The FedEx Award for Innovations in Disaster Preparedness Submission Form

Transcription

1 The FedEx Award for Innovations in Disaster Preparedness Submission Form I. Contact Information Organization: International Medical Corps II. Basic Information on Project Title of Project: PREPARE Project (Pandemic Preparedness Project) Location (please include all relevant information: regions, countries, districts/provinces, cities, etc): International Medical Corps recently completed implementation of a multi-year program called the PREPARE Project. PREPARE aimed to promote the integration of pandemic preparedness into wider disaster management and preparedness initiatives. These included assessments, consultations, technical assistance, development of pandemic preparedness plans, and training programs on multiple levels, including: At the global level, PREPARE sustained its contributions to the Towards and Safer World (TASW) initiative. At the regional level, PREPARE supported the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) technically, financially, and logistically in its development of a regional multi-sectoral pandemic disaster preparedness framework over the course of four consultations in Singapore, Brunei, and the Philippines. PREPARE also organized an East African Community (EAC) and ASEAN biregional meeting in Kenya to facilitate sharing of experiences and lessons learned. At the national level, PREPARE closely worked with the governments of Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Philippines, Tanzania, and Uganda to develop sectoral pandemic preparedness and response plans for essential service sectors in a series of national workshops and scenario-based simulation exercises. At the local level, PREPARE piloted whole-of-society multi-sectoral pandemic preparedness planning for the city of Santa Rosa, Laguna, and partly the municipality of Cainta, Rizal, in the Philippines, with both local entities taking part in a national simulation exercise. Scale (choose one): Local/Community State/Provincial/Sub-national Regional X International National

2 Target Population(s): Underserved populations in Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Philippines, Tanzania, and Uganda. Number of Beneficiaries: As a disaster preparedness project, the total number of beneficiaries is difficult to estimate until a disaster actually occurs but PREPARE s activities could potentially affect millions of people. In more concrete terms, the project engaged 47 private sector companies, 99 public sector entities, and 63 government agencies making up hundreds of trainees in the national planning processes across the six target countries. Partners: The PREPARE team collaborated with the Pandemic Response Program (PRP) of the US Department of Defense. Funders/Donors: International Medical Corps recently completed implementation of this multi-year (40 month) project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). PREPARE built on previously funded USAID programs to improve broader pandemic and disaster preparedness through simulation and training exercises to develop collaboration throughout the civil sector, private sector and the government. Total Funding: $4.75 million Website: additional information under News and Press Releases III. Project Details 1. Intervention background and goals and objectives (maximum 250 words) Please describe the intervention and its goals and objectives. Include details on the intervention s timeline. International Medical Corps is keenly aware that infectious diseases with pandemic potential, including human and animal influenza, present a growing threat to the public health and socioeconomic security of the world s growing population and an integrated, globalized economy. Given the ever-increasing levels of global migration, transportation and communication, a pandemic virus could spread rapidly, leaving little time to prepare. In the absence of early and effective planning, countries are likely to face wider social and economic disruption, significant threats to the continuity of essential services, lower production levels, distribution difficulties, and shortages of supplies. Countries must consider ways to ease the impact and limit the damage before a pandemic event occurs with even more serious impacts. There is now a global consensus that preparedness measures must extend beyond the traditional confines of countries health sectors alone. The PREPARE Project s primary goal was to strengthen pandemic preparedness and response planning using its innovative whole-of-society approach in six target countries and regions in Africa and Asia. The project offered a pioneering opportunity to actually organize regional, national and local planning workshops and training exercises that engaged people across critical public and private sectors of society. The resulting pandemic preparedness and response plans were integrated into disaster risk management frameworks within countries and across regions with the added value that they could be applied to all hazards. The PREPARE Project was implemented by the International Medical Corps from October 1, 2009 to January 31, 2013 through USAID.

