Disaster management training programme : Progress report

The United Nations Programme for Reform, in 1997, undertook to redistribute operational aspects of responsabilities of the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) to other parts of the UN system. Responsabilities for the coordination of natural disaster mitigation activities were recommended for transfer to UNDP. Functions of disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness were noted as relating to national capabilities and, therefore, more appropriately situated in UNDP. Based on these proposals, the General Assembly decided at its 52nd session to transfer to UNDP the responsabilities of the ERC for operational activities for natural disaster mitigation, prevention and preparedness. As part of this transfer, the UN Disaster Management Training Programme(DMTP), previously managed jointly by UNDP and the Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA), was divested to UNDP in March 1998. In response to the General Assembly decision, and to further focus its overall strategy and range of activities in the field of disaster reduction, UNDP established the Disaster Reduction and Recovery Programme (DRRP) as a component of its Emergency Response Division (ERD). DMPT has been fully incorporated into the DRRP. It has developed and implemented projects planned under the joint UNDP/DHA management and has formulated and initiated additional projects in a number of disaster-prone countries. Following a consultation with Partner Agencies on the future of the DMPT (29 July 1999) a Plan of Action has been drawn up to define the process leading to the formulation of an improved Programme for the period 2000-2002.(AU)