As part of the UNISDR initiative and building on the results achieved and presented in the reports that covered all activities, the Urban Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction Center, UPDRRC, at An-Najah National University conducted workshop on the 21st of January, 2019 at the conference room in the scientific centers building to present and discuss the DRR action plan for Nablus city.

The participants represented almost all stakeholders mainly those who participated from the early start in addition to UPDRRC team. The following can be reported:

1 Workshop agenda:

Summary and Update on UNISDR Initiative for Nablus.
Presentation of a sample part of the matrix of detailed local DRR Actions for Nablus.
Presentation of the draft list of projects proposed by the team.
Open discussions.
Recommendations.
Workshop closing.
2 Summary and Update on UNISDR Initiative

An opening for the workshop by Professor Jalal and included the following:

–        Welcoming remarks

–        Quick presentation on the project components and where do we stand.

–        The main purpose and objective of the action plan workshop.

–        Emphasize on the important and major role of all stakeholders in the whole process.

–        The gaps that were identified by all stakeholders which directed the scores and the actions that are required to be taken and the responsible institutions.

–        The need to continue working on DRR towards resilient City building on the results of UNISDR initiative.

–        The need to integrate and consider the DRR in the development plans of the city.

–        The need to coordinate efforts on the national level.

–        The importance of the investment in the DRR.

–        The importance of analyzing the results of the scorecard to feed in the action plan.

3 Presentation of a sample part of the matrix of detailed local DRR Actions for Nablus.

It was presented by Engineer Abdel Hakeem with the support by the team and included briefing on the following:

–        The main reference of the actions is the results in the detailed score card which were prepared and finalized with major contribution from all stakeholders.

–        All info in the score card was restructured and presented in a form of a Matrix for the actions and included the objectives, the indicators, the time frame as well as the responsible institutions for all actions

–        The actions will be the guidance for the projects that will be adopted to be included in the action plan of the city.

–        The importance of participation of all stakeholders towards improving the ownership feeling and the responsibility among stakeholders towards sustainability.

4 Presentation of the draft list of projects proposed by the team.

It was presented with open discussion and input from all participants. This was the major part of the workshop and the methodology adopted was:

·    Presentation of the draft list of projects

·   Presentation and open discussion covering all sub-projects or activities that are included in each main project

·   Prioritization of the projects

After finalizing the list of the sub projects or activities within the main projects, the floor was open to all participants to:

–        Modify the main names or titles of the projects.

–        Prioritize the projects building on the agreed upon criteria: The need, the importance, the budgets and the time frame.

·         Time frame

After fixing the list of the main projects and the prioritization, the participants and through open discussion were requested to suggest a time frame to implement these projects and activities, building on the adopted criteria mentioned above and within the time frame of Sendia frame work for DRR, i.e.

·   Responsible institutions:

The last part of the discussion was to agree on the responsible intuitions who will take the lead in the implantation and follow up of the activities in coordination of concerned institutions each in the sector responsible for.

The institutions were divided into three levels, namely:

–        The national and governmental level

–        The city level and

–        Others

The participants agreed on all responsible institutions for all projects

5 Recommendations

The main recommendations were:

–        Work immediately on reflecting all results of the discussions, feedback and all what was agreed upon in the action plan.

–        To distribute the plan after finalization to all concerned.

–        To exchange experience and share knowledge and lessons learned with other cities in Palestine.

–        To consider this UNISDR initiative a start and to continue working DRR.

–        Keep up the work and continue towards improving the level of resilience of the Nablus City.

6 Workshop closing

Appreciation for all efforts and confirmation on commitment of all towards the resilience of Nablus City.

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23 of Dec 2018

1. Background

As part of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk (UNISDR) initiative, supported by the European Commission which includes engaging 20 cities worldwide in an initiative entitled “Making Cities Sustainable and Resilient by Implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 which will be done applying the disaster resilience scorecard detailed level assessment, with the purposes of identifying and understanding current and future risks, as well as challenges and gaps in DRR at the local level

Nablus City, in Palestine, was of the 20 cities and one of the four cities in the Arab Region. The Urban Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction Center UPDRRC of An Najah National University which was contracted and supported by UNISDR to conduct the project and as referred to in the previous reports conducted a 2-day training workshop on DRR and the score card in Nablus on the 1st and 2nd August, 2018. To proceed further, the UPDRRC conducted three-day training workshop to implement the detailed level assessment on the Disaster Resilience Scorecard on 5, 6 and 13 September, 2018, as well as several mini workshops and discussions have been conducted before and after. The trainees were representatives of the different stakeholder institutions of the city who are involved and concerned in Disaster Risk Reduction and activities towards resilient Nablus.

UPDRRC distributed the scorecard with all supporting documents including the relevant indicators, the applied terminologies to all participants after the workshops of 1st and 2nd August in order to prepare and familiarize themselves for the coming training on the scorecards. The results of the score card were reported and forwarded to UNISDR.

All above work was presented in details in the reports submitted to UNISDR as per the agreement Additionally, and parallel to the above mentioned activities and actions, NM and UPDRRC teams performed intensive activities and communications to collect the local disaster loss data for the last 30-years period for Nablus city. Also, UPDRRC team requested the support from UNISDR team for support and advice. Details will be presented later in this report.

