Republic of Moldova

Disaster and Climate Risk Reduction Project (Phase II)

UNDP Moldova and Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service, Ministry of Interior

Annual Report 2015

Chisinau, February 2016 Table of Contents

I. PROJECT BACKGROUND ...... 3 II. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT ...... 3 III. SUMMARY OF ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE 2015 ...... 3 IV. UPDATE ON PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION ...... 5

OUTPUT 1. COORDINATION, PLANNING, AND MONITORING CAPACITIES ENHANCED TO EXECUTE THE NATIONAL DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGY ...... 5 1.2.1 Developing the capacities in Disaster Risk Management and Risk Assessment: set of two 3-days trainings ...... 5 1.2.2. Developing the capacities in proposal writing and project management set of two 3-days trainings...... 7 1.2.3 Supporting the development of newly created Department of Prevention and Communication with Mass media ...... 8 OUTPUT 2: KEY STAKEHOLDERS AND SOCIETY HAVE IMPROVED DRR AWARENESS AND KNOWLEDGE, AS WELL AS STRENGTHENED ABILITY TO DEVELOP OWN CAPACITY ...... 10 2.1 Developing the module on Community Disaster Risk Management and ToT course ...... 10 2.2 Piloting Community Risk Management in 4 districts of Moldova ...... 13 OUTPUT 3: REGIONAL AND LOCAL LEVEL RISK MANAGEMENT REPLICATED AND UPSCALED IN MOLDOVA...... 18 3.1 Early warning solutions piloted ...... 18 OUTPUT 4. STRENGTHENED CAPACITIES OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO DEVELOP, MAINSTREAM, MONITOR AND EVALUATE THE INTEGRATED DISASTER AND CLIMATE RISK REDUCTION PLANS AND PROGRAMS USING INNOVATIVE APPROACHES AND IT SOLUTIONS...... 21 4.2 Mainstreaming the City Resilience Measures into the Local Development Planning...... 22 4.3 Piloting use of IT tools in the disaster risk management...... 23 V. ACHIEVING RESULTS 22015 (BASED ON PROJECT RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND ESTABLISHED TARGETS) ..... 25 VI. PLANNING OF ACTIVITIES FOR THE 2016 (AWP 2016 AS A SEPARATE DOCUMENT) ...... 26 VII. ANNEX: MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE DRR PROJECT...... 26

I. Project background

The Moldova Disaster and Climate Risk Reduction Project, Phase II, is a 3 year project (October 2013 – September 2016), funded and implemented by UNDP. During the first phase of the project a gradual shift of focus from traditional disaster response towards a more comprehensive approach to Disaster and Climate Risk Management oriented at prevention and preparedness could be observed. Building on this, the second phase puts emphasis on developing disaster risk management capacities, raising awareness of the general population and policy- and decision makers and increasing the level of knowledge of practitioners.

The main implementing partners are the Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service of the Ministry of Interior and its affiliated training centers, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health, Crisis Medicine Training Center, Ministry of Education, LPAs, NGOs and CBOs. The project will be implemented over a period of 36 months. The main implementing partners are the Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service of the Ministry of Interior and its affiliated training centers, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health, Crisis Medicine Training Center, Ministry of Education, LPAs, NGOs and CBOs.

II. Objectives of the project

The main objective of the 2nd phase of the project is to reduce disaster and climate risks in Moldova through the development of national and local risk management capacities.

Specific Objectives (components of the project)

Outputs in support of the main project objective are as follows: 1. Coordination, planning, and monitoring capacities enhanced to execute the National Disaster Risk Management Strategy. 2. Key stakeholders and society have improved DRR awareness and knowledge, as well as strengthened ability to develop own capacity 3. Regional and Local level risk management replicated and upscaled in Moldova

III. Summary of achievements during the 2015

During 2015 the project continued providing support for the Civil Protection and Emergency Situation Service (CPESS) in formulation and the implementation of the main strategic directions formulated in the Draft National Disaster Risk Management Strategy. Based on the main priorities support was provided in Capacity development on risk assessment, risk management and proposal writing. The Draft Communication, prevention and visibility strategy was developed in 2015 and has to be approved in the next year. The collaboration in the prevention with Estonian Rescue Service resulted into the joined project for education activities in kindergartens which has to be realized during the period 2015 – 2017.

