According to Bolormaa Nordov, Secretary General of the Mongolian Red Cross, 30% of Mongolia’s herder population live below the poverty line. The Red Cross is using forecast-based financing as one tool, relying on scientific data and weather predictions to help herder families prepare for the impacts of impending Dzud.

“Ahead of the 2017/2018 Dzud we made cash transfers to households at risk, well in advance of the Dzud taking hold. We learned that many families made significant savings as they were able to buy fodder for their livestock at low prices before there were shortages in the market and prices escalated,” Ms. Nordov said.

In the wake of the deadly earthquake that struck northern Pakistan in 2005, the Pakistani Government introduced the countries first ‘plastic’ cash transfer system where ATM cards enabled 1.6 million people to access funds to meet their immediate needs and aid their longer-term recovery.  In 2008 the government rolled out the Benazir Income Support Programme under its social protection strategy, which provides monthly cash transfers to 22% of the population who live below the poverty line.

“The existing system can be adapted to target the poorest of the country before, during and post disaster but certain pre-conditions need to be met. There needs to be a good database with disaggregated data that is geo-tagged, and a good banking system and telecommunications network that covers far-flung areas”, explains Idrees Mahsud who works with Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority.

“Households and communities are not homogenous groups, we also need to make sure that we have good local level data on risks and vulnerabilities so we can target people with particular needs like households headed by women and children and people with disabilities.”

Eradicating poverty and reducing the number of people affected by disasters are at the heart of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Date:

5 Jul 2018

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Asia and Pacific (UNISDR AP)

Themes:

Climate Change, Community-based DRR, Advocacy & Media

Countries:

Mongolia, Pakistan

Regions:

Asia, Oceania