Thematic CAP for national disaster preparedness: Feasibility study

This report was commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to examine the feasibility of a thematic Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) for National Disaster Preparedness and Response Capacity. It ultimately concludes that a CAP is not the most appropriate mechanism. The research process highlighted some important systemic issues, however, and the report moves from its initial focus on the CAP to explore a range of options to improve the coherence and predictability of financing for disaster preparedness. It does so with the caveat that there was not sufficient scope in the study to examine the feasibility of each of these alternatives in significant detail.

The question of how to finance disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster preparedness is an important one. In the past decade a number of international commitments have been made by donor and recipient governments, as well as assistance agencies, to strengthen the capacity of affected countries and local communities to prevent, prepare for, mitigate, and respond to humanitarian crises, including the comprehensive agreement set out in the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) in 2005. These commitments have been given added impetus by the recognition that climate change is likely to increase the severity and frequency of disasters.