Based on the recommendations curricula improvement the Module on Community Risk Management was developed and Training of Trainers conducted for the personnel of Training center and civil society. To ensure the sustainability training center included the developed materials into the regular curricula and six NGOs across the country were trained and have capacities to deliver the module. Four selected NGOs got the knowledge on disaster risk management and further conducted the educational and raising awareness in their communities.

Early warning installations have been installed in three selected localities of Causeni district, united into the local system. In other pilot locality, Ungheni town priorities for disaster risk reduction were formulated into the Draft sectorial strategy, priorities established in a participatory way with the involvement of local stakeholders. Implementation of platform comprising the information about the disasters, prevention, recover activities will be implemented in Ungheni and taken over by local authorities and Civil Protection to ensure the functionality and sustainability. IV. Update on project implementation

Output 1. Coordination, planning, and monitoring capacities enhanced to execute the National Disaster Risk Management Strategy

The project activities during year 2015 were focused on providing the support for policy elaboration in the disaster risk management and enhancing the capacities of the Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service. Policy development contributed to adjusting the National Disaster Risk Management Strategy and the Action Plan to national standards, being implemented under the leadership of working group from Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service; by the end of 2015 the documents are ready for official stakeholders consultations process. The program on capacity building constituted from a comprehensive course on disaster risk management and risk assessment, followed by a course on project formulation and management. Four 2-days trainings attended 33 participants from Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service from national and regional levels and 17 representatives from 5 stakeholders working in the area.

1.1 National Disaster Risk Management Strategy elaborated according to the standards of national legislation.

The Project provided the methodological support to the Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service (CPESS) in formulation of the National Disaster Risk Management Strategy according to the national legislation and standards. A working group was established within the CPESS to ensure the coherence with all internal processes and planning and development of the international disaster risk management framework (Sendai Framework).

During the nest year the Draft of the National Disaster Risk Management Strategy and the Action Plan will be discussed with main stakeholders including the gender sensitive actions. The Draft of the NDRMS will follow discussions under the officially launched mechanism with the methodological support to be provided by UNDP Moldova, Disaster Risk Reduction Process.

1.2 Implementation of priority measures of the NDRMS supported

Based on the recommendations provided by the International expert who executed the institutional evaluation of the CPESS, the project contributed to developing of capacities of the personnel in risk analysis, management and proposal writing. A set of four three-days training was held by a team of international and local experts.

1.2.1 Developing the capacities in Disaster Risk Management and Risk Assessment: set of two 3-days trainings

Training 1: 02-04 September, 2015 Training 2: 03-05 November, 2015

A course of two three days training was focused on up-to-date approaches to disaster risk management and risk assessment, responding to the needs established through a previous needs assessment for developing national capacities in Moldova. The courses provided a comprehensive orientation on disaster risk management and risk assessment concepts and guidance, including presentations about the « EU/EC Risk Assessment and Mapping Guidelines for Disaster management », the links to Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) and Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction, as well as understanding the basic aspects of hazard and risk mapping. The participants of the course were from main stakeholders in disaster risk management: - Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service; - Seismological Centre of the Institute of Geology and Seismology , Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova; - State Agency “Apele Moldovei” of the Ministry of Environment Familiarity with DRM and DRR international architecture and structures - State Hydrometeorological Service.

Having main actors in the area, the course was built upon participants’ existing knowledge base so they can relate disaster risk management and assessment issues in practical terms to their day-to-day work responsibility. As the outcome of the course the participants do have improved understanding of international good practices in disaster risk management and assessment and enhanced their capacity to discuss and apply modern concepts, tools and approaches in disaster risk assessment and management activities. Good links within the participating institutions were established during these trainings, which will enable the discussions about the methodologies applied in disaster risk management.

Figure 1 Mr. Nicoara is presenting the system of seismic risk monitoring, Institute of Geology and Seismology

In order to ensure the linkages with the other projects and initiatives the second training incorporated the presentation of the Flood Risk Methodology and Flood Risk Maps developed by Beta Studio for the Ministry of Environment and financed by European Investment Bank. Working visit was organized to the Institute of Seismology for presenting the seismic risk monitoring which organization is performing. 50 participants, representing six main agencies from national stakeholders in disaster risk management have benefited from this training, namely:  Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service  Hidrometeo  State Agency Moldova Waters, Academy of Sciences the Institute of Seismology,  NGO (Caritas)  Training Center on Civil Protection.

