Themes & priorities
Applicants are invited to select one or several of the following topic priorities
- Priority 1: Improving risk assessment, anticipation, and disaster risk management planning
DRM strategies will only entirely address the risks a country faces with an assessment that takes into account climate change, cross-border risks emerging risks, cascading effects, high impact low probability risks, and exposed or vulnerable areas and groups, including persons with disabilities. This priority aims at enhancing the eligible entities’ capability to identify and assess relevant disaster risks with potential transboundary/trans-European and cross-sectoral impacts and use that information to reinforce disaster prevention and preparedness activities.
This priority correlates with the Union disaster resilience goal No. 1: ‘Anticipate - Improving risk assessment, anticipation and DRM planning’.
- Priority 2: Increasing risk awareness and preparedness of the population
Population plays an important role in disaster prevention and preparedness and citizens are usually the first responders to disasters. National, sub-national and local authorities should cooperate, together with the private sector and civil society organisations, to i) increase disaster risk awareness and understanding of the population, ii) fostering a culture of risk prevention and preparedness to risks, iii) create favourable conditions for individuals to actively engage in DRR/DRM activities.
Evidence-based risk information and communication, as well as education activities, targeted to the public –including vulnerable groups and persons with disabilities– are effective tools to raise risk awareness, preparedness and contribute to response measures.
This priority correlates with the Union disaster resilience goal No. 2: ‘Prepare - Increasing risk awareness and preparedness of the population’
- Priority 3: Enhancing early warning
Early warning systems are key elements for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis and with the recent extreme weather events and cascading impacts across sectors, the importance of advanced multi-hazard and risk warnings has never been more widely acknowledged. Although in Europe there is considerable experience with early warning systems, especially for weather and climate-related hazards, recent disasters have shown that more effort and collaboration is necessary. This would include the use of new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, in order to be able to process large volumes of data in a timely fashion, appropriate for emergency management.
This priority correlates with the Union disaster resilience goal No. 3: ‘Alert - Enhancing early warning’.
- Priority 4: Ensuring a robust civil protection system by strengthening institutional preparedness and individual capacity
Ensuring a robust civil protection system plays a crucial part in efficiently meeting the demands placed on civil protection and DRM authorities, in particular during and after a disaster, when society needs them most. Increasing complexities during disasters, changing parameters as a result of climate change and the ever-growing risk of concurrent disasters or prolonged emergencies, require institutions with a role in DRM to adapt and prepare themselves accordingly.
Proposals addressing this priority of the call will be able to place their focus on activities aimed at advancing preparedness, both within and between organisations, sectors and borders, especially in the context of applying lessons learnt to existing structures and processes. Activities can aim to encourage or even institutionalise cooperation between different stakeholders, including the general public, improve communication, information management and facilitate the transfer of knowledge or integrate new approaches and innovative research in the interest of increasing preparedness at an institutional level. In addition, this priority will focus on developing skills, expanding relevant knowledge, and improving capacity and performance of individual experts or functional groups. As a result, the gained knowledge and experience should be applied nationally, bilaterally or internationally in a way that benefits the UCPM in the disaster risk prevention, preparedness or response activities.
This priority correlates with the Union disaster resilience goal No. 5: ‘Secure – Ensuring a robust civil protection system’.
Activities that can be funded
- Under Priority 1 (Improving risk assessment, anticipation, and disaster risk management planning), this call for proposals will co-finance activities that aim to assess and quantify risks and/or prepare management plans for risks with a multi-country or cross-border impact. Proposals could either build on and/or expand existing risk assessments and risk management plans, or they could develop new risk assessment or plans. In addition, proposals aiming to enhance the availability of tools and guidelines on risk assessment, disaster loss data analysis, and risk management planning are also encouraged. Projects under this priority should follow a multi-hazard approach.
- Under Priority 2 (Increasing risk awareness and preparedness of the population), this call for proposals co-finances activities that aim to enhance risk awareness, understanding and preparedness of the population, including through increasing the overall level of risk awareness, prevention and preparedness of individuals and communities , improving public access to disaster risk information, and enhancing the culture of risk prevention, self-protection, readiness and pro-active engagement of citizens. Proposals aiming to increase the availability of tools and guidelines on raising citizens’ awareness on disaster risks are also eligible.
- Under Priority 3 (Enhancing Early Warning), this call for proposals will co-finance activities that aim to build and improve forecasting, detection and monitoring capabilities, as well as public warning and alert systems. Proposals should demonstrate that they build on previous efforts or that there is an identified gap for the action. Proposals which promote the use of new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning, are also encouraged.
- Under Priority 4 (Ensuring a robust civil protection system by strengthening institutional preparedness and individual capacity), this call for proposals will co-finance integrated projects that aim to strengthen the ability of institutions tasked with civil protection or DRM to effectively prepare for future disasters. The activities can focus on any or all of the following aspects: identifying institutional preparedness gaps, developing strategies to overcome identified gaps, as well as investigating the efficiency of new or existing tools, methodologies and approaches. In addition, it will co-finance projects seeking to support civil protection and DRM actors by funding activities that improve the capacity of individual experts or functional groups to react during disasters. The focus of the activities should lie on expanding knowledge, skills and performance in order to strengthen capacity at an individual scale. Projects can focus on any or all of the following elements: gathering of knowledge and good practices from different DRM stakeholders, integrating input from science and research institutions into knowledge sharing activities relevant for DRM, elaboration of methodologies for skill and knowledge transfer as well as the development and implementation of specific activities. Activities may also focus on integrating lessons learnt from recent emergencies into capacity strengthening initiatives.
Scope
The general objective of the projects within the Prevention and Preparedness topic is to enhance collaboration and cooperation among Member States and between the UCPM and third countries. These projects should seek to strengthen efforts in preventing natural and human-induced disasters while improving the overall preparedness of the UCPM, its stakeholders, and the wider population. Through initiatives that address both ongoing challenges and emerging systemic issues, these projects should aim to build resilience and foster a more coordinated response framework.
While cross-border cooperation is relatively well-established in the area of emergency response, cross-border and multi-country cooperation during the prevention and preparedness phases can be further enhanced. Notwithstanding, the response phase could also benefit from streamlined communication protocols and interoperable systems that overcome language barriers in emergency situations.
Disasters know no borders. The ongoing and emerging risks posed by natural and human-induced hazards are cross-border due to their spatial dimension (e.g., earthquakes, fires, severe weather, floods and space weather), as well as the volatility and scale of their impacts (e.g., pandemics, impact of climate change on zoonotic diseases, nuclear/industrial accidents, marine pollution). The human, economic and environmental impacts triggered by these disasters, as well as their likelihood of occurrence exist irrespective of national borders.
Various EU legislative acts already call for a collaborative approach to disaster risk assessment and awareness raising: for example, for flood risks or cross-border threats in the health sector. The UCPM legislation also aims at stepping up the collaboration at cross-border level and between Member States prone to the same types of disasters.
For detailed information and application guide, please refer to the relevant call text.