2. Introduction

As reported and committed earlier by UPDRRC to conduct additional workshops with all concerned institutions and stakeholders covering the following issues:

2.1 Data Base

The first workshop aims to discuss and present the results of the data base, the shortcomings and gaps, the importance of having a single source for data base, the need to create a data base on the local level and at the end integrate it with the data base on the national level. In addition to the importance of having a national team.

2.2 Results of the scorecard

There was a need to present the results of the scorecard to all stakeholders who shared in the previous discussions, workshops, individual meetings, and providing information that helped in identifying the relevant scoring that represents where Nablus stand.

2.3 Nablus Action Plan

The third workshop will be conducted following the first two workshops, and building on the presentation of the scorecard results as well as the discussions on the data base results and targets, which will definitely influence the action plan since there is a need to integrate all concerned each in his own sector, thus emphasizing on the participatory approach as well as the responsibility which will enrich the action plan and make it more reliable and realistic

3. First Workshop Session: Data base

This workshop session had the following main topics:

3.1 Summary and Update on UNISDR Initiative. 

An opening for the workshop by Professor Jalal and included the following:

– Quick presentation on the project components and where do we stand.
– The transition from Hugo frame work to Sendia Frame work for DRR
– The main objectives of Sendai Frame work for DRR and its ten essentials and the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs.
– The importance in the investment in the DRR.
– The need to improve the level of response to disasters.
– The importance of analyzing the results of the scorecard to feed in the action plan.  The need to have a data base.
 3.2 Disaster Loss collection in Nablus for the last 30 years. 

It was presented by Nablus Municipality focal Point, Dr. Amal who covered the following:

– The importance of having a disaster loss data base.
– The types of disaster losses collected.
– The challenges.
– The sources of the information and who shared in the data collection
– The results and the conclusions
 3.3 The future needs connected to Disaster loss data base: 

It was presented by Engineer Abdelhakeem with open discussion and input from all participants and covered the following:

– The need to have a single source and a certain team or party to take the lead and responsibility of the disaster loss data base.
– The importance of having an accessibility to the information.
– The need of continuous updates for the info.
– The continuous feedback form all stakeholders.
– The need for connection and coordination on the national level as well as the regional and international levels in the future.
 3.4 Recommendations about the Disaster Loss Data base:

Through open and fruitful discussions, sharing opinions and ideas between all participants, the recommendations of this workshop session can be summarized as follows:

1. Given the project covers Nablus city and knowing that the Municipality is taking care of many services and actions connected to the services of the city, including the dealing with the distress, it was agreed that the municipality is the candidate to host the disaster loss data base by creating a unit to be responsible for the data base given doing the following:

– Memorandums of understanding MoUs to be signed with all concerned institutions including the private sector with clear roles and responsibilities.
– Support the data base unit with all needed human, financial and technical resources
– Commitment from the Municipality to cooperate and share all data with all concerned.
– Commitment from all other institutions to cooperate and submit all required and updated info continuously
– Build a clear structure of the disaster loss data base unit
– Transparent recruitment of skills, create a data base for skills, conduct capacity building, exchange and transfer knowledge

2. Accessibility to data

To be published through a website with easy access to all concerned
Create a profile for each institution building on identified and agreed roles and responsibilities
Flexibility in updating and exchanging the data under the control of nominated unit.
3. Data updates and feedback continuously

4. Involve as much as possible of concerned institutions including civil society, private sector as well as the relevant ministries and national institutions like the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology and the National Committee for DRR that could be a major support and advice.

5. Maintain exposure and coordination with others in the region to benefit from their experience 6. The need to adopt a security system to protect the data base.
4. Second Workshop Session:

4.1 Scorecard Results

– The scorecard results were presented by Engineer Abdelhakeem covering the results of all 118 indicators. Attention was paid to the following:
– The Indicators that are not applicable to the City of Nablus like the gas networks, river and sea, airports, etc and how the system dealt with them.
– The total scored by the city compared to highest possible scores after taking out those that are not applicable which gives an indication where does the city stand in terms of disaster rtesilience.
– The Justification and means of verification which was added building on the feedback and discussions with most of the participants through a long period. .
– The gaps and the proposed actions.
– The need to distribute all scorecard results to all participants in order to take into consideration while thinking of the relevant actions to feed in the action plan each in the sector responsible for. This will be a preparation for the third additional workshop about the action plan that will take place within the 2nd week of January 2019 as reported to UNISDR.
5. Plans for the coming Period

Distribution of the scorecard results on all participants.
Coordination and discussions regarding the action plan.
Third additional workshop to discuss the Action Plan to take place within the second week of January 2019.
Prepare and finalize the city local resilience action plan based on the workshop results, the feedback, the actions proposed by the participants and the completed disaster resilience score card detailed assessment
Reporting to UNISDR covering deliverable D 4.1
Preparation and submission of the final report.

