THE AFRICA CONFERENCE ON ECONOMIC COSTS OF DISASTERS

Gravitazz Continental Initiative (GCI), in partnership with the Gauteng Department of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and the Gauteng Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC) in South Africa hosted the 2017 Africa Conference on Economic Costs of Disasters on the Role of the Private Sector in Disaster Risk Reduction.

The Conference took place in Johannesburg, South Africa between the 23-25 October 2017. It was the first continental conference to focus exclusively on the active involvement of the private sector in DRR.

This platform seeks to bring together decision-makers from both the private and public sectors – including industry leaders, entrepreneurs, practitioners, scientists, national and local government officials, environment and development economists, academia, civil society organisations and others – to discuss the current and future costs of disasters on the African continent. This conference further seeks to explore best practices and approaches on how governments and the private sector can best work together to reduce disaster risk, build resilience and achieve sustainable development in Africa.

The Conference is an invitation to the private sector to take an active part in investing in DRR and creates a platform for both public and private sectors to explore and discuss the best partnership approaches. It also covers challenges and future direction on the implementation of the Sendai Framework, as well as strategies on how the private sector can actively invest in DRR to reduce different losses and help build more resilient African economies and communities.

The key outcomes of the first edition of the Conference include:

• The establishment of a Secretariat for Private Public Partnerships on Disaster Risk Reduction (PPP-DRR) to be hosted by Gravitazz and South Africa’s Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA)/Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC). The Secretariat has the task to assist in fostering the partnership between African governments and the private sector as well as to lead the organization of the next African Conference on Costs of The Secretariat will provide support to the SC and serve as a liaison between the SC and the organizers.
• The development of a Charter on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) on DRR in Africa which is expected to be validated during the 2019 Conference.
• The publication of the best papers received/presented into a special edition of Gravitazz journal’s “African Perspectives on Disaster Risk Reduction” early 2018.

Click HERE to access the official conference website.

For more information, kindly contact the Conference Secretariat at info@gravitazzci.org.