Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. August  01 to 02, 2013

The issue of partnerships between public and private sectors for disaster risk reduction has gained higher priority for Latin American and Caribbean institutions specialized in disaster risk reduction (CAPRADE, CEPREDENAC, CDEMA, REHU, among others), as evidenced in recent meetings that have pointed to the need to take advantage of the potential of the private sector to support and complement governmental actions in facing disasters and providing the required humanitarian aid at the national and regional level.

The importance of this issue was ratified during the conduction of the “V Regional Meeting on International Mechanisms of Humanitarian Assistance” (MIAH), which took place in Panama City from 28 to 30 March 2012, and was organized by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the government of Panama.

As a matter of fact, that regional meeting formed part of the commitments taken on by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), as reflected in the 2012 Caracas Action Plan, adopted by the Heads of State and Government of Latin America and the Caribbean, who gathered in Caracas, on 2 and 3 December 2011, on the occasion of the “III Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean on Integration and Development” (CALC) and the “XXII Summit of the Group of Rio”.

As a result of the V Regional Meeting, the “Panama Declaration” and the “Action Plan of the V Regional Meeting on International Mechanisms of Humanitarian Assistance” were adopted, establishing specific guidelines for four priority areas, with one of them being “Integral Risk Management and Participation”, which makes emphasis on the issue “Private Sector: Encouraging Strategic Partnerships with the Private Sector”. The Permanent Secretariat actively joined such regional process, by coordinating those actions and conducting the Regional Seminar “Partnership between the Public and Private Sectors for Disaster Risk Reduction: Continuity of Government and Continuity of Operations during Disasters”, which took place in Lima on 7 and 8 June 2012.

Based on the mandates stemming from the Latin American Council, the Permanent Secretariat has been working on the issues of partnerships between the public and private sectors for disaster risk reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean and the promotion and development of strategic partnerships with the private sector for risk management.

SELA undertook this endeavour in close collaboration with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), after signing a Memorandum of Understanding for the period 2011-2015 to promote cooperation between governments and the private sector for disaster risk reduction.

Thus, the Permanent Secretariat has dealt with the issue of partnerships between the public and private sectors for disaster risk reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean for the last three years:

1. i) In 2010, the Permanent Secretariat organized the “Regional Seminar on public investment and financial mechanisms, insurance and reinsurance against disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean” (Mexico City, 22 and 23 November 2010), jointly with the UN/ISDR and the government of Mexico, through the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs and the Secretariat of Government. On that occasion, the Permanent Secretariat submitted the base document “Financial mechanisms, insurance and reinsurance against natural disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean: Recent experiences”.

2. i) In 2011, the Regional Seminar “Cooperation between governments and the private sector for disaster risk reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean: Focus, progress and challenges” (Panama City, 17 and 18 November 2011) was organized jointly with the UN/ISDR, USAID-OFDA and the City of Knowledge Foundation. On that opportunity, the Permanent Secretariat presented the study “Guidelines for cooperation between governments and the private sector for disaster risk reduction: Approaches, achievements and challenges”.

3. In 2012, the Permanent Secretariat held the Regional Seminar “Partnership between the Public and Private Sectors for Disaster Risk Reduction: Continuity of Government and Continuity of Operations during Disasters” (Peru, 7 and 8 June 2012), which was organized jointly with UN/ISDR, USAID-OFDA and the government of Peru (INDECI and CENEPRED). For that event, the Permanent Secretariat submitted the base document entitled “Partnership between public and private sectors for disaster risk reduction: Continuity of government and continuity of operations during disasters”.

For 2013, the Permanent Secretariat has foreseen the II Regional Seminar “Partnership between the Public and Private Sectors for Disaster Risk Reduction: Continuity of Government and Continuity of Operations during Disasters” in order to continue with the tasks of facilitating and following up public-private meetings for the creation of alliances and coordination of actions to face disasters by providing support to national authorities in charge of disaster risk reduction and encouraging synergies with regional and subregional institutions specialized in the subject, as well as private enterprises and associations.