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Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
Mothers' Union is working with communities to prepare them for disasters, while at the same time continuing to help families transform their own lives.
At Mothers’ Union we have always looked to support emergency aid and relief, and we know it plays a crucial role in disaster response, but it is complex, expensive and needs to be well coordinated. As a result, specialised international organisations and agencies, such as the Red Cross, are often best placed to deliver effective and timely responses. However, increasing attention is being given to the role of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) because, although it is not always possible to reduce the scale, intensity or frequency of a natural hazard, it often is possible to reduce the devastating effect it can have on the people it impacts.
DRR has been recognised by the UN and other leading development agencies as being fundamental to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. These are 17 goals that 193 world leaders committed to back in 2015 in order to achieve the following by 2030: ending extreme poverty, fighting inequality and injustice, and fixing climate change.
Unlike emergency aid and relief, DRR is a longer-term intervention that is best delivered at community level, by grassroots organisations that are embedded in the community. Therefore local Mothers’ Union groups have a vital role to play in building resilience and helping communities to adapt to the increased threat of natural hazards.
Due to the high levels of trust Mothers’ Union members have built over time, we are uniquely placed to work hand-in-hand with communities to understand the short- and long-term risks presented by natural hazards and to work collaboratively to identify ways in which communities can respond. Emergency responses are short-term solutions that address the immediate aftermath of a disaster, but Mothers’ Union is there before the disaster hits and remains long after relief efforts have finished, in order to help rebuild communities and protect them from future disasters through DRR.
Read the full article here.