches, examples of risk informed development processes and projects and champion local level risk informed development in the region.

Diagonal Pathway

PRRP supported the establishment four resilient development officers in the Ministries of Agriculture in each of the programme countries, who, with support from the programme, have been responsible for the: establishment and strengthening of the Vanuatu Risk and Resilience Unit, including absorption of two resilience officers into the Ministry’s recurrent budget; ensuring resilience is central to the Tonga Agriculture Sector Plan and its implementation; establishment of a Resilience Agriculture Extension Officer Network in the Solomon Islands, and mobilisation of numerous resources for delivery of ongoing training and establishment of demonstration plots; and establishment of public-private partnerships to develop Food Banks to improve resilience in remote communities in Fiji, and replication of this successful model to other communities.

Resources

Private Sector Development

What is our approach?

PRRP is working with the private sector in the Pacific to transform the way they engage with government and development partners to help build their own resilience and also to support the building of community resilience. Transforming the way in which private sector build their resilience, and the way they engage with government led climate change and disaster activities, requires tackling deep seated governance issues. PRRP, in collaboration with the Connecting Business Initiative (CBi), are assisting businesses and national private sector organisations in the Pacific to strengthen their governance arrangements for more durable engagement. PRRP is supporting them to do this by:

Providing resources and capacity building to business leaders, and nurturing partnerships with government, development agencies and communities.
Utilising existing or creating new business networks for resilience, emergency preparedness, response and recovery.
Collating, disseminating or seeking resources for capacity building materials for businesses.

What are the results?

PRRP, in collaboration with the Connecting Business Initiative (CBi), supported the development of a Fiji Business Disaster Resilience Council (FBDRC). The Council is hosted by the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation, and provides a coordination mechanism for private sector to engage with government and partners on resilience building, response and recovery activities.

Since its inception, the FBDRC has secured a seat on the Fiji Disaster Management Committee (DISMAC); collaborated with the NDMO to survey 1,200 village heads and map businesses within villages; developed and launched a Business Continuity Planning (BCP) Toolkit and secured funding to undertake a BCP training of trainers for programme across the country.

This approach is now being replicated by the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and will be taken to scale across the region by the Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO) by forming a Pacific Regional Business Resilience Council (RBRC).

Resources

Gender and Social Inclusion

What is our approach?

Climate change and disaster risk cannot be understood without recognizing the gender and social dimensions of vulnerability and capacity. PRRP is working to advance gender and social inclusion issues so that development is both risk informed, inclusive and equitable. PRRP has helped to establish new resilience posts within Ministries of Women and Social Welfare. These posts will assist stakeholders address the root causes of risk, by unpacking the gender and social dimensions of risks (e.g. land rights, migration and inequalities) and developing capacity to manage these. Key activities include:

Building the capacity of key partner government agencies to understand and respond to the needs of different community groups in relation to climate change and disaster risk.
Ensuring that risk-informed initiatives in each development pathway are designed and implemented to deliver inclusive and fair outcomes for different community groups.
Establishment of the ProPa (Protection in the Pacific) Network, an inter-governmental body that promotes gender equality and protection issues relating to climate change and disasters. Read more (*link to ProPa brochure)

What are the results?

PRRP, through the Ministries of Women and Social Welfare, has helped countries to incorporate GSI into development at national and sub-national levels. Examples include the incorporation of GSI into risk screening tools and project proposals at the subnational levels in Fiji; ensuring gender disaggregated data informs community profiling within the subnational guidelines in Vanuatu; and securing women’s participation in community development planning and agricultural ‘knowledge hubs’ in Vanuatu (Tanna). Acting collectively the countries evolved from connecting informally to a substantive and influential network, the ProPa network, and this has made some significant achievements since its inception. Key results achieved through the ProPa network include:

International: significant advocacy on gender sensitive risk informed development, as a result of representation and contributions at forums (such as COP22, Sendai-gender conference, WHS, Pacific Resilience Week).
Regional: ProPa was able to integrate core principles of protection and gender and social inclusion within the regional Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP).
National: ProPa members have also been instrumental in assisting the gender and protection clusters to ensure that these are operational beyond responding disasters but also supporting the centrality of gender and protection for development.