On 8 September 2021, UNITAR Division for Prosperity launched the Women’s Leadership in Tsunami-based Disaster Risk Reduction Programme, a three-month course on disaster prevention targeting women living in or from Pacific island countries and territories.
Through mobile lessons and interactive webinars, the programme covers topics such as the Sendai Framework, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), gender-responsive disaster risk reduction, multi-stakeholder coalitions in disaster risk reduction, community-based disaster risk reduction, and climate change. The initial turnout was a success – over a hundred participants joined the first webinar and have gone on to develop their own disaster risk reduction plans.
The programme gives voice to people from the Pacific, who tell stories of their first-hand experiences to contextualize the importance of disaster risk reduction.
One such account is of Anzonetta Janice Joan Slaven-Schwalger and her husband Jared, who lost their children and immediate family members in the 2009 Samoa earthquake and tsunami. Anzonetta testifies how no preparations had been made before disaster struck. Her subsequent loss highlights how vital it is for participants to develop a disaster preparedness plan to minimize loss and save lives.
One of the most important takeaways for participants in past runs of the programme was to “build back better” as outlined in the Sendai Framework. “If we learn from every hazard and build back better in preparation for recurrence and/or even worse disasters, the world will eventually attain a decent disaster preparedness level,” said alumna Ankia Chia, a health professional and teacher working in Micronesia.
Everlyn Fiualakwa of the Solomon Islands, another programme alumna and now UNITAR resource person, echoes this emphasis on prevention.
UNITAR will continue to support women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction and provide them with the knowledge and skillsets to incorporate into their future work.
