DUSHANBE, June 15, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- A project agreement was signed on June 8, 2009 by Rudolf Schoch, Country Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan, Tajikistan,, representing the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and SDC)), and Rastislav Vrbensky, Country Director of UNDP-Tajikistan, press release issued by the SDC Dushanbe Office said.

The overall budget of the two-year project amounts to USD 1.19 million, of which SDC and UNDP as main donors contribute US$572,000 and US$600,000 respectively.

This is the 3rd phase of the project “Capacity building of the Committee of Emergency Situations (CES) and Civil Defense to reduce the risk of natural disasters in Tajikistan” that started in 2004.

The project will be implemented by the UNDP Disaster Reduction Management Program and will focus on further support to the Information Management and Analytical network and the nation-wide emergency management training system of the CES, as well as supporting its Operations Departments in Dushanbe and in the regions and the Department of Protection of Population and Territories, uniting these four core components of the CES into a harmonized and effective emergency management mechanism.

The project also aims at mainstreaming of the Disaster Risk Reduction into development initiatives through integration of DRR issues as priority topics into the regional development planning.  REACT network will be used as a coordination platform to bring together both state and non-governmental actors, active in DRR and development field.

The project follows an integrated approach uniting the different Disaster Management stakeholders at different levels to tackle the issues of the whole Disaster Risk Management Cycle – from Prevention and Preparedness to Response and Recovery - to counter the challenges of disaster risk reduction in Tajikistan.