1.2.2. Developing the capacities in proposal writing and project management set of two 3-days trainings

Training 1: 09-11 September, 2015 Training 2: 07-09 October, 2015

The set of trainings for developing capacities in proposal writing and project management was aimed at the personnel from Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Services to enable them to identify funding opportunities, test eligibility and provide a thorough understanding of the steps leading to a complete project design and a sustainable project management plan. A special attention was dedicated to developing fundraising skills, namely: - budget elaboration; - risk assessment and management; - quality control; - monitoring; - establishment of partnerships/consortiums.

Training was held by a National Expert, Mr. Sergiu Diaconu in a participatory way. All training exercises were based on the project ideas from Civil Protection and Emergency Situations service collected from various departments.

Figure 2. Participants present the outline of project proposal The trainees expressed high interest in the project management and proposal writing topics, were actively involved in all of the practical exercises, debated different key aspects of the training and tried to accurately understand the proper approach to each technique or project design stage. In total 30 participants from different departments of Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service representing national and local levels have benefited from the trainings.

1.2.3 Supporting the development of newly created Department of Prevention and Communication with Mass media

Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service created the Prevention and Communication department in 2014. According to the internal development plan of the CPESS Communication and Prevention strategy and action plan was foreseen to be elaborated during 2015. The Project supported the process of via following activities: - Providing support in elaboration of Communication and visibility strategy and Action Plan; - Providing support in elaboration of the Concept for Prevention of Exceptional situations; - Supporting the dialog with the counterparts from the other countries (Estonia).

The Draft documents were elaborated during year 2015 with the involvement of the newly established department. Working group established within the CPESS provided the review of the documents and they were submitted for approval for the Head of the Service in December 2015. The Prevention and communication Strategy is designed for the period 2016-2017, the action plan contain more than 50 activities which the majority of them will be executed on a yearly basis. Activities are divided into several main areas:

- Capacity building activities for personnel involved into the prevention and communication activities; - Prevention activities which will be executed by the CPESS headquarters and inspectors all over the country. These activities are divided thematically into blocks, for example “Fire prevention”, “Cold waves/Heat waves information” etc. - Communication with media, public and ensuring CPESS visibility.

Additional support was provided to bring in the experience from the other EU countries. Based on initial discussions the partner organization was identified: The Prevention Department of Estonian Rescue Service. Based on assessment there was a need to introduce the prevention activities on all educational levels. Currently schools and universities are partially covering some of risks, while the greatest need was to integrate the prevention activities on the level of kindergartens. Three representatives from the Prevention Department of Estonian Rescue Service conducted an assessment visit in Moldova in February 2015 to support Moldovan colleagues. The scope of the visit was to identify the main priorities of development for the prevention department in Moldova, provide feedback for the strategic documents which were in the process of development and to identify possible areas of cooperation. Discussions were held with the CPESS in the headquarters and in the district offices. Based on the directions identified the joined project proposal was submitted by Estonia Rescue Service and further approved by the Ministry of External Affairs (Estonia) for three year initiative. The project will pilot the educational activities in the kindergartens in three selected districts of Moldova, which will be conducted by inspectors from the CPESS. A series of educational, capacity building activities will be jointed conducted with Estonian colleagues, as well as inspectors from territory will have additional tasks introduced into their ToRs regarding prevention activities. The project started in September 2015 with the mission of Estonian experts to Moldova and a first study visit to Estonia was organized in December 2015. All these activities were enabled by support provided by the project in elaboration of strategic directions of the Prevention and Communication department and establishing the partnership with Estonia colleagues.

Output 2: Key stakeholders and society have improved DRR awareness and knowledge, as well as strengthened ability to develop own capacity

To bridge the gap between knowledge and practical experience, between officially responsible structures (Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service) and organizations working with people (local authorities, NGOs) a trainers from CPESS and NGOs have been trained on Community Disaster Risk Management and pilot activities were conducted in selected communities. Curricula on Community Disaster Risk Management was elaborated based on recommendations provided by national and international experts in 2014. The topics do reflects the themes which are necessary for the local population and are gender sensitive. In four communities across the country pilot projects were conducted in close cooperation with the Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service.

2.1 Developing the module on Community Disaster Risk Management and ToT course

Education is playing a crucial role in promoting and enabling Disaster Risk Management (DRM) approach in the country. Based on recommendations elaborated by the experts on mainstreaming DRR in 2014 ToT “Community Disaster Risk Management” was elaborated by a team consisting from an international and national experts.

The objective of the training is to enable communities to improve their local capacity to manage disaster-related risks, with an emphasis on risk reduction. The actual training materials, including a training-of-trainers component, were included into the training materials. The target groups for the curriculum are local government officials, including members of the Primar’s office, government services (e.g., schools, health care, water and roads services, etc.) and local community representatives, including social organizations.

