Strengthening responses to safeguard the rights of vulnerable groups during disasters

[Press Release]

Islamabad, Pakistan – The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has signed a Letter of Agreement with UN Women through support from United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to strengthen responses with focus on women and issues faced by them during and post disasters.

Photo: UN Women//Faria Salman

Pakistan has been home to complex emergencies and disasters, which have devastating consequences, including widening of the ‘gender’ gaps between women and men.

Women and other vulnerable groups often have fewer resources to protect themselves and, with children, they frequently make up the majority of displaced persons. There are empirical evidences that women are better placed and envisaged to be responsive in these situations. However, their exclusion limits their access to opportunities to recover and rebuild communities. Within this context it is essential to establish solid foundations for survivor-centred response mechanisms in the country that can be adapted in both emergency and normal settings.

The Gender and Child Cell (GCC) of the NDMA will be playing an active role towards this direction which includes the development of education sector training material, capacity building of key stakeholders, policy guidance for risk mitigation, prevention and response to Gender Based Violence (GBV) in humanitarian programming. We are hopeful that this partnership will help the GCC to further enhance its capacity to move towards this direction.

The partnership will contribute towards building the capacity of the NDMA consistent with its mandate to develop guidelines and standards to safeguard the rights and interests of vulnerable groups during disasters. More specifically the partnership aims to enhance the national capacity of the NDMA to formulate, and disseminate the national implementation of multi-sectoral policies and guidelines, and to develop appropriate learning resource packages to guide harmonized implementation of standard operation procedures, minimum standards and other related guidelines as per the aims of the programme.

The agreement was signed by Maj Gen Asghar Nawaz, Chairman NDMA and Ms. Sangeeta Thapa, Deputy Representative, UN Women, Pakistan.