The European Commission is hosting the first ever EU Resilience Forum in Brussels today. Representatives from the humanitarian and development worlds will assess the progress achieved in their work on resilience, exchange best practices and chart ways forward to further support resilience in disaster-prone countries.

The Forum will bring together representatives from Member States, other donors, think- tanks and partner organisations of the Commission, such as the United Nations, the Red Cross, NGOs and The World Bank Group.

Resilience-building can take many forms. For instance, cash transfer programmes for the poorest households in drought-prone areas can give them a safety net during the period of the year when their food reserves are at their lowest ebb. Prevention and preparedness projects such as early warning systems or disaster insurance can also build resilience, for instance against the risks of tropical storms and earthquakes. Support to ‘State-Building’ can also be a resilience measure, through improving the delivery of equitable health care services and the institutional development of relevant Ministries and improving the quality, scope and coverage of social safety nets for the poorest.

The Commission supports people in risk-prone areas to prepare for, withstand and recover from disaster shocks. In 2013 more than 20% of the European Commission's relief funding was used for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and two-thirds of its humanitarian projects included DRR activities, reaching out to 18 million people worldwide.

Full Memo: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-14-321_en.htm