INTEGRATED COMPANY REPORT 2014 - GIZ. Solutions that work.

The programme is part of the Global Initiative on Disaster

Risk Management (GIDRM) launched in 2013 by the Ger-

man Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Devel-

opment (BMZ). Also involved in the initiative are the Ger-

man Federal Ministry of the Interior with the Federal Office

of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) and the

Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), as well as the

Federal Ministries for Economic Affairs, the Environment

and Education, and the Federal Foreign Office. They are

involved because the initiative is being used to try out new

whole-of-government forms of international cooperation with

partner countries, as a model for a new political strategy. GIZ

is coordinating the initiative on behalf of BMZ. The initiative

brings together experts from the public sector, the private sec-

tor, academia and civil society in Germany, as well as eight

countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Bangladesh,

Indonesia and the Philippines. It focuses on three areas: civil

protection and emergency preparedness and response, the

establishment of early warning systems and the protection of

economic infrastructure. What unites all actors is the will

they share to learn from each other beyond national boundar-

ies, and to jointly develop possible solutions and test them in

pilot measures such as Hotel Resilient.

Joint learning with experts around the globe was also

the purpose of an international online seminar on soil conser-

vation. A quarter of all cropland worldwide is already infertile

due to erosion or salinisation resulting from over-intensive

irrigation and fertilisation. In a BMZ-funded Massive Open

Online Course (MOOC), more than 1,500 managers from

public authorities, development organisations, think tanks

and the private sector explored ways of halting this trend.

This is how it worked: in cooperation with the United

Nations University, the participants were supplied with self-

study materials including case studies and methodological

approaches, recommended reading and a weekly assignment

that they were able to work on flexibly. They then got to grips

International networking

| Global challenges require global

solutions and the combined creativity and experience of

experts around the globe. Only by working together can we

find solutions to the major issues of our time: responsible

financial and economic markets, population growth and urban

development, climate change and resource protection. To this

end, GIZ brings together experts from different fields world-

wide, facilitates networking, and maintains international plat-

forms for knowledge sharing and joint learning. All involved

share the will to learn from each other and jointly develop and

try out possible solutions across national boundaries.

One example of this is ‘Hotel Resilient’, a cooperation

programme involving GIZ, the secretariat of the United

Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

(UNISDR) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association. The

programme aims to better equip hotels and holiday resorts

to cope with natural disasters, because what makes many

holiday resorts so attractive at the same time often involves a

major risk. Usually these resorts are located at badly exposed

sites along coasts, cliffs or rivers, leaving them extremely vul-

nerable to cyclones, tsunamis or flooding. Many hotels, par-

ticularly smaller ones that do not belong to an international

chain, are poorly prepared for these hazards. This is where

Hotel Resilient comes in. Together with the hotels, GIZ is

developing internationally recognised risk management stan-

dards that are adapted to each specific location. Should a

disaster occur, these precautions will provide greater safety.

They will also make the tourism industry, which is the most

important sector of the economy in the region, more resilient

against climate disasters. Hotels that have introduced these

standards are certified – giving them a competitive edge

among customers.

// Worldwide

Learning from each other

beyond national borders

GIZ Integrated Company Report 2014

Well networked