National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF), Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) Ink Grant Implementation Agreement Worth Rs 834.606 Mln

National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF), Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) Ink Grant Implementation Agreement Worth Rs 834.606 Mln

ISLAMABAD (APP - 24th Jul, 2019 ) National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) Wednesday signed Grant Implementation Agreement of Rs 834.606 million with a Joint Venture of Agha Khan Foundation (AKF) Pakistan and Aga Khan Planning and Building Services (AKPBS).

The agreement had been made by NDRMF for providing grant financing up to Rs 579.621 million for the project titled "Promoting Integrated Mountain Safety in Northern Pakistan (PIMSNP)", a press release said.

The currently agreed project with Agha Khan Foundation's total cost is Rs. 834.606 million, with NDRMF share of 70 per cent (amounting to Rs 579.621 mln) of total project cost and Agha Khan foundation share of 30 per cent (amounting to Rs 254.985 mln).

The duration of this project was 18 months in which various interventions would be carried out including Early Warning Systems (EWS), Physical infrastructure interventions (included flood protection walls, retrofitting of schools), Community mobilization for formation of community level disaster risk management committees at local / revenue village and union council levels and capacity building in Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) and Formation of Community Emergency Response Teams along with provision of emergency response tool kits. The proposed interventions were in line with National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) and National Flood Protection Plan (NFPP-IV).

The outcome of this project was to better protect and make resilient the communities vulnerable to the negative impacts of multiple hazards in northern areas of the country including Mansehra, Chitral, Gilgit, Skardu, Ghanche and Hunza.

NDRMF has made significant progress for grant financing to Fund Implementing Partners (FIPs) for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) projects.

NDRMF was committed to make Pakistan resilient while ensuring involvement and ownership of local communities in its Disaster Risk Management (DRM) interventions along with building their capacity in an institutionalized manner.

General Manager Program and Operation Group NDRMF, Khurram Khaliq Khan and Director, Rural Development, Civil Society and Habitat, Irshad Khan Abbasi signed the contract designed to better protect and enhance resilience of communities vulnerable to the negative impacts of multiple natural hazards.

Moreover, prior to this NDRMF has also signed agreement with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and Islamic Relief Pakistan (IRP).

All the projects have been selected through a merit based and transparent process in accordance with pre-set criteria, promoting gender equality, inclusiveness and environmental and social safeguards. NDRMF have also set in place a strong monitoring framework to ensure that all of the funded projects were implemented in an effective and transparent manner, thus reducing disaster risks and protecting the local population from disasters.

Pursuant to its mandate, 19 entities have been accredited during the first phase, including International and National NGOs and UN Agencies. Projects worth total value of USD 20.56 million from diverse public and non-public sector agencies have been approved by the BoD with NDRMF contribution of up to 70 per cent to the total projects cost.