News

A key role for volunteer networks in Mediterranean civil protection

23-04-2012

Twenty-five Civil Protection officers from Jordan, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Tunisia, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Sweden gather in Rome today for a three-day workshop to exchange ideas on how to develop and strengthen civil protection volunteer networks in the Euro-Mediterranean region, in a meeting organised by the EU-funded Civil Protection programme PPRD South.
 
A press release said participants would discuss the role that national disaster management authorities and volunteers can play in major national and international disasters. They will review how to improve cooperation, coordination and mutual influence among government and non-government actors, and EU experts will support experts from partner countries in identifying ways to increase development and coordination capacities among their volunteers.
 
The organisation of the event was encouraged by the Palestinian Civil Defence and the Tunisian National Office of Civil Protection, which recognised the importance of a well organised civil protection volunteer network, especially in the wake of the solidarity and civic sense demonstrated by citizens during recent crises, and of recent PPRD South initiatives, including an awareness raising project in schools in the West Bank, an exchange of experts with the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, and a workshop on lessons learned from the Libyan refugees crisis.
 
Bringing together experiences and approaches from different geographical and cultural contexts, the workshop aims to provide solutions to some key questions related to civil protection volunteer networks and their integration within the national civil protection system.
 
The €5 million PPRD South Programme (Programme for Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters) – which runs for three years and is managed by a consortium led by the Italian Civil Protection Department together with the French, Algerian, Egyptian Civil Protection Authorities and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) – is also organising training workshops dealing with risks in the region such as wild fires, technological disasters, floods, earthquakes, epidemics and drought.  (ENPI Info Centre)
 
Read more
 
Press release
 
Meeting agenda
 
PPRD South – fiche and news  
 
PPRD South – website
 
 


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