3 2. Please describe the project s key activities (maximum 250 words) Please describe the intervention s main activities. The PREPARE Project team developed tools, templates, exercises and a 5-step implementation process in each country: 1: Host Country Preparatory Work - Identify a coordinating government counterpart and establish relationships with stakeholders in essential service sectors (food, transportation, security, etc.) and government ministries. Assess the needs of the host country related to disaster management/pandemic preparedness. 2: Multisector Planning Workshop - Organize a one-day meeting with officials from essential service sectors and government agencies to discuss the themes of pandemic preparedness, take stock of previous planning efforts, and initiate the formation of sectoral Technical Working Groups for each sector. 3: Plan Development - Technical Working Group comprised of local experts from various institutions (public and private) within that sector form. Groups are provided a tailor-made template on which to develop a Sectoral Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plan, and through a series of individual and group consultations and three-day workshops facilitated by PREPARE, the result is a draft plan for each essential service sector. 4: Plan Validation/National Multisectoral Simulation Exercise - A four-day intensive simulation exercise is conducted simultaneously with all essential service sectors and coordination and response agencies. The event incorporates table-top and functional elements to simulate a realistic pandemic scenario from outbreak through recovery aimed at identifying planning gaps. 5: Senior Officials Meeting - Finalized response plans for each sector and recommendations resulting from the exercise are presented to senior officials to advocate for acceptance of the new response plans and to designate permanent Crisis Management Teams for each sector. 3. Please explain why the intervention is an innovation. Provide evidence in the following areas: (maximum 750 words) Effectiveness/evidence of success: Global consensus on the need for whole-of-society preparedness exists, but few organizations have actually implemented it. International Medical Corps stands out as perhaps the only organization that put the concept into action, replicated it in six countries and bi-regionally, and from community to national levels. PREPARE got all sectors to integrate whole-of-society pandemic preparedness into the broader disaster risk reduction/management framework. The results of the PREPARE Project include: Sustained collaborations with the ASEAN and EAC and organized bi-regional exchange, the first of its kind. Promotion of exchanges on regional planning approaches with North America and Europe. Reinforcement of global aspirations advanced through the TASW Initiative. 33 individual Sectoral Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plans developed. 47 private sector companies, 99 public sector entities and 63 government agencies involved in planning processes.

4 30 events organized. The private business sector is highly vulnerable and contributes to the direct and indirect impacts of a pandemic. Companies maintain individual contingency to address pandemic related stresses but the corporate sector is often in competition without incentive to integrate each other s plans, or coordinate efforts with government and civil sectors. Under PREPARE, the private sector was enthusiastic and participatory because we showed how systems are interlinked and if a competitor fails then it is bad for the rest of the sector also. We also gave them an opportunity to shape national policy and planning via the exercise, which Philippine participants considered groundbreaking. Recognizing the success of the PREPARE Project, we are frequently invited to high-level venues to share our unique training, tools and experience, such as a recent meeting in Geneva with ISDR and the United Nations. This recognition reflects others appreciation of our innovative and cutting-edge approach to pandemic preparedness. Sustainability: All sectors of society, at all levels, are assigned specific roles and responsibilities. Project participants now have greater awareness of them: National civilian governments, the natural leaders for communication and overall coordination efforts, better understand the need to institute the necessary legislation, policies and resources for pandemic preparedness, capacity development and anticipated response efforts across all sectors. The health sector now understands its role of providing critical epidemiological and clinical information to inform measures to reduce the spread of pandemics and its attendant morbidity and mortality. Non-health sectors now recognize they need essential continuity of operations and services during a pandemic to lessen health, economic and social impacts. Civil society organizations better appreciate how they must raise awareness, communicate accurate information, counter rumors, provide needed services to communities and liaise with the government during an emergency. Citizens are aware of ways to improve family and community resilience by providing appropriate self-help preparatory measures and health-seeking and preventive behavior to reduce the spread of pandemics through the adoption of good hygiene measures. People representing all of these sectors, who rarely have the opportunity to work together unless a disaster occurs, have now established connections, protocols for cooperation, channels of communication and preparedness plans that will support them when the next disaster strikes. Equitable outcomes for women and men: Pandemics and other disasters are gender blind. Preparedness and contingency planning take into account all sectors of society occupied by both men and women. Efficiency/cost-effectiveness: Instead of individual siloed efforts for the preparedness of multiple hazards (earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding, civil unrest, tsunamis, financial disasters), PREPARE used one hazard pandemics as a worstcase-scenario. Most preparedness measures for pandemics are applicable for other disasters, so in that way PREPARE s work is quite efficient and cost effective. Replicability/adaptability: All-hazards approach: The pandemic threat is now greater than in any other time during human history.

