ProVention Workshops and Annual Forum 2008 in the Americas

ProVention Annual Forum 2008: "From Grassroots to Global: People-Centered Disaster Risk Reduction", April 8-10 - Panama City, Panama

Organized in partnership with the IFRC Zonal Office in Panamá, the 2008 Forum fostered cross-disciplinary and cross-regional linkages and learning by bringing ProVention partners and relevant stakeholders together from around the globe. In addition, the Annual Forum aimed to produce recommendations for government authorities and international actors on how to support bottom-up change related to DRR, and to inform the strategic direction and work plan development of the ProVention Secretariat for 2009 and beyond.

Forum 2008 agenda and background documents

  • Forum 2008 publication [English / Spanish]
  • Forum 2008 agenda [English / Spanish]
  • Forum 2008 concept note [English / Spanish]
  • Forum 2008 participants list
  • Keynote address by Gustavo Wilches-Chaux, Colombian author and founding member of La Red [Spanish / English]
  • Urban Risk Charrette
    • Alvaro Uribe, Universidad de Panamá [Spanish, large file: 9MB]
    • Overview note [English]
    • Background note: Geography and Urbanization in Panama [English / Spanish]
  • Film Festival
  • Workshop 1: Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction from a community perspective
    • Video from Trinidad & Tobago workshop on Climate Change Adaptation - Development and Disaster Risk Reduction which took place on February 19-20, 2008
  • Workshop 2: The role and power of women and indigenous groups in managing disaster risk
    • Video from Antigua workshop on The role and power of women and indigenous groups in disaster risk management which took place on March 12-14, 2008
  • Workshop 3: Communicating risk and the role of visual media
    • Sarah Moss, Christian Aid, 'Use of video by CSO/NGOs' [English]
    • Jan Voordouw, Panos Caribbean and Central America region, 'Real People – Real Voices!' [English]
  • Workshop 4: Public Private Partnerships and risk financing: combining resources for effective risk reduction
    • Daniel Kull, IIASA, 'Household Disaster Risk Financing: Impacts, Limitations, Opportunities' [English]
    • Nathalie Wyser and María Sonia Laura Valdez, PROFIN Foundation, ‘Insurance as a financial instrument for risk management in agriculture’ [Spanish]
    • Rubem Hofliger Topete, FONDEN program in Mexico, ‘State disaster insurance in Mexico: experience of FONDEN in strengthening insurance at municipal, state, and national levels’ [Spanish]
    • Joaquin Toro, World Bank, ‘Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility and national level insurance in Columbia’ [English]
  • Workshop 5: Upscaling grassroots efforts – opportunities and challenges
  • Workshop 6: Developing a new generation of disaster risk reduction champions
    • Brief video about the "Developing a new generation of DRR champions: la nueva generación de La Red" workshop, which took place on April 6-7, 2008 in Panama City
    • Alonso Brenes Torres, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales in Costa Rica & La RED member – 'La Red: Nueva Generación workshop' [Spanish]
    • Rifqah Roomaney, University of Cape Town Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme – 'DRR capacity building in African countries' [English]
    • Komal Aryal, Northumbria University School of Applied Sciences – 'Impact of ProVention Consortium grant in my career' [English]
    • Jessica Roberts, SPIDER Network & British Red Cross Humanitarian Education Officer – 'Challenges Facing New Researchers' [English]
    • Wilmer Saborio, Costa Rican Red Cross, Youth Director – 'Youth Red Cross initatives in the Americas' [Spanish]
  • Presentations of Partner Initiatives
    • Global Risk Identification Program (GRIP), UNDP BCPR, Carlos Villacis [Spanish]
    • CAPRA initiative - GIS-based open-source modelling application, CEPREDENAC, David Smith [Spanish]
    • Landslides and urban risk, UNU EHS, Juan Carlos Villagran de Leon [Spanish]
    • Mainstreaming DRM in IDB operations: Training Opportunities, Cassandra Rogers [English]
    • Cross-regional learning for DRR, IFRC [English]
    • Update on work of Global CSO Network and briefing on global review research initiative, Marcus Oxley [English]
  • Presentations of ProVention Initiatives
    • Community Based Vulnerability & Capacity Assessment in Central America, IFRC, José Bonilla [Spanish]


ProVention Forum Pre-workshop 2008: Trinidad & Tobago, Guatemala, Panama

ProVention supported several pre-Forum workshops leading up to the Panama event. Organization of these events was led by regional partners, and focus on capacity-building related to a number of the sub-themes of the Panama Forum. The outcomes of the regional workshops also fed into the global Forum, providing a regional perspective on a number of issues.

  • Workshop on Climate Change Adaptation, Development and Disaster Risk Reduction - February 19-20, 2008, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

    ProVention and the IFRC Caribbean Office hosted a workshop on Climate Change Adaptation, Development and Disaster Risk Reduction. The workshop brought together 50 participants from civil society, national and local governments, academia, regional inter-governmental bodies, media and the private sector in order to work towards the overarching objective of the development of a Programme of Action for strengthening community resilience and local adaptive capacity in a changing Caribbean climate.

    Workshop video:

  • The role and power of women and indigenous groups in disaster risk management - March 12-14, 2008, Antigua, Guatemala

    This workshop was facilitated by GROOTS International with the support of Fundacion Guatemala. It brought together more than 50 leaders representing 25 grassroots, community based, afro-descendent and indigenous organizations who collectively represent more than 30,000 citizens living in disaster prone communities in 10 Latin America and Caribbean countries. During the three day workshop, women leaders with five to twenty-five years of experience working in disaster-prone communities, used power points and community produced videos to present their practices on how to cope with short and long-term impacts of floods, droughts, hurricanes, tropical storms, frosts, earthquakes, and severe environmental degradation and erosion of natural resources.

    Workshop video:

  • Developing a new generation of DRR champions: la nueva generación de La Red - April 6-7, 2008, Panama City, Panama

    This workshop was organized by La Red and produced a video with young researchers from the Americas:

    • Workshop agenda [Spanish]
    • Background documents:
      • La Red - Agenda de Investigación y Constitución Orgánica, 1992 [Spanish]
      • Conferencia Interamericana sobre reducción del riesgo de los desastres, Reflexiones y propuestas para mejorar la efectividad de la gestión - Declaración de Manizales, Noviembre 2004 [Spanish]
      • Manifiesto para propiciar la gestión integral del riesgo y su efectividad el el siglo XXI, Prologo al nuevo pacto social de los Enredados, Manizales, Noviembre 2004 [Spanish]
      • La Red de estudios sociales en prevención de desastres en América Latina, LA RED: antecedentes, formación y contribución al desarrollo de los conceptors, estudios y la práctica en el tema de los riesgos y desastres en América Latina: 1980-2004, by Allan Lavell [Spanish]
      • La Red - declaración de Cartagena, 1994 [Spanish]
      • La Red - declaración de Miami, 1996 [Spanish]