Mr. Shavkat Abdujabarov (GRC), Regional Project Coordinator provided a briefing on the German Red Cross supported FBF project in Kyrgystan and Tajikistan funded by the Deutsche Bank Stiftung. The 3-year project is being implemented by the Red Crescent Societies in both countries and focuses on heat and cold waves.
After a general training and analysis phase in 2018 and early 2019, the project started implementing early actions in 2019/2020. The analysis phase contributed to understanding the main impacts of heat and cold waves on the population and to identifying the best interventions to alleviate the stress and impact caused by these.
Challenges to overcome were that 1) heat and cold wave were not a concept that was being used by Disaster Managment, which leads to a lack of historical data, 2) the new approach of FBF that needed to be explained first and 3) in 2020, COVID-19. However, the concept is now being accepted and early actions will be extended.