Rio Grande do Sul strengthens its governance to build a resilient recovery
The extreme floods that affected Rio Grande do Sul in 2023 and 2024 marked a turning point: they tested the State’s response capacity and, at the same time, underscored the need to strengthen preparedness for a long-term recovery that is faster, fairer and more transparent.
In this context, the Steering Committee of the Plano Rio Grande Fund (FUNRIGS) recently approved financing for the Regional Centre of Excellence for Resilient Recovery (CERR), incorporated into the Plano Rio Grande portfolio under its Resilience pillar. The aim is to support the creation of a dedicated space to consolidate knowledge, bring together key actors and sustain a long-term agenda for resilient recovery.
The CERR is envisioned as an institutional anchor to transform recent lessons into lasting capacities. At a time when climate-related hazards are intensifying and impacts are recurring, recovery must also be planned, coordinated and financed in advance—so that reconstruction can build back better and reduce risk.
Within this framework, the Government of Rio Grande do Sul and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) have been advancing a strategic collaboration coordinated by the State Secretariat for Reconstruction (SERG). The objective is both clear and ambitious: to transform recovery from a “post-event” process into a continuous public function, grounded in governance, financing, capacities and information systems, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.
The resolution approving funding for the CERR also provides a framework for this partnership. The project includes technical assistance from UNDRR, which will act as a strategic partner to support the development of methodologies and tools, strengthen institutional arrangements and public policies for resilient recovery, and expand capacities at regional, state and municipal levels.
This progress builds on a previous milestone in the process: the pilot application of the Recovery Readiness Assessment Framework (RRAF) at the subnational level. In 2025, the State implemented the methodology through a participatory process involving more than 30 representatives from key institutions. Beyond a diagnostic exercise, the RRAF functioned as a governance dialogue: it helped clarify roles, identify coordination bottlenecks and prioritize enabling reforms.
Based on these results, the joint effort has advanced towards actionable priorities, with a focus on sustained governance, predictable financing, intersectoral and territorial coordination, monitoring and learning systems, and continuous capacity development. In this process, the CERR emerges as a mechanism to sustain momentum, ensure technical continuity and uphold the standard of building back better.
“What Rio Grande do Sul is developing goes beyond a response to a crisis: it signals that the region can move from recovering ‘after impact’ to being prepared to recover better, with institutions, financing and coordination that protect lives and sustain development,” said Nahuel Arenas, Chief of UNDRR’s Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean.
“Cooperation agreements such as this one with UNDRR are essential to establish lasting foundations for the reconstruction of Rio Grande do Sul. Since the floods, we have advanced a governance approach aimed at delivering the necessary projects. This is a resilience initiative with a whole-of-state scope, not just a government-led effort,” said Pedro Capeluppi, Secretary for Reconstruction of Rio Grande do Sul.