Webinar: African Science and Technology Advisory Group for Disaster Risk Reduction research contributions to reinforce resilience in the face of COVID-19 and beyond

Language: English with French interpretation

Date and Time:

• 19 May 2020
• 15:00 EAT (Nairobi, Addis Ababa) /14:00 CEST, EEST, SAST (Geneva, South Africa, Cairo) /12:00 GMT (Dakar, Accra)

Background: 

The Sendai Framework recognizes the importance of science and technology, calling to "enhance the scientific and technical work on disaster risk reduction and its mobilization through the coordination of existing networks and scientific research institutions at all levels and all regions with the support of the UNDRR Scientific and Technical Advisory Group.

The African Union in its commitment to the implementation of the Sendai Framework has adopted the Africa Programme of Action (PoA) for the Disaster Risk Reduction. As a key component of the PoA, the AU Commission formed the African Science and Technology Advisory Group (A-STAG) from professionals in the field of DRR.

The purpose of the Af-STAG is to provide scientific and technical support to the African Union Commission, Regional Economic Communities and the AU Member States for the implementation of the Disaster Risk Reduction agenda in Africa. The Af-STAG supports a generation of assessments of scientific and technical information for effective implementation of Africa Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction, Sendai Framework for DRR 2015-2030, and Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.

Periperi U is a platform for university partnerships to reduce disaster risks in Africa. It stands for ‘Partners Enhancing Resilience for People Exposed to Risks’ – with a special focus on advancing university action on risk and vulnerability reduction in Africa. Periperi U includes 10 universities in Africa.

Concept:

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event in human history, requiring the scientific community to work as one to support societies during and beyond this global crisis. The pandemic impacts go well beyond the health sector including all the sectors threatening the failure of the entire system which may cause a social collapse as the global economy comes apart, societies may, too. These cascading impacts show the inter-connection of risk, underlining the crucial need for a concerted effort to accelerate disaster risk reduction.

The Af-STAG and Peri Peri U members will showcase their contributions to reinforce the resilience in the face of this pandemic and beyond through research. 

Objective: 

This webinar is meant to contribute to global efforts to build more resilient societal systems that are capable to prevent such crises in the future. This webinar is also to encourage experts for more scientific research on the analysis of lessons learned and use the recovery as an opportunity for stronger and longer-term resilience.

Disclaimer:  For the purpose of this event, UNDRR procures the services of Zoom Video Communications, Inc., an external service provider. Registration for this webinar is supported by the Zoom registration mechanism and does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities.