NGOs Attending IDNDR World Conference Form ‘Forum Global’

According to an item in the May-June issue of IDNDR Informs Bulletin for Latin America and the Caribbean produced by the IDNDR Regional Office in San José, Costa Rica, more than 45 NGOs were registered as participants at the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) World Conference held at Yokohama in Japan in May.

Feeling they had no `voice nor vote’ in any of the sessions or in the Drafting Committee they met several times and prepared an `NGO Resolution’ that was presented in a Plenary Session and distributed during the Conference. The document highlighted the absence of representatives of the communities and groups most vulnerable to, and affected by, natural hazards from both the Conference and most National IDNDR Committees.

National Committees and international agencies were urged to integrate the poor, women and children into their disaster reduction efforts

To carry this agenda forward and facilitate the exchange of information between NGOs involved in disaster reduction activities a network called Forum Global was formed.

The intention is to produce a directory of NGOs with a particular interest in these activities and organise joint meetings. For the first year the network will be coordinated by the Indian NGO Joint Assistance Centre and by the Citizen’s Disaster Response Centre in the Philippines in the second year.

Contact:
Kumar Jain
Joint Assistance Centre
G-17/3 – DLFF Qutab Enclave PH.I
Gungaon 122002
Hasyana
India
Fax: (91-11) 463 2517