Western & Southern Asia

Introduction

In Western and Southern Asia, GIDRM focuses on critical infrastructure resilience. Critical infrastructures are characterized by a high degree of interdependence, which means that the impairment or failure of a single critical infrastructure can affect systems within the sector or spread to other sectors. The health sector, for example, relies heavily on the smooth supply of water and electricity, the transport sector on the provision of fuel and road accessibility, meanwhile the food industry depends on the transport and water availableness. By “spilling-over” into another sector, any setback or failure in one of these infrastructure systems can detrimentally affect public administration, economic activities, reliability of supply, development works, the welfare of communities, and public health, among others.

The complex systems of critical infrastructure are of vital importance for our day-to-day life, however, at the same time they are easily taken for granted. Our dependence on these networks is oftentimes disregarded until the services provided by such infrastructure are interrupted, for example, when we lose access to electricity, transportation, or water due to severe storm or flooding.
Major disruptions can occur even in countries with exceptionally reliable infrastructure systems. Additionally, the resilience and vulnerability of individuals and communities against disruption varies—for marginalized and disadvantaged parts of the population a disruption of basic services might result in more severe social or economic repercussions. As the failure of critical infrastructure disproportionately affects vulnerable people, it is also crucial to consider the need of different population groups when strengthening critical infrastructure resilience.

sectors_RID


Cooperation with CDRI

The CDRI is a partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and knowledge institutions that aims to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development.

To promote inclusive resilient critical infrastructure and risk-informed decision-making in the context of critical infrastructure, GIDRM will (1) provide technical support related to risk-informed development, resilient critical infrastructures, and risk-informed public investment through the secondment of a technical expert, (2) establish a technical working group focusing on inclusive resilient critical infrastructure at the CDRI (3) support the implementation of pilot measures for an inclusive resilient critical infrastructure governance in a CDRI partner country and (4) connect CDRI with GIZ networks in relevant countries. Together, GIDRM and CDRI aim to develop a common and comprehensive understanding of resilient critical infrastructure focusing especially on the health sector but also on other interconnected and interdependent sectors such as water, electricity, and transport infrastructure.

In face of increasingly interdependent and systemic risks worldwide, the cooperation between CDRI and GIDRM is the cornerstone to strengthen risk-informed decision making in the context of critical infrastructure, safeguard development achievements in partner countries and regions and promote sustainable development that leaves no one behind.

By setting up a technical working group of like-minded partners, GIDRM is promoting knowledge exchange on good practices and lessons-learned across regions. In addition, GIDRM is aiming to implement small-scall activities in a CDRI member countries focusing on participatory approaches to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure systems, focusing on critical health infrastructure. Based on the piloting activity, as well as the knowledge exchange through the technical working group, a handbook including recommendations and good practice examples on an all-inclusive participatory approach to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure will be developed and published.

GIDRM in Georgia

In Georgia, GIDRM supports community-based approaches to risk-informed development. The objective is to better protect populations and critical infrastructure through improved risk perception and assessments considering the systemic nature of risks and to strengthen risk-informed decision-making processes.

The National Environmental Agency of Georgia (NEA) will be supported in building the capacities of future professionals to better understand and manage landslide risk in Georgia. A cutting-edge landslide monitoring system will be installed in Gveso (Tsageri), a high-risk area in the Northern part of Georgia. In addition, a baseline assessment of existing university level programs related to hazard and risk assessments will be conducted to identify gaps and entry points for specific capacity building measures. As a follow up, interested representatives of universities – mainly students – will be trained through practical knowledge exchange and field visits to Gveso. Furthermore, capacity building of NEA on hazard assessment, data management, analyses and interpretation is foreseen as part of the project.

To promote a systemic understanding of risks at the community level, an impact chain assessment will be conducted for Gveso village focusing especially on the interdependencies between hazards, land use practices (agriculture) and access to health services. Landslides, floods, and similar hazards lead to limited access of community members to health care services due to road blockages, injuries, or disruptions in health care provision due to electricity shortages or lack of clean water. Understanding and evaluating the concrete interdependencies will allow the community members to take more risk-informed decisions on investment and planning priorities and advocacy messages to the regional level.

In addition, the GIDRM is aiming to support the enabling environment for risk-informed development in Georgia. Focusing on the six core dimensions of an enabling environment for RID (finance & resources; knowledge & information; culture & people; partnership & collaboration; organizational capabilities; policy & regulations), entry points for RID will be identified and capacities of various stakeholder groups will be built based on the identified needs. The activities will result in a guideline on risk-informed development in mountainous areas incl. recommendations for systemic risk assessments, entry points for risk-informed decision-making at the community level and capacity building measures.

GIDRM in India

As the CDRI Secretariat is based in New Dehli, India, GIDRM is also working in India. By setting up a technical working group of like-minded partners, GIDRM is promoting knowledge exchange on good practices and lessons-learned across regions. In addition, GIDRM is aiming to implement small-scall activities in a CDRI member countries focusing on participatory approaches to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure systems, focusing on critical health infrastructure. Based on the piloting activity, as well as the knowledge exchange through the technical working group, a handbook including recommendations and good practice examples on an all-inclusive participatory approach to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure will be developed and published.

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