A) Objectives of the pledge:
Strengthening the Climate-smart approach to disasters through advocacy supported by the Action Plan and support the allocation of resources from the State/donor budgets.
The Georgia Red Cross Society contributes to the implementation of the “Climate-smart disaster laws and policies that leave no one behind” to strengthen community resilience/disaster preparedness and response capacities through coalition-building with central and local government, non-state actors, private sector and media thus working alongside with communities, supporting their capacity building initiatives and actions. Recognizes the role of existing laws, policies, strategies, and plans on disaster risk management. The Georgia Red Cross Society calls on States to ensure that they include a focus on the most vulnerable and promote their meaningful participation; National Society also encourages States to consider, as appropriate, whether the disaster laws, policies, strategies and plans and climate change adaptation plans, policies and contributions.
The Georgia Red Cross Society as an auxiliary to their public authorities in the humanitarian field continues to provide advice and support to their governments in the development and implementation of effective legal and policy frameworks relevant to disaster risk management and to climate change adaptation; The Georgia Red Cross Society cooperates with States and other actors, particularly young people and youth volunteers, in meeting the humanitarian needs of persons affected by disasters and in promoting disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation action at the community level, encourages them to scale up their efforts in light of the evolving risks related to climate change, and encourages States to contribute resources to enable them to do so.
Prevention/Preparedness Phase
Georgia Red Cross Society works in close coordination with Central Government and Local Authorities in Disaster Prevention measures and Preparedness activities. There is mutual agreement Among GRCS and the Government to work together on the different levels and activities – joint planning for the preparedness, including simulation exercises where roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, training curriculum with climate-smart approaches for the volunteers and community members and increase the capacity of the local authorities with the contingency planning process and assigning specific tasks and accountabilities.
According to the review which was conducted within the program in several communities, it was identified that spending and investing in preparedness/prevention and resource mobilization during response ratio is 1 to 12-20, which means it is much better to spend funds before the emergency occurs, which gives the possibility to save money, time, energy and the most important – human lives.
Response Phase
No single organization or Government structure can cope with the large scale disaster. It is vitally important to work together with the National Authorities and fulfill the Georgia Red Cross Auxiliary role. GRCS works to establish a wide network of trained and equipped volunteers country-wide and to increase their capacity at central and community levels. It is important to ensure high safety and a sense of responsibilities of the involved staff and volunteers during emergencies.
During emergencies the coordination plays a very important role. GRCS as an auxiliary to the National Authorities and according to the Civil Safety National Plan ensures the coordination and organization of an increased number of the Non-State Actors and their activities in times of the Natural and Man-made Disasters.
Early Recovery/Recovery Phase
The phase when the affected population needs to be brought back to normal life, there is necessary to join the efforts and address for their support and the needs. As usual, in this phase, the number of organizations working in disaster management field is decreasing the mobilization of the resources is less, while the affected population still needs the support and recovery themselves.
The recovery process can take several months or can be extended more, as it needs to be recovered the houses, infrastructure, economy, and the quality of the affected population’s life. It is important to provide the relevant information and services (e.g. PSS), which takes a big amount of effort from the participants’ side and needs to be elaborated on the Joint Plan of Action.
Having assigned special tasks stipulated in the Civil Safety National Plan, GRCS, one of the biggest civil society organizations in the country with an auxiliary role to public authorities, successfully fulfills the responsibility and conducts coordination meetings with key stakeholders, as well as within own context delivers services on a reliable basis, which are underpinned by data collection on hazards and risks that affect local communities analysis of results and creating solutions for a response.
This is a joint pledge of Georgia (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Emergency Management Service) and Georgia Red Cross Society
B) Action plan:
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Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy and it’s Action Plan in order to strengthen community disaster preparedness and response capacities;
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Mainstream and integrate climate-smart approach to disasters within and across all sectors and promote the coherent and further development on national and local levels;
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Awareness-raising of public and local authorities on climate-smart Disaster Risk Management.
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Development and strengthening of institutions, mechanisms, and capacities for strengthening community disaster preparedness and response capacities;
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Strengthen the cooperation with and support climate-smart disaster risk management programs/projects conducted by international and non-governmental organizations.
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Reinforce non-formal education among schoolchildren and students in educational institutions to ensure that adequate human resources are mobilized and trained for contributing to addressing gaps in local problem-solving through active civic engagement of youth.
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Protect the safety and security of volunteers representing community groups, local households and networks, neighborhoods, business enterprises, and advocates for strengthening their resilience in national laws, policies, and plans.
C) Indicators for measuring progress:
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Number of GRSC staff capable to train volunteer instructors
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Number of community volunteer trainers properly trained to disseminate correct knowledge and information further into their own communities
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Number of a simulation exercise to demonstrate their capacity to respond to health-related consequences of disasters and crisis
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Number of copies of informational educational material
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Number of meetings with the relevant key stakeholders
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Project progress reports, media, partners and beneficiaries feedback
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Signed MoU and needed amendments