National Disaster Management Capacity Building Project

GEO/99/012/07/99
Total budget: USD 1,600,000
UNDP Sector: Disaster Management Capacity Building
Starting Date: December 1999
Duration: 18 months

Georgia is a highly disaster prone country where the rate of risk and vulnerability is very high. In order to prevent disaster’s negative effect on human and country development, since the re-establishment of independence in 1991, Georgia has initiated various activities aimed at reducing risk and vulnerability and mitigating disaster effects. However, the existing disaster management system still is not able to ensure the timely, coordinated and focused direction of national resources towards its effective operation. There is still not a comprehensive and coordinated strategy supporting disaster prevention, preparedness and mitigation. Therefore Georgian government shows its enthusiasm and commitment to implementation of the UN Disaster Management Capacity Building Project in the country. The present Project was formulated during the preparatory stage of the UNDP/DMTP programme aimed at assessing the national authorities to identify the needs to be responded and thereby elaborating project strategy for strengthening disaster management capacity in the country.

The objective of the project is to build national disaster and emergency management capacities. The project will focus on strengthening both human resources and government structures, and technical instruments for proper disaster management in the country.

The presented disaster management capacity building project fully reflects the country strategy in the field and in order to ensure a fully coordinated functioning of disaster management system in the country will address a number of problems, such as:

• filling the gaps and eliminating shortcomings existing in disaster management policy and legislation, as well as, improving regulative and management issues of disaster management.

• building and supporting the technical capacity of responsible institutions to operate a system of disaster management.

• carrying out public awareness raising, educational and training activities.

1. A national disaster management policy, legislative, regulative and management framework necessary to ensure the timely, coordinated and focused direction of scarce national resources towards the disaster management system's effective operation.

2. Responsible institutions, technically capable of operating the system of disaster management.

3. National experts capable of operating the system to guarantee sustainability of project outputs and mechanisms beyond the life time of the project

4. Public well informed about disasters, their consequences and preventive measures.