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Prof. Dabeek participated in several meetings and presented a number of research papers that tackled applied research activities related to disaster risk reduction taking An-Najah and its scientific centres as the case study.
The papers also shed light on infrastructure and disasters in countries under occupation and the obstacles caused by occupation and settlement regarding land use planning and sustainable development as well as expected future risks and losses.
Notes:
The event was organized by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) in collaboration with the League of Arab States and the African Union Commission and hosted by the government of Tunisia. The Platform comprised of the 7th Africa Regional Platform and 6th High-Level Meeting and the 4th Arab Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.
The Platform provided an opportunity for governments and all stakeholders to assess the progress and reaffirm commitment towards implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 in the two regions. The platform also enabled stakeholders and partners to foster cooperation across the regions towards disaster risk informed and inclusive sustainable development; while enabling them to share knowledge, experiences and best practices in advancing disaster risk reduction.

Africa-Arab Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)

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Date: 12-09-2018

Participants: 38  Educational Instructors

Lecturer: Prof Jalal Dabbeek

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   Nablus 1 & 2/8/2018

Introduction

As part of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk (UNISDR) initiative, supported by the European Commission which includes engaging 20 cities worldwide in an initiative entitled “Making Cities Sustainable and Resilient by Implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 which will be done applying the disaster resilience scorecard with the purposes of identifying and understanding current and future risks, as well as challenges and gaps in DRR at the local level

Nablus City, in Palestine, was of the 20 cities and one of the four cities in the Arab Region. The Urban Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction Center UPDRRC of An Najah National University which was contracted and supported by UNISDR to conduct the project, was the first among all 20 cites to conduct 2 day training workshops on DRR and the score card in Nablus. The training workshops took place on the 1^st and 2^nd August, 2018. The trainees were all representatives of the different institutions of the city that are involved and concerned in Disaster Risk Reduction and activities towards resilient Nablus.

Main Objectives:

–         Present the different international terminologies to all participants.

–         Familiarize the participants with these different terms to reach a common understanding on these terms about Disaster Risk Reduction, Resilience and others.

–         Emphasize on the need for cooperation and coordination between all concerned stakeholders.

–         Brainstorming among all participants to raise any issue that may be of concern to the city in general and possible action. Share ideas and thoughts.

–         Familiarize participants with a ten Essentials of Sendia framework 2015-2030 in connection with the City of Nablus.

–         Present the Score Card and familiarize the participants on what is needed to answer the questions and select the proper answers that really represent the correct situation in the city.

–         Familiarize participants on the methodologies used to implement the Score Card applying correct and agreed logical evaluations that represent the real status of the city.

–         Innovate the participants to start working and preparing for filling the results of the Score Card as a preparation to the upcoming work on the disaster resilience Score Card- detailed level assessment.

Attendants

The workshop in both days was attended by representative of concerned different governmental and nongovernmental organizations with special attendance from Nablus Municipality different departments.

–         Palestinian ministries of: Education, local government, public works and housing, interior affairs, information, civil defense, environmental quality authority and economy.

–         Representatives from Nablus Municipality, An-Najah University.

–         Red CrescentSociety, Nablus Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

–         Northern Electricity Distribution Company.

–         Nablus Governorate.

Training Sessions

In order to familiarize and build the capacity of the participants to improve their knowledge on the project and the subjects connected to Disaster Risk Reduction as a general concept with all subjects incorporated, there was a need to allocate time to achieve that through this two-day training workshop.

The main topics covered by Dr. Jalal included mainly the following:

First day 1/8/2018:

–         Introduction about the UNISDR initiative, the idea behind the selection of Nablus and briefing about the cities selected.

–         The need for shifting to sustainable development and the connection between the sustainable development and ability to deal with disaster and be well prepared.

–         Hugo framework 2005-2015 with its 5 priorities and shifting to Sendia Frame work 2015-2030 with the difference between the two.

–         Preparedness which should include:

·         The need to consider disaster reduction as a national priority.

·         Work on different scenarios through preparation of mapping for disaster, capacity building and training on disaster response.

·         Work on the community level in line with the national level.

–         Sendia framework for Disaster Reduction 2015-2030 with its ten Essentials and for priorities.

–         General introduction about Risk assessment and risk management and their main concepts.

–         European Macro-seismic scale EMS98 with its classification of damage grades.

–         Post Disaster Damage Assessment (Rapid Assessment) including the concepts of the Flash, initial and final reports. Presentation of examples and cases for damage levels sharing with participants.

–         Open discussions, questions and answers.

 

Second day 2/8/2018:

–         Presentation of the different terminologies used in the disaster risk reduction, management, assessment, mitigation, preparedness and others.

–         Sendia Framework for DRR with ten Essentials.

–         Score Card, detailed level, with some examples covering the Essentials to explain how the Score Card should be filled.

–         Open discussion through presentation of ideas, thoughts of the situation of Nablus City connecting with Score Card.

 

 

Closing of Training Session:

–         All required materials and terminologies were distributed to all participants.

–         They were urged to start working on collecting the needed information from reliable sources to be led by the municipality in order to start working on the score card during the planned Score Card sessions in early September -2018.

–         The participatory approach will be adopted in order to achieve the correct scores towards identification of where Nablus Stands.

  

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10 Participants

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17/03/2018

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