The community disaster risk management curriculum contains nine modules, as described below. This module approach is designed to allow trainers to adapt the content and timing of training to the conditions of a specific community. Not all modules will necessarily be delivered at the same time and all modules may not be needed in each community. Each module requires two to four hours to complete.

Module One – Introduction and Disaster Management Concepts This module introduces the training program and cover the basic concepts applied to the management of disasters. The module will initiate a process of raising participant awareness of local hazards and risk management challenges.

Module Two – Disaster Management Laws and Regulations This module provides an overview of the laws and regulations linked to disaster management in Moldova.

Module Three – Risk Assessment This module provides a simple history-based process for assessing the hazards, social vulnerabilities and risks faces by a community.

Module Four – Drought This module covers the causes and impacts of drought, as well as measures which can be used to reduce risk and respond when a drought occurs. A specific outcome is a simple drought management plan.

Module Five– Flood This module covers the causes and impacts of flood, as well as measures which can be used to reduce risk and respond when a flood occurs. A specific outcome is a simple flood management plan.

Module Six – Severe Weather This module covers the causes and impacts of severe weather, including winter and summer storms, hail, hard freezes and high winds, together with measures to reduce risk and respond when severe weather occurs. A specific outcome is a simple severe weather management plan.

Module Seven– Fire This module covers the causes and impacts of structural and wild fire and cover measures to reduce risk and provide effective response once a fire occurs. A specific outcome is a simple structural and wildfire management plan.

Module Eight– Other Hazards This module covers other hazards, such as industrial or road accidents or mines, which may affect a community. The focus of the module will be on raising awareness about these hazards and where specialized guidance can be secured to address the hazards.

Module Nine – Development and Disaster Reduction This module introduces the concept of integrating disaster risk reduction into local development. Participants tare defining developmental plans for a community and then consider how these plans could be affected by the disasters identified in the risk assessment. The outcome is a simple plan for integrating risk reduction onto local development efforts based on the work executed in the previous modules.

A training of trainers’ (ToT) course was developed to assist NGOs and CPESS in providing the community based disaster risk management. The four day ToT covered following topics: - Developing trainer’s skills; conducting training needs assessment, work with the group, etc. - Introducing the Community Risk Management Modules: review of the Modules developed to the participants. - Practicing the presentation of modules. - Follow up work with the community and possibilities of integration into the existing curricula.

Two training were held in 2015:

- ToT “Community disaster risk management” for the staff of CPESS training center and representatives of national counter partners: 28-31 July 2015 (team of international and national consultant in English-Romanian-Russian languages), 20 participants - ToT “Community disaster risk management” for NGO representatives 11-12 September 2015 (by national consultants and CPESS trainer, in Romanian and Russian languages), 21 participant. - Based on the feedback from participants about the content of the sessions, a team of experts made the correspondent adjustments and the Manual, material for Participants were transferred to CPESS in English, Romanian and Russian Languages.

CPESS integrated the modules from Community Risk Assessment training into the educational program for local authorities and senior management of educational institutions.

In order to ensure the access to the training materials by a target group an on-line training module was launched. It will be transferred on the web space dedicated to this service by E- Government in M-Cloud in 2015 and currently hosted on the following address: cri.vox.md

The access and internal space is managed by the personnel of the training center and students and teaches have different access levels to modules in Romanian and Russian languages.

Figure 3. On-line training module on Community Risk Management 2.2 Piloting Community Risk Management in 4 districts of Moldova

Four NGOs were selected based on the competitive process. The Expression of Interests for the Small Grants Programme was launched in August 2015.

Four organizations applied with the concepts of proposals for conducting activities in the districts. NGO AO Consult Service, from the North of Moldova, Drochia Each organization came with co-fiancing for their project which was not less than 10% from the amount allocated by the Project.  Public Association Consult Service 2044 USD 544 (cofinancing)  Public Association Terra-1530 44126 MDL 20000 MDL (co-finaning)  Public Associtation, Speranta, 2352.5 USD, 852 USD (cofinancing)  Ecological Movement from Moldova, Stefan-Voda 2560 USD, 1060 USD (cofinancing)

2.2.1 Public Association Consult Service, from the North of Moldova, Drochia Project name: “Providing constancy for sustainable agriculture land management and introducing eco-friendly agriculture practices for disaster risk reduction”

