In this session, Start Network presented how their innovative resource bank, also known as the ‘Building Blocks’ is supporting the civil society to develop disaster risk financing systems (DRF). The session opened up with a brief overview of what the building blocks are and the fundamentals of DRF. If you didn’t get a chance to tune in, here is a short video you can watch back and find out more on the Building Blocks.
This was followed up by a real-life case study from Pakistan, which, since 2020, has been working on applying the building blocks to develop a national DRF system. Participants heard from Pakistan’s DRF Coordinator, Amjad Ahmad, and the process they went through there. He explained how establishing a locally-led governance structure has been at the heart of the programme design and has been executed by integrating local actors into the various technical working groups, in addition to ensuring that agencies consult communities when developing contingency plans. Since its inception, the programme has helped to protect over 7 million people in Pakistan from heatwaves, floods and drought! A video of the recent DRF drought project in southern Sindh can be found here to see the impact of DRF in Pakistan.
The final section of the presentation focused on how the Start Network will scale up locally-led action and is shifting to a decentralised system through its hubs. As one of five founding Hub members, Pakistan is paving the way, having established a successful DRF programme. ‘Ready Pakistan’ hopes to launch itself as an independent entity, demonstrating how power and resources can be held by actors in the global South who are closer to communities impacted by disaster, ensuring that we commit to shifting the power!