The GFDRR Partnership Days 2024—which was held in Himeji, Japan, during the Understanding Risk 2024 (UR24) forum— demonstrated GFDRR’s commitment to support countries and communities in navigating a world marked by an increasingly complex risk landscape. The annual event provided a platform to show GFDRR’s impact through its financial and technical assistance and showcased the power of collaborative partnerships in disaster risk reduction and resilience-building efforts worldwide.
Victoria Hugelshofer, Senior Policy Officer at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), set the stage by underscoring the urgency of disaster risk management in her opening remarks. “The importance and urgency of scaling up disaster risk reduction and resilience cannot be overstated,” she said. “We need to integrate disaster risk management (DRM) into every aspect of development to ensure our initiatives are not only reactive but also preventative and adaptive.”To further highlight the important undertaking of DRM, Niels Holm-Nielsen, Head of GFDRR, emphasized both GFDRR’s unique position within the larger World Bank Group and the role of donor contributions not only in helping GFDRR achieve the most impact in countries that need the most assistance, but also in mobilizing more World Bank support for these countries. “You won’t be able find a partnership like this [anywhere else],” he said. “There’s no other development institution with the size and the reach of the World Bank Group.”
A video showing the work that GFDRR has done around the world— from supporting the development of a municipal disaster risk index that addresses risks locally in Colombia and the first DRM policy framework in Tonga to reducing the vulnerability of critical buildings in Romania and ensuring that inclusion is a central component of DRM planning in the Philippines—drove these points home. It served as a reminder that, over the past 18 years, GFDRR has built transformative collaborations with governments, academia, communities, and the private sector to tackle complex global challenges in 150 countries through a combination of financial support, technical expertise, and knowledge exchange.
Pacific session. Photo: © GFDRR/World Bank.
A panel discussion moderated by Zoe Trohanis, Lead Disaster Risk Management Specialist for GFDRR, had officials from Colombia, the Philippines, Tonga, and Romania—Carolina Diaz Giraldo, Director of Environment and Development at Colombia’s Department of National Planning; Renato Solidum, Jr., Secretary of the Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology; Mafua- ’i-Vai’utukakau Maka, Director of Tonga’s National Disaster Risk Management Office; and Raed Arafat, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Romania and Head of the Romanian Emergency Situations Department—sharing their insights on enhancing disaster resilience. By fostering the exchange of lessons among policy makers and practitioners alike, the event deepened the understanding of the challenges and opportunities in enhancing disaster resilience at all levels, from the community to the national level.
Takahiro Tsuda, GFDRR Co-Chair and Director of the Multilateral Development Banks Division at Japan’s Ministry of Finance, reflected on the event by reiterating the importance of the model provided by the country where the GFDRR Partnership Days 2024 was held as well as the role of the Tokyo Disaster Risk Management Hub, which is the institution that implements the Japan-World Bank Program for Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management in Developing Countries. Together with GFDRR, Japan has harnessed the lessons it has learned from dealing with disasters to offer GFDRR’s partner countries technical assistance and innovative tools.
In his closing remarks, Guangzhe Chen, the World Bank’s Vice President for Infrastructure, welcomed GFDRR into the World Bank’s infrastructure unit and underlined the power of partnerships in creating a positive impact on the ground—a fitting conclusion to cap off the GFDRR Partnership Days 2024. “GFDRR embraces the World Bank’s principles of partnership by learning from our partners and working together to find development solutions,” he said. “Together, we are not only responding to immediate challenges but also shaping a resilient, sustainable, and inclusive future.”