Agribusiness | Food Security | Financial Services
Community Development | Business Development
Asunción, 31 October 2014
Dear Sirs,
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)
I hereby express my support for the nomination of the Minister, Mr Joaquín Roa Burgos, for the 2015 United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Risk Reduction.
His work as a risk management and reduction specialist and his career spanning almost two decades have made him a key figure in Paraguay, ultimately establishing him at the head of the country's National Emergency Ministry.
Now that the Government has started to make major changes in order for the Ministry to assume a different role, he has made the decision to restructure the institution with the aim of driving and leading the country's risk management and reduction.
From our experience as a not-for-profit international organization that has been implementing a programme related to risk management with USAID/Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) funding, we can testify to the institution's unconditional support in its role of establishing and instilling a culture of risk prevention at the national level.
Thanks to the support and initiative of Mr Roa, we are decentralizing the Ministry's functions through a pilot programme in one particular district in inland Paraguay, through the establishment of a District Risk Management and Reduction Council in Guajayví district, San Pedro Department, around 180 kilometres from the capital. This council works in cooperation with the Departmental Risk Management and Reduction Council and, under the Ministry's supervision, is being strengthened through training to create local capacity for prevention, mitigation and response to disasters and/or emergencies that might affect the community.
As an example of Mr Roa's leadership and capacity for innovation, on his initiative we have recently held the first teleconference between members of the council and their peers at the national level at the Ministry. This was the first experience of virtual communication in the history of that rural community and helped to create a tool that will cut the distance and time lag in communication between both institutions.
All these joint actions which we have been carrying out may be replicated at the country level and will be of the utmost help in achieving the change in paradigm initiated by Mr Roa. This will be the first step in the strategic plan of changing the Ministry's role, adapting it to the risk management vision, instilling a culture of prevention in communities and mainstreaming the topic across all levels of government, while at the same time promoting participation by multiple sectors of society.
Martin Román
Programme Director
ACDI/VOCA Paraguay
Dr Miguel Á. Alarcón 916 c / Tte. Rivas (Futsal 88), Barrio Mburukuja, Asunción, Paraguay | Fax: +595 (21) 293-366 o 298-340
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