Author(s): Liz Stephens (University of Reading)
An interesting comment piece from Madhab Uprety, Disaster Risk Reduction consultant, and Sumit Dugar, Research Associate at Practical Action Consulting South Asia on the recent floods in Nepal has been posted here.
It is no surprise that a similar situation has been encountered in Nepal as elsewhere in the world:
It is largely unclear among the humanitarian actors and government stakeholders about what levels of forecast probabilities and magnitude are worthy to react.
You may be interested in connecting with the Practical Action project team to compare and contrast how Forecast-based Financing is being implemented in Nepal compared to our own pilot projects in Uganda and Mozambique:
Practical Action together with support from the World Food Program have been advocating this approach in Nepal and the idea has already been put-forth across national Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) platforms for discussion. FbF is currently being piloted in six flood prone districts of West Nepal and there is an intention to upscale these initiatives across entire southern flood plains of Nepal. Forecast thresholds and triggers have been identified and Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) that includes science informed anticipatory actions have been developed and integrated in the local disaster preparedness plans.
Sumit Dugar is part of the project team of the SHEAR LANDSLIDE-EVO project, and is keen to connect with the FATHUM team. We will shortly be advertising a PhD project to work alongside the FATHUM team, focussed on supporting Forecast-based Financing in Nepal. The student would link with Practical Action Nepal and the Nepal Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.
Icebreaker activities and discussion: The FATHUM team had 1-on-1 speed-introductions to each other, trying to find the most interesting / novel thing they had in common. Then they were asked to ‘vote with their feet’, placing themselves in different parts of the room depending on their disciplinary background, applied or theoretical nature of research, and previous history of working with the Red Cross / Red Crescent Movement.
Work Package 3 Activity: Sara de Wit led groups organised by discipline in a ‘mapping the conversation’ exercise, discussing “What makes a successful implementation of FbF”, and “What are the barriers to FbF being implemented?”