The scope of the project was to raise the resilience of local farmers to climate related disasters. The project was implemented during the period October - November 2015. This NGO is a part of ACSA Network in the country and does have the experience in introducing the climate resilience agriculture practices. ToT which was organized by the project gave a perspective and additional knowledge for members of NGO to conduct awareness activities with community representatives. A set of sixteen 1-day training conducted in 8 localities of Drochia district was conducted by an implementation team from NGO AO Consult Service. Following localitieis were covered: Town Drochia (3 events) village Chetrosu, Drochia district (2 events) village Popesti, Drochia district (3 events) village Gribova, Drochia district (2 events) village Hanasenii Mari, Drochia district village Nicoreni, Drochia district (2 events) village Sofia , Drochia district village Popesti de Jos, Drochia district

Figure 4. Farmers and LPA at the seminar in Drochia town, 16.11.2015 The drought risk management programmer has reached out approximately 500 of participants from following target groups: 1. Small agricultural producers/farmers from Drochia district; 2. School children from graduate classes; 3. Young people starting their agriculture business. In order to reach out the target groups and share the existing practices fro Disaster Risk Reduction in Agriculture study visits were organized to the existing demonstration plots. On figure 5 the participants are getting the knowledge on cultivating in greenhouses as one of the options for the drought mitigation.

Figure 5. Young people, staring their agri- business visit greenhouse.

AO Consult Service has a trained team of experts in disaster risk management and is working actively in Drochia district with agriculture producers to mitigate and adapt to climate related hazards.

2.2.2 Public Association Terra-1530 from Straseni district, village Vorniceni Project name: Raising awareness of local communities from Straseni district in Disaster Risk Management

Being a local NGO from community Vorniceni, Terra-1530 involved 20 villages from Straseni district in raising awareness activities in Disaster Risk Management. A team from Terra-1530 trained during ToT for Community Disaster Risk Management organized following activities: 1. Three thematic seminars for main stakeholders in villages Galesti, Vorniceni and Straseni town, involving in total 45 participants. 2. Caravan: How to Prevent Disasters. One day activities were organized in following localities of Straseni District: a. Village Vorniceni b. Village Lozova c. Village Stejareni d. Village Siret e. Village Roscani f. Village Scoreni g. Village Fagureni h. Village Panasesti i. Village Capriana j. Village Tataresti This one day event was targeted to informing LPA and citizens on “What disaster means” and “What can be done to prevent disasters”. Two villages, Galesti and Vorniceni formed the working groups for elaboration of the disaster risk management plan and additional funds were attracted for organization of study visit to Romania for representatives of LPA from two localities.

3. Edition of local newspaper ADEVARUL (The Thruth) was published dedicated to disaster risk management on the local level and presenting the results of the project. The

circulation of 3000 was disseminated during training events and information sessions organized by Terra-1530 trainers.

Figure 5. Cover page of newspaper ADEVARUL

During the Caravan activists from the villages actively participated in the discussions and came with the proposals for the disaster risk reduction regional plan. Strong cooperation was established between NGO Terra-1530 and district department of Civil Protection and Emergency Situation service. NGO Terra-1530 has now Disaster Risk Management as one of the priorities of the organization’s development and joined the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (see this link for membership confirmation: http://globalnetwork- dr.org/members/member-resources/list-of-members.html).

2.2.3 Public Association Speranta, village Carpineni, raionul Hincesti Project name: “Be active and participate and you will be protected!”

The objective of the project realized by NGO Speranta was to mainstream the disaster risk management activities into the local development planning. Public awareness raising events were held at the beginning of the project for the Carpineni community where 10,465 people live. The implementation team selected following approaches to reach local population: 1. Trainings and awareness raising activities with the Local public authorities, local council and active working group. 2. Working group had regular meeting for identifying the problems, challenges and possible solutions for Carpineni community in disaster risk management. 3. The locality was divided into 10 sectors with one responsible form the working group for each part. Ideas for the Action Plan were collected from the local people who know the situation better. 4. Working group formulated the ideas for plan based on the proposal from population. 5. The document was presented to the Local Council and will be proposed for approval in 2016. In order to facilitate the participation of pubic in the discussion NGO Speranta organized a set of trainings. Community Disaster Risk Management and principles of public participation in the process of decision making were covered during in cycle of local trainings. Establishing of partnerships of the local level was very important for successful implementation of the project. Local NGO, educational institutions (school, kindergarten), local public authorities, small businesses united their efforts in elaboration of the disaster profile, formulation of problems and identification of possible solutions. This level of ownership and commitment of local actors will be a driving force for the implementation stage.

