This meeting also involved the various INGOs and government authorities. This is one of the events organized to share the best practices across the sub-region and to propose a forum to represent the voices of the civil society groups in the forthcoming ASEAN People’s Forum to be held in Hanoi later this year.

The key aim of the meeting is to create a CSO forum for countries in the ASEAN which are severely suffering from Disaster or Climate Change and to share their knowledge, experiences in DRR. Through the sharing of experiences from different countries based on their context and condition, a national level coordination among the civil society groups are to be enhanced to develop a model for the region.

Delivering the speech at the meeting, Mr. Phan Van Ngoc, country director of AAV, said: “We, ActionAid Vietnam, and other bodies have already organized the workshops like this in many places. But with this event, by listening to the sharing from different international participants, we do hope to focus on DRR in a realistic way. Based on this foundation we hope to have realistic recommendations for the governments to facilitate the effective Laws and policies on Disaster Risk Reduction”.

At the meeting, all the participants also have a chance to discuss on the ASEAN commitments on DRR, identify gaps and challenges between the ASEAN associates on DRR and the reality. The participants also discussed the role of INGOs  on DRR, their endeavors in raising awareness at grass roots level to advocate on issuing and executing an effective policy on DRR.

ActionAid International Emergency Advisor, Mr. Paras Mani Tamang, also shared the experiences across the region on DRR interventions and expressed the solid developments that have been taking place in the sub region on DRR.

Mr. Don Tuan Phong, the Director of Paccom said: “The INGOs in Vietnam play a very important role in Disaster Risk Reduction. We do hope in the near future to have better coordination mechanism to avoid  repetition of relief, response and rehabilitation actions, to assure the support coming directly to the beneficiary and to meet all the needs of the relief work”.

Tomorrow, the international participants will discuss about the role of media in DRR in their countries. Some Vietnamese journalists in JANI Media network will share their experiences in writing articles on DRR. The meeting will last for 2 days and the final action plan will be developed for the future course of action to prepare for the next APF process in Vietnam. This meeting is funded by Dipecho project of ActionAid Vietnam.

Contact person:

Mrs. Nguyen Thu Trang

091303 7187