Building inclusive resilience through regional cooperation
The absence of gender equality and human rights in the policy landscape of disasters and climate change can result to poor policies and programs that reinforce existing inequalities and continue to put women and the most marginalized sectors at-risk. To break down these local socio-economic complexities while strengthening regional cooperation and policy implementation, the Building resilience through inclusive and climate-adaptive disaster risk reduction in Asia-Pacific (BRDR) program has facilitated regional cooperation focused on bringing together gender-equal and rights-based considerations across various thematic focuses in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate resilience (CR) through the RCC mechanism.
Despite the complexities of translating gender-equal and rights-based principles into practice, the RCC has become as a sustainable, member-owned platform to facilitate discussions around these complex issues. This has been reaffirmed in the proceeding Meeting Statements which reflect regional recognition and buy-in among RCC member countries.
“Call for enabling coherence through the provision of technical support to member countries in the implementation of relevant policies, plans and practices of the global and regional DRR, CCA and resilient development frameworks…ensuring gender-equal, pro-poor, rights-based and inclusive approaches.”
Kathmandu Statement
“Commit to effectively integrate gender equality into DRR and CR, which requires a comprehensive set of actions that include enabling policies, legislation and accountabilities, resources and capacities, supported with good practices and examples of action.”
Bangkok Statement
At the national level, these statements represent regional endorsement which has been essential in gaining buy-in from policy and decision makers on integrating gender-equal and rights-based approaches into development plans and practices. At the regional level, these statements calls for RCC member countries and observers to recognize the value of and commit to inclusive resilience.
The Bangkok Statement has also reiterated the importance of upholding the commitments under the global agendas towards inclusive DRR and CR strategies at the national and local levels while committing to effectively integrate gender equality into DRR and CR, which requires a comprehensive set of actions that include enabling policies, legislations, resources, capacities and ensuring accountability.
The combination of regional cooperation through the RCC, the endorsement of joint statements, policies and strategies on rights-based and gender-equal DRR and CR, and continued increase of regional knowledge on gender-equal and rights-based DRR and CR will ensure strengthened capacity for regional cooperation to build resilience to future climate and disaster risks in Asia-Pacific.
There is a clear role for regional cooperation to support resilience-building at regional, national and sub-national levels and as the BRDR program continues to move through implementation, lessons learned will continue to inform regional dialogue on building inclusive resilience to disaster and climate risks in the region.
Find out more about the BRDR program here.