Inter-institutional effort for disaster prevention

The Ministry of Sustainable Development, the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) and the German Cooperation Agency (GTZ) signed an inter-institutional agreement to work jointly on the formulation of risk management policies to prevent or reduce the impact of future natural disasters. The importance of the initiative is that it unites the individual efforts of these institutions.

After the signing of the agreement in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Minister Jorge Cortés said the initiative of the Andean Regional Program for Prevention and Mitigation of Disaster Risks (PREANDINO) and the GTZ would generate synergies with other government agencies and organizations to support the Ministry in the area of risk management. Te agreement offers the Ministry the possibility of coordinating all the risk prevention measures of national bodies and institutions to avoid dispersion of efforts and resources, he added.

CAF representative in Bolivia José Carrera said the agreement would continue the activities initiated by PREANDINO such as preparation of risk prevention plans, integration of prevention into development planning and land management, institutionalization of prevention and assistance with defining legal and institutional frameworks adapted to risk management, and the incidence on the reduction and mitigation of disaster risk in Bolivia.

DTZ representative Eberhard Goll said that the German Cooperation Agency could now continue supporting the Bolivian government under an established program. He added that the agreement is the product of a series of negotiations with the participation of other agencies, which expect to define their role in the future. Goll called on the government to take a leadership role in risk coordination and channel the dispersed actions taken by the institutions.

The Bolivian Ministry of Sustainable Development, the CAF through the PREANDINO program, and the German Cooperation Agency through the Risk Management and Food Security Project consider that the efforts, initiatives and proposals to transform risk conditions should be combined, reducing the impact of future disasters. So far there has been no emphasis on preventative work, the organizations have simply reacted by requesting national and international aid after the catastrophes that the country has suffered.

The joint work is motivated by the country´s growing vulnerability to natural disasters in recent years due to the absence of risk prevention policies, and lack of planning and coordination between the responsible institutions in Bolivia. This situation has been accentuated by recent cases that have seriously threatened Bolivia´s weak infrastructure.

The objective of the agreement is to jointly contribute to strengthening the technical capacity and institutionalization of risk-management in the national, sectoral and departmental and municipal institutions responsible for formulating risk management policies and strategies, through combined execution of the agreed plan of activities.

The tasks to be developed under the agreement cover the inclusion of disaster prevention in development planning; strengthening planning systems; support for the preparation of cooperation projects; coordination of international cooperation; strengthening of legal and institutional schemes; and exchange of experiences.

The PREANDINO is a program promoted by the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), multilateral development banks and the Latin American Economic System (SELA) in response to a mandate from the five presidents of the Andean countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) at the XII Andean Presidential Council in Cartagena, Colombia in 1999. Its general purpose is to stimulate and support the formulation of national and sectoral policies for disaster risk prevention and mitigation, and develop schemes and forms of institutional organization that integrate the prevention approach into development planning.