ASSOCIATED PRESS / GREG BAKER Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Resilient communities, built through empowered, inclusive, and anticipatory partnerships, leveraging risk financing and insurance, leading transformative adaptation to climate and humanitarian challenges for a safer, sustainable future.

Mindful Minute

International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2025: Fund Resilience, Not Disasters

The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) 2025 calls on all nations, institutions, and communities to prioritize investments in resilience as the most effective pathway to sustainable development. Disasters are not merely natural events, they are the consequence of unaddressed risks and vulnerabilities. By financing resilience today, we can avert human and economic losses tomorrow, ensuring safer, more inclusive, and more sustainable societies.

In Pakistan, resilience financing is essential to protect lives and livelihoods, safeguard infrastructure, and reduce the burden of recurrent losses. Prioritizing early warning systems, sustainable land-use planning, risk informed health and education services, and climate adaptation is not only a matter of cost efficiency but a moral and developmental obligation.

PRP is committed to:

  • Advocate for resilience financing as a cornerstone of sustainable development.
  • Support local and provincial preparedness systems that place communities at the center of resilience.
  • Facilitate multi-stakeholder partnerships “Network of Networks” to ensure coherence between government, civil society, private sector, academia, and media in advancing resilience.
  • Promote risk-informed development planning that integrates disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, and sustainability principles.

PRP stands in solidarity with national and international partners in advancing the call to Fund Resilience, Not Disasters, ensuring that resources are invested in building safer communities, protecting development gains, and securing the future for generations to come.

Mindful Minute

Fragile cryosphere

IN contrast to last year’s catastrophic floods, this year’s monsoon flows drained through the plains of Pakistan without wreaking a major disaster. Nonetheless, the highlands of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral did not remain unaffected.

Not too far away, Nepal experienced a horrific disaster in August. The Himalayan nation endured one of its worst catastrophes when a huge mass of glacial ice and rock collapsed down a slope in the Himalayas near the Langtang region. Within half an hour, it caused an unprecedented surge as high as nine metres in the Bhote Koshi/Trishuli river system. Over 1,400 people died. Thousands more went missing. A month later, a massive section of the mountainside collapsed into the swollen Kali Gandaki River after days of heavy rain, sending enormous quantities of soil, rock and debris into the water. This wave of floods and landslides caused at least two dozen deaths.

Mindful Minute

Fragile cryosphere

IN contrast to last year’s catastrophic floods, this year’s monsoon flows drained through the plains of Pakistan without wreaking a major disaster. Nonetheless, the highlands of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral did not remain unaffected.

Not too far away, Nepal experienced a horrific disaster in August. The Himalayan nation endured one of its worst catastrophes when a huge mass of glacial ice and rock collapsed down a slope in the Himalayas near the Langtang region. Within half an hour, it caused an unprecedented surge as high as nine metres in the Bhote Koshi/Trishuli river system. Over 1,400 people died. Thousands more went missing. A month later, a massive section of the mountainside collapsed into the swollen Kali Gandaki River after days of heavy rain, sending enormous quantities of soil, rock and debris into the water. This wave of floods and landslides caused at least two dozen deaths.

Establishing a Come N Collaborate for Resilience

Having the unique edge of a well-established partners’ platform, the Pakistan Resilience Partnership (PRP) is taking a decisive step to establish a ‘Come N Collaborate’. This initiative aims to bring together diverse stakeholders from government, civil society, private sector, academia, media, and international development partners under a unified resilience agenda. The effort is aligned with global commitments under the Sendai Framework, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Paris Agreement, while strongly anchoring the localization agenda to ensure that communities are at the center of resilience-building.

Objectives
  • Institutionalize PRP as the coordination hub for resilience-related networks.
  • Standardize resilience indicators and frameworks across thematic networks.
  • Strengthen knowledge-sharing and digital platforms for localization of best practices.
  • Leverage collective advocacy to influence national and provincial resilience policies.
  • Facilitate joint programming and resource mobilization across networks.
Framework
Strategic Area Indicators Action Plan Expected Outcomes

Coordination & Governance

Number of networks formally linked, MoUs signed, frequency of coordination meetings
Map and profile networks, establish Coordination through PRP Secretariat, convene launch roundtable
PRP recognized as coordination hub with strengthened institutional legitimacy

Knowledge & Learning

Joint policy briefs published, standardized resilience framework adopted
Develop common resilience KPIs, organize quarterly knowledge exchanges, commission joint studies
Evidence-based advocacy integrated into national resilience planning

Resource Mobilization

Funding commitments mobilized, joint multi-stakeholder proposals submitted
Secure pooled funding, initiate pilot collaborative projects (climate-health-private sector nexus)
Expanded financing streams under the localization agenda, improved donor alignment

Capacity Development & Outreach

Capacity-building sessions delivered, digital knowledge hub established
Launch online platform, deliver training for partners and forums
Enhanced local capacities for resilience, stronger community-based ownership

Our Partners

Be Part of Building Resilience.