Crisis Prevention and Recovery

This page outlines the crisis prevention and recovery programme areas that are situated in Geneva. For more detailed information on what UNDP is doing to prevent violence and support recovery efforts, please visit the primary website of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery.

The overall goal of the Geneva Liaison Office (GLO) is to support the active and strategic engagement of BCPR, on behalf of UNDP, with Geneva-based UN and other humanitarian, human rights and development partners whose work is vital for the successful implementation of UNDP's Crisis Prevention and Recovery (CPR) mandate.

The Geneva Liaison Office serves as the primary interface of BCPR with the international community in Geneva on all issues related to Crisis Prevention and Recovery. It supports the fulfilment of UNDP's responsibilities with respect to the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), its various task forces and working groups including, in particular, the IASC's Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery (CWGER). Besides representing BCPR and building key partnerships, the Geneva Liaison Office supports BCPR's strategic direction, policy and resource mobilization processes.

GLO primarily focuses on technical work on the provision of operational and programme support to the field and on inter-agency relations, in the areas of Early Recovery, Conflict Prevention and Recovery, Disaster Reduction and Recovery. Moreover, the office leads the "Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative" (CADRI) and the "Global Risk Identification Programme" (GRIP) in support of BCPR's Disaster Reduction and Recovery Team.

Thematically, five key areas of work of BCPR's Geneva Liaison Office can be highlighted that decisively support and contribute to UNDP's general achievements in the area of Crisis Prevention and Recovery:

Enabling UNDP's Role in Early Recovery

UNDP was assigned the role of a leading agency in the humanitarian cluster system for early recovery work. This role is carried out by the Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery (CWGER) that resides in the Geneva Liaison Office. The CWGER is an inter-cluster mechanism supported by UNDP, to integrate early recovery thinking into humanitarian response and the humanitarian system: thereby permitting humanitarian response to not only save lives, but contribute to recovery, building back peoples' lives and livelihoods, and strengthening a nations' resilience.

The Early Recovery Partnership team covers the secretariat functions of the CWGER, and uses their position to strengthen UNDP's engagement with the humanitarian community through the IASC structures (task forces, working groups, clusters) based in Geneva or nearby. And in a complementary manner, feeds that information into UNDP policy and operations on recovery, to strengthen UNDP's engagement in, and understanding of the humanitarian environment.

The Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery (CWGER) supports early recovery in-country by directly supporting the Resident Coordinator's and Humanitarian Coordinator's leadership in integrating early recovery into humanitarian operations, and as a natural extension advising country teams on transitioning from humanitarian coordination structures to recovery and development structures.

Achieving Durable Solutions for Displaced People

The Transition Solutions Initiative (TSI) and the development of Durable Solutions (DS) strategies are Geneva-led processes catalyzing country level work to re-integrate internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees into communities. Protracted and post-conflict displacement needs solutions that end dependency on humanitarian aid and advance human development in host communities The success and effectiveness of this work depends on coherent, predictable and joint work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other development actors to capitalize on the different areas of institutional expertise. BCPR's presence in Geneva, is instrumental to the success of joint strategies and programmes which are currently being implemented in 6 countries (TSI: Sudan, Colombia and Nepal; DS: Afghanistan, Cote d'Ivoire and Kyrgyzstan) .

Reducing the Harm to Development by Landmines, Cluster Munitions and Explosive Remnants of War

Through working closely with the humanitarian disarmament, armed violence prevention and arms control community, the GLO staff champions and leads the coordination and most preparations of the process underpinning the Convention on Cluster Munitions, its implementation and funding for its work. This is the key to ensure that cluster munitions do not cause further harm to civilians, and that the needs of those already harmed are met.

BCPR Geneva Liaison Office Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery Liaison Group

Background

In 1998 the UN General Assembly mandated UNDP to assist countries in preventing and preparing for disasters. Today UNDP disaster reduction programmes are on-going in over 60 disaster-prone countries with average annual expenditures of USD 150 million. UNDP's work on disaster reduction and recovery is overseen by the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) [learn more...]. BCPR reports annually on the results achieved from UNDP's country level work. In 2010 BCPR established a Liaison Office in Geneva - an international hub for humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction and recovery. Key Geneva-based forums include the Inter-Agency Standing Committee - a forum for humanitarian organizations - and the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, which coordinates disaster risk reduction work worldwide.

Activities

The Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery's Geneva Liaison Office engages with other members of the international system to align UNDP's disaster reduction programmes with those of other major international organizations working at country level. BCPR Geneva Liaison Office work with these stakeholders focuses on three specific technical areas:

Capacity development for disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness, led by the Capacity for Disaster Risk Reduction Initiative (CADRI), a partnership between UNDP, UNOCHA, UNICEF, WFP and WHO with participation from IFRC and GFDRR

Risk information - to assist countries to assess disaster risks and put in place systems that track disaster lossses on an on-going basis, and

Recovery preparedness including inter-agency cooperation on Post-Disaster Needs Assessments (PDNAs) and the design of multi-stakeholder recovery frameworks following disasters.

In support of these areas and UNDP's activities globally the Geneva Liaison Office also projects UNDP's disaster risk reduction and recovery portfolio and its results to external audiences and mobilizes resources to fund UNDP's support to disaster prone countries.

UNDP Work on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) at the country level:

Africa

Burkina Faso:

Ethiopia:

Kenya:

Liberia:

Mozambique:

Niger:

Rwanda:

Sierra Leone:

Togo:

Zimbabwe:

Asia and Pacific

Bangladesh:

Bhutan:

India:

Myanmar:

Nepal:

Pakistan:

Philippines:

Sri Lanka:

Thailand:

Arab States

Jordan:

Lebanon:

Morocco:

Sudan:

Yemen:

Europe and CIS

Armenia:

Moldova:

Macedonia:

Turkmenistan:

Uzbekistan:

Latin America and Caribbean

Costa Rica:

Dominican Republic:

Ecuador:

EI Salvador:

Guyana:

Haiti:

Mexico:

Nicaragua:

Uruguay:

Video: Learn more about BCPR in this video featuring Kathleen Cravero, Director of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery.

Video: Early recovery with Jennifer Worrell, Team Leader for Early Recovery

Video: Conflict prevention with Peter Batchelor, Team Leader for Conflict Prevention & Recovery

Video: Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery with Max Dilley, Team Leader for Disaster Risk Reduction & Recovery.

Flash slideshow: See a slide show on UNDP crisis, prevention and recovery efforts around the world.