2.2.4 Ecological Movement from Moldova, Stefan-Voda Project name: Prevention of disaster and climate related risks trough raising awareness and education

The objective of the project was to raise awareness and motivation of young generation for being actively involved in prevention activities on disaster and climate risk reduction. The project was focused on involving the youth into the raising awareness activates. As the first step a ToT on Community Disaster Risk Management for a group of selected young trainers was organized by the implementation team. Twenty four activists were selected and trained from the disaster prone localities. On the next stage of the project implementation young trainers held educational events at schools and kindergartens in localities from Stefan Voda district.

Figure 6. Training of Trainers for Youth

List of localities where educational activities took place: Stefan Voda, Palanca, Crocmaz, Purcari, Olanesti, Cioburciu, Rascaeti, Talmaza, Popeasca, Ermoclia, Marianaca de Jos, Caplani, Carahasani, Slobozia, Copceac, Volintiri, Viisoara, Festelita. Around 250 schoolchildren of different age participated in events in the localities. Raising awareness activities in the localities also included Quiz Game „Be informed, be protected” and young trainers were actively involved in activiites dedicated to the International Day for the Disaster Risk Reduction in October 2015.

Figure 6. Internation DRR Day. Viziting Fire Fighters

Due to this project Ecological Movement Stephan Voda established partnership with the Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service from the district level. They created capacities in the villages across the region to promote sustainable and low risk level development. The organization have disaster risk reduction as one of priority directions for the coming years. Output 3: Regional and local level risk management replicated and upscaled in Moldova.

Activities realized by the project for achieving of Output 3 were aimed at improving the risk management on the local level by introducing the innovative, up-to-date early warning solutions have been installed. Identification of the pilot locations was done in close cooperation with the Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service, All three communities (2 villages and one small town) were selected in one district to have a small scale project which can be further replicated.

3.1 Early warning solutions piloted

In case of emergency onset the quality of decision-making directly depends on how well informed are those who make the decisions. For emergency forecasting and elimination of their consequences, prompt and correct decisions mean that lives will be saved and people’s health will be protected, which means that the responsibility for those decisions must be maximum.

Warning against natural and environmental disasters, accidents and catastrophes, epiphitoties, epizooties, fires, modern means of destruction (hereinafter, emergencies) as well as protection of people and assets is accomplished through a set of measures. An important measure is warning against danger or emergency onset. Civil protection warning systems are used for that. Building, modernizing (improvement, reconstruction) and maintenance in permanent readiness of civil protection warning systems is part of civil protection measures, taken by authorities at all levels.

The goals of implementation of the pilot early warning system is to warn population about dangers or emergencies. To achieve this it is important to:

- Consolidate a functional, modern system, compatible with the provisions concerning systems of warning against danger or disaster onset; - Provide transition to modern technologies and methods of warning people against dangers or disaster onset; - Enlarge warning coverage by using modern means of alarm; - Inform in due time local public administration at all levels, emergency situations authorities, companies and organizations about the danger or emergency onset; - Implementation of the warning system project will contribute to institutional development and will improve equipment for emergency interventions, as a modern pilot system based on up-to-date technologies will be created.

The Project together with the Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service started the pilot on installing the early warning systems. The localities were selected in a close cooperation with CPESS: - Copanca village, Causeni district (1 installation) - Taraclia village, Causeni district (1 installation) - Causeni town (2 installations).

The Early Warning Solution (EWS) presnt the Local Command Unit and the Control Center which was installed on the computer located in the premises of the Fire-fighters unit in Causeni district. The electronic signal transmitters (sirens) installed locally in each village. Sircom Company from Germany was qualified the best as the result of the open tender conducted and provided the equipment, software trainings. Local works were supported by the national counterpartner of Sircom, the Omnicam company.

The location of the Early warning istallations in Causeni town are presented on the figures below:

The EWS software has the multi-level access based on the user rights which allows the access from the local and regional level. Mobile connection, Internet and regular land line are the communication channels which ensure permanent work of the system in case of communication channels crashes. The system can provide early warning and notification and well as monitoring if communication channels is performed automatically.

The Control and Management Software SiCAS is designed to allow several user on remote control by the highest possible security for any siren-function within any communication structure. At any time the alarm-activation has highest priority. Showing the operator the system-performance as well any technical status of each siren within a System. In Moldova case the SiCAS is used as a single application installed in Causeni fire-fighters unit.

