Tehran, October 14 2009 - The First National Meeting on the Role of Women  in Crisis and Disaster Risk Management, was organized by Kosarieh  Sisters Theology School in Tehran on the 11^th of October.

The meeting which was co-sponsored and technically supported by UNDP and the Government of Iran’s joint project on Strengthening Capacities for Disaster Risk Management, was organized by the Kosarieh Sisters Theology School in Tehran and invited national experts to share their technical knowledge and experiences on the subject matter. The one-day event attracted over 300 participants, who got the opportunity to listen to presentations regarding women’s role in crisis and disaster risk management, participate in a range of workshops and visit an exhibition on crisis and disaster risk management.

The DRM project displayed a number of community and public awareness raising materials that have been produced for disaster risk reduction.

UNDP’s Programme Analyst in the area of Disaster Risk Management and Recovery, Dr. Victoria Kianpour delivered a key-note speech in which she highlighted that “examples from natural disasters show that disasters do not affect people, and particularly women and men equally, due to gender-specific vulnerabilities”. She continued by providing examples on the fact that gender identities, attitudes and expectations are unfavourable, in many cases of crisis situations to women and in others to men”, Dr. Kianpour finalised her speech by emphasising that “gender related issues are largely excluded from disaster risk policies and programmes, therefore, to reduce vulnerabilities and risks to disasters effectively requires that policy and decision makers understand gender relations in disaster risk reduction”

Other presenters included the Mayor of Tehran Municipality District 12, Mr. Akrami and the Head of Tehran Province Water Supply and Sewage System, Mr. Bagheri. Mr. Akrami elaborated on the use of community development and empowerment, which ensures the full participation of both men and women, as “the best solution to reduce risk of disasters and building safe communities in large cities, such as Tehran”. Mr. Bagheri provided examples of recurrent and extended drought and water shortage cases in his presentation highlighting the potential key role women can play in managing the risks of drought and climate change if they are “empowered and equipped with the required knowledge, skills, tools and resources”.

The presentations were followed with a number of workshops, one of which was facilitated by UNDP.  The workshop aimed to sensitize participants on gender specific elements that construct the vulnerability of gender groups to common disaster risks in Iran. The attendees included 35 students, teachers, Iran Red Crescent Volunteers for Relief and Rescue, Militia volunteers and NGO workers.

The workshop used an earthquake scenario from the city of Kerman, Iran from which exemplary cases of individuals at various risks (such as women, men, children, elderly, healthy, ill, poor, wealthy individuals etc) were handed out to the participants. The participants were then asked to rank their own vulnerability (as stated on their handouts) with the examples handed out to their peers. This exercise helped to facilitate self-learning and aimed to sensitize participants on the gender-specific elements of vulnerability which need to be addressed through empowering interventions for men and women as part of building safe communities.

Workshop participants, visualizing an earthquake scenario, stand in line in accordance to the level of relative risk their case is subject to, in comparison to the cases handed out to their peers.

UNDP is the United Nations’ development network with a presence in 166 countries. One of the five programme areas, for which UNDP collaborates with the Office of the Deputy President for Strategic Planning and Control (SPAC) and the Ministry of Interior (MoI), is strengthening national capacities for disaster risk management and recovery. With the ultimate goal to build safer communities in Iran, the project aims to develop a strategy for reducing disaster risk across the country by promoting community awareness and participation.

The event was organized along with other ongoing ceremonies in the observance of the national week of 10-16 October 2009 for reducing natural disasters in Iran.