Post-Disaster financing mechanisms

The Post-Disaster Financing Mechanisms CD-Rom includes data on institutions that may finance activities related to natural disasters. It also contains a description of the disaster financing mechanisms that governments can use before, during and after disasters whether in prevention, preparation, mitigation, relief, rehabilitation, or reconstruction. The information contained is presented from a risk management perspective, and is intended to assist ACS member states in their efforts towards reducing the risk to natural hazards that contribute to disasters. This CD-Rom was developed taking into account the needs of public authorities and government officials in charge of activities related to natural disasters.

This CD-Rom will hopefully provide them with a tool that contributes to their efforts when accessing financing mechanisms or identifying funding sources. Furthermore this tool includes entities, which traditionally fund non-governmental organisations, allowing government officials to alert Civil Society in their countries about these opportunities. The data included in this CD-Rom was last updated in April 2004. The information here included was taken from the organization's websites and from direct interviews with key informants from these entities. Due to the fast evolution of information in this field, users are invited to directly contact the institutions mentioned for further information. Comments, especially about new information, can be sent to ACS.

About this CD-ROM

What is this CD Rom for?
To enhance the resource mobilisation capacity of ACS Member Countries in the area of natural disasters.

What is the Specific Objective of this CD Rom?
To provide ACS Member countries with a user-friendly interactive tool that would facilitate their access to international funds for natural disasters.

What led to the Creation of this CD Rom?

Over the last two decades, the Greater Caribbean Region has experienced a dramatic upsurge in the frequency of natural hazards, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding. These events have caused significant social and economic disruption and environmental damage, destroying years of development efforts and investments, and shifting development priorities away from long-term goals in order to meet immediate needs of reconstruction and rehabilitation.

While it is generally preferred to provide technical assistance towards projects dealing with Natural Disaster Preparedness, Prevention and Mitigation (i.e. incorporating vulnerability prevention measures) natural disasters often strike before there exists sufficient preparedness and interest at the political, institutional and technical level to mitigate against future losses. For this purpose, the 3rd Meeting of the Special Committee on Natural Disasters held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on September 20-21, 2001 proposed to develop a Regional Post-Disaster Fund to enable ACS Member Countries to have an easier access to financial resources to face the rehabilitation and reconstruction needs following a disaster.

As a follow-up of this proposal, the Plan of Action emanating from the 3rd Summit of ACS Heads of State and/or Government, held in Margarita Island, Venezuela, on December 11-12, 2001, mandated the realisation of a study on the possibility of creating mechanisms that identify sources of reimbursable and non-reimbursable financing, as well as the requirements for effective management vis-à-vis the international organisations, so that Member States and Associate Members of the ACS that are affected by disasters can direct the resources to the areas of rehabilitation and reconstruction.

As a first step, a feasibility study for the creation of a Regional Post-Disaster Fund in the ACS was conducted and presented to the 5th Meeting of the Technical Group of the Natural Disasters Special Committee in Curacao, on September 23-24, 2003. Based on the results of the Study, the Group concluded the "no-feasibility" of the Regional Post-Disaster Fund but stressed out the importance of the prevention and mitigation aspects, as well as the necessity to have a clear inventory of all the financing mechanisms available in the area of natural disasters. This would help Member Countries to quickly identify the different donor agencies and countries in the area of natural disasters, as well as the specific conditions attached to their reimbursable or non-reimbursable funds.

Is this database available on the Internet?
Yes, you can find an updated version of this database at www.acs-aec.org

Who do I contact if the information needs to be updated or modified?
Please contact Mr. Carlos Davila, Transport and Natural Disasters Director, ACS at the following email address: mail@acs-aec.org
Where did the funding from this CD Rom derive from?
This CD Rom was developed with funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea and the British High Commission in Port of Spain.

Who developed this CD Rom?
This CD Rom was commissioned by the directorate for Transport and Natural Disasters of ACS. The project was led by Mr. Carlos Davila, supervised by Mr. Juan Fernando Valley, assisted by Ailed Peña and Michelle Arrindell, and developed by the following team of consultants between the months of January and April 2004:

Juan Antonio Sáenz
Concept, Content and Team Leader
juan@saenz.net
Christophe Lanord
Content, Flash and HTML coding
christophe@lanord.com

Matthew Baldwin
Graphic Design for interface
mat_baldwin@ntlworld.com
Carmen González Sánchez
Spanish Translation and Edition
cmgs@gmx.net

Namuezi Fedi and Sylvain Beauchamp
French Translation and Edition
fnamuezi@yahoo.fr - sylvainbeauchamp@email.com.