The main tasks of the district civil protection warning system are to provide a mechanism to transmit signals (instructions) and information from emergency situations authorities from second level territorial-administrative authorities to: a) heads of first level local public administration authorities; b) heads of district and municipal civil protection services; c) operational dispatch services of potentially dangerous sites and other economic entities, where the risk of emergency onset is high; d) military-administrative authorities from the territory; e) population.

Figure 7. SICAS software main screens

Based on the results of the pilot project CPESS formulated the Joined project with the homolog service from Ukraine for extending the network of the electronic sirens in the country and submitted the project proposal for the EU Neighbourhood Partnership Initiative projects in 2015. Output 4. Strengthened capacities of Local governments to develop, mainstream, monitor and evaluate the integrated disaster and climate risk reduction plans and programs using innovative approaches and IT solutions.

Ungheni was selected in Moldova as a pilot town based on the preliminary assessment of the vulnerable towns done by the CPESS (Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service, Moldova). Local authorities were open and ready to include the DRM aspect in the development planning of the city. Being a transboundary town with Romania Ungheni has the potential to apply for further financing in the transboundary projects. A working group formed in Ungheni town identified the priorities for disaster risk management using Local Government Self-Assessment tool. Based on identified priorities the project supported the elaboration of the City resilience strategy, identified the priority for the short- and long- term activities, and for the pilot intervention. Identification of possible innovative IT solutions were done in collaboration with the MiLab (Innovation Lab in UNDP Moldova).

4.1 Local Government Self Assessment Tool

As the first step in identifying the local challenges in disaster risk management was applying the Local Government Self Assessment Tool (LGSAT). The LGSAT enables local governments, in partnership with local civil society and other actors, to contribute to progress reviews against the Hyogo Framework for Action at national and regional levels. Training for applying LGSAT was conducted in the period 18-20 February, with the involvement of experts from UNISDR and GETI. Thirty participants presenting Ungheni stakeholders, national disaster risk management authorities (Civil Protection, Cadastral Service, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, NGOs (environment, women) had an extensive three days training. In total 40 participants have benefited from this training, representing 19 organizations and agencies from national level and Ungheni town. Participants applied “Ten Essentials” scorecard to identity the issues to be addressed to raise the disaster resilience of Ungehni town.

The Disaster Resilience Scorecard (hereafter, “the scorecard”) is intended to enable cities to establish a baseline measurement of their current level of disaster resilience, to identify priorities for investment and action, and to track their progress in improving their disaster resilience over time. It consists of 85 disaster resilience evaluation criteria and focuses on the following aspects:

 Research, including evidence-based compilation and communication of threats and needed responses  Organization, including policy, planning, coordination and financing  Infrastructure, including critical and social infrastructure and systems and appropriate development  Response capability, including information provision and enhancing capacity  Environment, including maintaining and enhancing ecosystem services  Recovery, including triage, support services and scenario planning.

Each evaluation criterion is broken down to set out the aspect of disaster resilience being measured, an indicative measurement and the measurement scale (from 0 to 5, where 5 is best practice). All participants were divided into two working groups evaluating the situation in parallel and at the end of the training the joined action plan was combined.

Figure 8. A group of participants working over the measures

In the evaluation of the even participants highlighted that the training was very useful, it will allow integration of disaster risk reduction measures into the local development planning but the success of the implementation will depend on the local authorities as they are responsible in the territory.

4.2 Mainstreaming the City Resilience Measures into the Local Development Planning. Based on the finding and recommendations after applying LGSAT working group which was formed in the locality started the elaboration of the measures to increase the City Resilience. With the support of the national expert the Draft Disaster Risk Management Plan was elaborated.

Following stakeholders were present in a jointed working group: - Ungheni city hall representative; - Civil Protection and Emergency Service; - Educational department; - NGOs (women, local development); - Cadastral service; - Architect department; - Responsible for youth;

The directions were identified based on the information collected about different risks, other events which happened during the last decades and are in line with the other strategic documents from the district and town level. Data were also presented by the other projects: flooding projections were provided by the project “management and Technical Assistance Support to Moldova Flood Protection Project”.

Following directions were identified as a priorities for a five year planning 2016-2020: - Identification, evaluation and disaster risk monitoring and improving the early warning systems (2 actions) - Raising awareness of disaster risk management using innovative approaches for creating safe culture and resilience on all levels (4 actions) - Reducing risks from natural and man made disasters (6 actions) - Improving capacities for response and recovery in case of disasters (7 actions).

