In order to strengthen and enrich partnerships in solving humanitarian challenges in the Asian region, a “Regional Humanitarian Partnership Week” (RHPW) has been held regularly in recent years by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the Asian Disaster Prevention and Relief Network (ADRRN) and others. From 10–12 December 2024, RHPW24 was held in Bangkok, Thailand. About 400 people from 61 countries participated, including a representative of SGI.
In the opening plenary, experts introduced their research findings on the nature of partnership, highlighting that even within existing NGO partnerships, organizations from developing countries are often frustrated with issues, such as limited opportunities to participate in decision-making in joint projects. Participants discussed how to tackle those challenges.
At a session on the final day, titled "How Anticipatory Action and Early Warning have and haven’t worked in Japan," Nobuyuki Asai of SGI explained how these concepts have been implemented in the context of disaster risk reduction in Japan. At COP27 in 2022, UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched the “Early Warnings for All” initiative that called for every person on Earth to be protected by early warning systems (EWS) by 2027. Responding to this, the Japanese Government formed a public-private council in 2023 to help to achieve the goal in the Asia-Pacific region through harnessing cutting-edge technology by Japanese corporations. Meanwhile, the Japan CSO Coalition for Disaster Risk Reduction (JCC-DRR), of which SGI is a member, conducted research on the state of EWS in Japan in 2023 and made related proposals. Asai shared results of this research at the session, concluding that EWS is not a panacea and recommending that it should be promoted through close collaboration with the local community in each area.
In the Q&A session, participants raised questions about the following issues: why some people do not evacuate in the face of a severe disaster, how information should be delivered to people with disabilities, whether evacuation plans for each household have been considered and whether financial support is available for anticipatory action. Participants agreed to continue exchanging information on the issue of leaving no one behind.
