Maputo, 7 May 2008 - Honoured by high level Government officials, UN staff, donor community, civil society organizations, private sector and media representatives, UNDP Mozambique launched today the Global Risk Identification Programme – GRIP to present and discuss the Risk Assessment activities that Mozambique is going to undertake and raise interest, support and engagement from the various sectors of Mozambique’s society.
GRIP is the System’s Official Thematic Platform for Risk Identification and is one of the five priority actions that form the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) signed by 168 countries at the World Disaster Reduction Conference in 2005, and UNDP launched the initiative in 2007 when highlighted the importance of Disaster Risk Reduction in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s).
This Programme receives now the support of many partners, such as the World Bank, The Government of Norway, DFID, USAID, the Inter American Development Bank, Munich Ree Foundation, UN ISDR, the Government of Japan, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, and the Pro Ventium Consortium.
In Mozambique the GRIP will promote and support risk identification during the next two years, and the objective of this event is not only to present in details the difference expected contributions from the Programme, but it will also allow to identify the implementation modalities in order to develop a sustainable risk identification process, with capacity development as core concern.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, the Deputy Resident Representative – Programme, Ms. Naomi Kitahara explained that the launch of the initiative represents a starting point of the implementation of the Joint Program for Strengthening Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Preparedness, recently signed between the Government of Mozambique and the UN-System, in support of the National Master Plan for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
At the occasion as an example Ms. Kitahara mentioned that the risk assessment for Maputo is part of an effort promoted by Emergency Shelter Cluster that is being implemented by UN-Habitat, UNDP-GRIP International Federation of the Red Cross and the Pro Ventium Consortium. Also, the floods and cyclones that again affected the country earlier this year have demonstrated that a coordinated and timely efforts of the government, with the support of the international community, is key to minimize the impact of disasters.
To conclude, Ms. Kitahara highlighted that the Risk Assessment is the basis for effective disaster risk reduction, once it allows not only understanding the magnitude, causes, and possible solutions of disaster risk, but also to measure the progress in risk reduction and to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing disaster risk reduction strategies and make the necessary corrections.