ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has signed a Letter of Agreement (LoA) with the United Nations to help strengthen responses with focus on womenband issues faced by them during and post disasters.
The agreement signed by Chairman NDMA Major General Asghar Nawaz, and Deputy Representative, UN Women, Pakistan Ms. Sangeeta Thapa, would focus gender equality and women empowerment through support from United Nations Population Fund.
Women and other vulnerable groups often have fewer resources to protect themselves and, with children, they frequently make up the majority of displaced persons.
There are evidences that women are better placed and envisaged to be responsive in these situations. However, their exclusion limits their access to opportunities to recover and rebuild communities.
Within this context, it is essential to establish solid foundations for survivor-centred response mechanisms in the Country that can be adapted in both emergency and normal settings, said a press release.
The Gender and Child Cell (GCC) of the NDMA will be playing an active role towards this direction which includes the development of education sector training material, capacity building of key stakeholders, policy guidance for risk mitigation, prevention and response to Gender Based Violence (GBV) in humanitarian programming.
The partnership will contribute towards building the capacity of the NDMA consistent with its mandate to develop guidelines and standards to safeguard the rights and interests of vulnerable groups during disasters.
More specifically the partnership aims to enhance the National capacity of the NDMA to formulate, and disseminate the national implementation of multi-sectoral policies and guidelines, and to develop appropriate learning resource packages to guide harmonized implementation of standard operation procedures, minimum standards and other related guidelines as per the aims of the programme.
