GPDRR25: Day three update

The final day of the eighth Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction was another wonderful and busy day for GNDR and our members.

High-level breakfast event

GNDR was invited to a high-level breakfast event co-hosted by ActionAid Australia and the Shifting the Power Coalition. This event and roundtable was intended to highlight preliminary research findings on women-led early warning systems in Bougainville, Tonga and Vanuatu; and featured an insightful discussion with Pacific women leaders, showcasing innovative gender-responsive resilience models.

Delivering early warning to everyone: People centered and gender-responsive approaches

This session, co-hosted by WMO and CREWS, shaped in a “joint learning lab” format, intended to support stakeholders in better understanding and implementing early warning systems that reach the most vulnerable populations, and at the same time, strengthen participants’ knowledge of key building blocks for people-centred early warning systems.

GNDR’s member, Chandrika Kularathna, from World Vision Sri Lanka emphasised the role of grassroots organisations in supporting local authorities and communities in the implementation of early warning systems, citing experiences in her own country. In this regard, she underlined the need to involve CSOs in mapping actors on the ground in order to effectively adapt protocols, as well as the involvement of local entities in capacity building at the local level.

Advancing DRR localization through South-South and triangular cooperation, peer-to-peer exchange, and international partnership

In the afternoon, our member from Democratic Republic of the Congo, Astrid Furaha Matendo (Association des Femmes pour la Promotion et le Développement), had the chance to speak virtually in this session about the lack of support that local NGOs receive from international actors. Her message resonated highly when she insisted that “we’re all suffering disasters, so we all should work together”.

Ms. Margareta Wahlstrom, former SRSG for DRR and the current honorary President of the Swedish Red Cross, highlighted the importance of keeping memory alive through institutions, that’s why peer-to-peer exchange and learning is so relevant. In this sense, Mr. Gerard Howe, Deputy Director, Climate Resilience Department, from FCDO-UK, reminded the room of GNDR’s role and our Global Seminar on “Localising Early Warning Systems” that he attended the previous day. He emphasised that partnerships must be driven by values and built on mutual trust.

At the end of this session, Marcos Concepcion Raba, GNDR’s Executive Director, intervened to insist on the need of resourcing the processes to generate those partnerships and trust building.

Geneva Call for Disaster Risk Reduction

The Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2025 ended with the Closing Plenary in which the “Geneva Call for Disaster Risk Reduction” was approved, aiming to serve as a guide and a rallying call to governments and stakeholders to accelerate the implementation of the Sendai Framework in the remaining five years until 2030. This call to action can be summarised as follows:

1. Better data to understand risk
2. Use technology to leapfrog progress
3. Promote integrated risk governance and cooperation
4. Invest in prevention
5. Risk-inform all investments
6. Scale-up early warning systems
7. Leave no one behind
8. Prepare to ‘Build Back Better’