5 Although the occurrence of severe pandemics is relatively low compared to other disasters such as flooding and drought, its impact can be the most severe in terms of mortality, economic loss, and societal disruption. Fortunately, contingency planning for a pandemic can also be adapted for other hazards by strengthening coordination and response mechanisms, health systems, communication networks, and business continuity planning. International Medical Corps capitalizes on the success of other local disaster preparedness initiatives by building on previous plans and disaster management frameworks through the modeling of a severe pandemic as a worst-case-scenario disaster effectively enabling governments and societies to replicate preparedness and response plans for a range of hazards. Our efforts to promote the all-hazards concept received concrete validation when a 7.6 earthquake struck a Philippine island the week of the exercise and the telecommunications sector immediately used the early-warning communication system they had created as part of their PREPARE pandemic preparedness training. 4. Challenges & Lessons Learned (maximum 250 words) Please describe the main challenges or obstacles you faced or are facing in this intervention and how they were addressed. What are the most important lessons that a reader should take from this experience? Project challenges and remedies included: Sectors were meant to be refining their respective Sectoral Pandemic Preparedness and Response plans between workshops, however independent sector planning was limited. Although lead government counterparts from the national disaster organizations have the authority to coordinate across government agencies in a sector, they often lack the power to drive the process with the private sector. The hosting of small working group meetings, direct mandates from line ministries, and sustained face-to-face contact provided motivation and momentum. Participant turn-over was high in some instances, with some individuals not remaining engaged throughout the planning process. The organization of sectoral working groups proved to be a key strategy in officially designating organizations and individuals to support the planning process. Individuals were authorized to contribute to the drafting reports as part of their normal work portfolio, thereby ensuring that participation remained relatively consistent. Sharing of contact information and forming networks such as BlackBerry Messenger groups connected participants and formed a sense of shared responsibility. Counterpart enthusiasm was initially high, but leadership and follow-through dropped over the course of the project. Counterparts generally welcome the recognition and funding that comes with an international project, regardless of whether they have the resources or capacity to realistically support the program. Commitment must be achieved through the highest levels of the government before initiating programming with partners. Regular project updates sent to the highest level and copied to the implementing counterpart can help maintain accountability and cut through local bureaucracy and red tape. 5. Have you held or do you plan to hold a consultative process with target groups in which you gather feedback? If yes, please explain. (maximum 150 words) The PREPARE team collected real-time anonymous participant feedback (via electronic voting) at exercises in each of the six cities to monitor the project and inform the next steps in the process. As the PREPARE team moved from one country to the next, it was able to use this information to make continuous adjustments to the workshops and exercises that followed.

6 The monitoring and evaluation data is extensive, but feedback revealed two strong findings: 95% of participants AGREE or STRONGLY AGREE that that they possess a better understanding of the key principles of pandemic disaster preparedness as a result of the PREPARE Project. 81% of participants said that pandemic planning will definitely continue within their agency or sector. Additionally, as part of the process we held a Senior Officials Meeting in each country which included feedback components in group settings and use of confidential written and oral evaluation methods. 6. Please provide a testimonial from someone who has benefited from this intervention. (maximum 200 words) Raymund Liboro, Information Director, Philippine Department of Science and Technology, Vice Chairman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, on the PREPARE tabletop exercise: The exercise is invaluable because we see the participation coming from the government sector, private sector, and first responders especially. The mere fact of organizing into sectors provided us with a birds-eye view of how things can be operationalized during extreme disaster events. The exercise brought together those who would be first responders in a disaster for the first time. It allowed us to consolidate and mobilize the telecommunications sector. We are putting specific plans in place that will make it possible to immediately distribute important alerts to key responders. The earlier planning that our sector had undertaken in preparation for the exercise proved beneficial during a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that occurred offshore on the island of Samar the week of the exercise. Because of the network established, we were able to execute a simple plan of using SMS (short messaging service) in issuing an early warning, in particular a tsunami level 1, to target communities during that fateful night. We had set up table-top exercises to actually operationalize an early-warning communication system and this we were able to execute during that earthquake event. We utilized all of the heads from our sector in operationalizing a life-saving communication strategy. The exercise forum became a launch pad for sector response, not only to pandemics but to all hazards, and resulted in innovative ideas and action plans. 7. If selected, how will your organization use the funds? (maximum 150 words) Through its whole-of-society approach, International Medical Corps has now successfully led pandemic planning initiatives and programming at global, regional, national, and municipal levels that cut across multiple public and private sectors. With additional funds, we would develop a self-implemented exercise platform so that sectors and communities throughout the six target countries could continue to test, evaluate, and strengthen the plans created during the PREPARE Project. Our experts would create an exercise guide with new sets of disaster scenarios and injects (series of cascading developments introduced into the exercise). These tools would incorporate the lessons learned and identified gaps from previous exercises. The training platform would reinforce the need for all sectors to create integrated, all-hazards approach to disaster preparedness. Our counterparts would then be able to run scenarios themselves to inform future planning that will ultimately save lives and reduce suffering when the next crisis hits. completed applications to: mappinginfo@interaction.org.