Signature Solution 3 - Resilience: Faster return to stability for countries in crises

February 13, 2018

UNDP's Strategic Plan 2018-2021 sets out the direction for a new UNDP, optimized to help countries achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Plan describes how UNDP will better adapt to the range of country contexts in which we work, part of which is a series of signature solutions that define the core work of UNDP.

Building resilience to the impact of disasters and emergency situations (whether from socioeconomic or natural causes) requires efforts to minimize the drivers of risk ingrained within development processes and to strengthen human security. This signature solution will harness the UNDP developmental approach and expertise across the issues of conflict prevention, peacebuilding, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and mitigation and crisis response, to help countries avoid crises and return quickly to stable development after crises occur. Strengthening national capacities for disaster risk reduction to reduce exposure of people, assets and livelihoods to hazards will require integrated support to government and national stakeholders, working in partnership with humanitarian agencies and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Where countries are responding to humanitarian emergencies, this signature solution will assist with development and recovery choices that reduce vulnerability and contribute a development perspective to strengthen humanitarian and – where relevant – peacebuilding responses, in order to strengthen the continuum from relief to rehabilitation and development. Investing in new technologies, including those that help reduce emissions, will be critical for transitions to sustainable development.

This signature solution will support nationally-led needs assessments and stabilization, peacebuilding and recovery efforts, consistent with the principles enshrined in General Assembly resolution 46/182 of 19 December 1991 on strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian emergency assistance of the United Nations. Within UNDP, this signature solution will require greater collaboration across the conflict prevention, governance, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation areas of work, to provide countries with a more integrated and holistic approach to resilience while recognizing the need for tailored responses to natural disasters, humanitarian emergencies and other forms of shocks and crisis. 

Housing innovation for resilient reconstruction

More than two and a half years after the 2015 earthquakes, a low-cost housing model is gaining popularity in the villages of Nepal, giving pace to what has been a very sluggish reconstruction process. The model resolved two major issues that had left many house owners anxious: the high cost of building a quake-resilient house and the difficulty in transporting expensive and heavy construction materials in remote mountains that are not connected by motorable roads.

The new housing model, introduced by UNDP with funding assistance from the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO), and approved by the Government, does not require iron rods, cement or pebbles. One can build a quake-resilient house for as low as $4000 using local construction materials such as stone, mud and wood. READ MORE

Resolving reconstruction dilemmas: NRA's toll-free helpline

With help from the National Reconstruction Authority’s toll-free inquiry service, Chitra Bahadur Damai was able to sort out issues with the release of his reconstruction grant and resume rebuilding. Upon learning of his problem, the helpline operators directed him to a designated NRA engineer. Once they were connected, the engineer was able to help him figure out that one of the documents Chitra Bahadur needed to submit—a letter of agreement—was missing. He quickly sent in the letter, and within a week, he had received the funds due to him.  He says that while the process was certainly complicated, the help received from the operators—and the fact that they followed up later on, calling him to check if he had indeed received the tranche—was very much appreciated. READ MORE

E-governance initiative for resilient construction in Kathmandu Valley

Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Lalitpur Metropolitan City and Kirtipur Municipality have all moved a step closer towards nurturing resilient construction within their jurisdictions with the formal adoption of the Electronic Building Permit System (e-BPS). The initiative represents a shift in favor of improved governance in building practices, particularly through ensuring compliance with the National Building Code and Building Bye-Laws.

The development of the e-BPS was initiated in August 2012 by UNDP’s Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Programme (CDRMP), with funding support from DFID. It was completed in September 2013, tested in KMC and LMC, and swiftly operationalized thereafter in seven wards of the KMC, expanded later to 14 wards by September 2014. This was further extended to all 35 wards in July 2016. READ MORE

Building community resilience in disaster-prone Madi

UNDP in partnership with KOICA is supporting climate vulnerable Nepali communities to become climate smart. In Madi of Chitwan, for example, the Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Programme (CDRMP) is supporting communities that are particularly vulnerable to disasters such as floods and droughts with measures like embankments, drought-resistant crop seeds, alternate cash crops, rain-water harvesting and early floods warning system.

Partnering with Microsoft for post-earthquake recovery

In April, 2015, a massive earthquake struck Nepal, killing over 8,000. UNDP teamed up with Microsoft on a major country-wide effort to promote economic, financial and social recovery in the region. Working with the Microsoft Innovation Center (MIC) Nepal, UNDP leveraged a solution built on Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Power BI and other Microsoft technologies. The mobile application tracks and coordinates logistics, personnel and payments to help administrate the rebuilding effort.