Under a new agreement with Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), Jenny Iao-Jörgensen and Phudoma Lama from our division conducted a baseline study in June in Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines to assess their disaster risk governance institutional set-up and the crucial conditions for change. This study is part of the Ongoing Evaluation for MSB’s newly launched International Training Programme 2019-2023. The programme is funded by Sida aimed at strengthening the capacities of public, private, civil society and academic organizations in priority programme countries to implement the Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction (DRR). Under this MSB-LU agreement, Jenny and Phu are responsible for providing continuous, real-time insights throughout the entire project timeline into what works for whom under what circumstances to support program stakeholders’ learning and adaptation.

Jenny and Phu presented the baseline study’s preliminary findings to the first-cycle participants at the ITP regional workshop in Manila, 17-19 June. They also facilitated a Theory of Change session to help participants further unpack the underlying causes, change pathways and crucial conditions of their change initiatives.