On 28 October 2014 a 4-day regional learning workshop on Mainstreaming DRR into Development was held in Almaty. Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, UNISDR and the Kazakhstan Red Crescent Society jointly organized the workshop. The workshop aimed to discuss the linkages between disasters and development and review the development planning practices and trends in the context of DRR in Central Asia and the South Caucuses.

Senior government officials from national disaster management offices and economic development planning ministries in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attended to represent their respective countries.

Mr Mailebayev Askar from Kazakhstan’s Committee of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Internal Affairs welcomed participants. Ms Feng Min Kan, Head of Office UNISDR Asia and the Pacific and Mr Irfan Maqbool, Head of Department at ADPC also spoke during the inaugural session.

The workshop discussed mainstreaming DRR into national development planning processes of the region.

This is the first DRR capacity development activity that ADPC has implemented in Central Asia. A national mainstreaming workshop will also be organized for government officials from Kazakhstan early next year.