Public hearings with at least three main groups will be conducted in the first half of 2016, and followed by submitting for approval for Town Council. Being approved the document will be the first pilot in the country. 4.3 Piloting use of IT tools in the disaster risk management.

To ensure the understanding the vast possibilities of IT use in the disaster risk management the representative from Ungheni working group, Liliana Ticu (from City Hall) participated in the Summer School organized within the regional component by UNDP Regional Center in cooperation with Central European University.

The technology helps improve our lives daily. Introduction of internet and development of more sophisticated software and virtual repositories provide for more opportunities to use them in addressing the global, regional and local challenges by not on disaster managers, but also by development practitioners in general.

The overall objective of the UNDP CEU SUN was support UNDP COs and the representatives from regional projects s in development of capacities to design and implement integrated climate and disaster risk reduction plans and make cities more resilient to disasters.

Following objectives were achieved: a) Continued learning of DRR practitioners in the region on how ICT can be used for DRR b) Establishing alliances in the region among UNDP, Academia, National Counterparts and Private Sector c) Generation of new regional knowledge on DRR based on shared best practices d) Sharing innovative approaches in the region in view of exporting innovative DRR expertise e) Learning by doing in designing and implementing concept of Smart Cities f) Increasing awareness and knowledge level on DRR and disaster risk by using advanced technology means g) Exploring novel ways in which ICT is helping create alternative infrastructures for resilience.

Based on the findings from the CEU Summer School and in close cooperation with innovation Lab from Moldova by applying the Design Thinking methodology in using the IT tools for the Disaster Risk Management the proposals for Ungheni town were identified: the platform which will allow the joint management of the disasters by responsible stakeholders and feedback from population.

The wireframe was elaborated based on the social survey (see the picture below on the next page).

During the year 2016 the platform will be implemented enabling the local authorities to manage disasters in a more effective way. An information campaign, education activities, establishing the pool of volunteers in the disaster risk management.

Section of the Ungheni website will developed to comprise the information about the risks, possible hazards and useful information for citizens in case of disasters.

V. Achieving results 22015 (based on project results framework and established targets)

Expected outputs Targets 2015 (Atlas) Results 2015 Output 1: Coordination, National Disaster Risk National Disaster Risk Management Strategy and planning, and monitoring Management Strategy and Action Action Plan consulted with the Civil Protection capacities enhanced to Plan is consulted with the national and Emergency Situations Service and the main execute the National stakeholders via official stakeholders, submitted for government approval. Disaster Risk Management mechanism and is submitted for Strategy the governmental approval. 33 CPESS stuff and 17 representatives from main national stakeholders with increased knowledge on risk assessment and in planning, budgeting, At least 20 CPESS staff have implementation and monitoring of DRM increased knowledge in planning, initiatives. budgeting, implementation and monitoring of DRM initiatives. Output 2: Key stakeholders and society At least 2 ToTs based on 2 ToT conducted for representatives of the have improved DRR elaborated Curricula in CPESS, main national stakeholders and NGOs on awareness and knowledge, Community Disaster Risk community DRM as well as strengthened Management are conducted. ability to develop own capacity

Output 3: Local level risk management replicated and Selected 2-4 communities are Selected 3 communities piloted early warning upscaled in Moldova piloting early warning solution. solutions.

Output 4. Strengthened capacities of Local The prototype of ICT The prototype of Risk Management portal, ICT governments to develop, solution/mobile application is solution for increased Ungheni city resilience mainstream, monitor and developed and starts developed, under implementation. evaluate the integrated implementation in the target disaster and climate risk town. reduction plans and programs using innovative approaches and IT solutions. VI. Planning of Activities for the 2016 (AWP 2016 as a separate document) VII. Annex: Media coverage of the DRR Project

News item/date Website/organization Link Comment 12/10 Civil Protection and http://dse.md/ziua-interna%C8%9Bional%C4%83-de- Balti event, DRR day Ziua internațională Emergency Situations reducere-dezastrelor-marcat%C4%83-%C3%AEn- de reducere a Service moldova-video-de-spc-se dezastrelor marcată în Moldova (VIDEO de SPC SE)

12/10 BTV telecompany http://www.btv.md/gotovy-borotsa-s-posledstviami- Balti event, DRR day Готовы бороться с kataklizm/ последствиями катаклизм (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx8kkPUI3rY)

12/10 Civil Protection and http://dse.md/aviz (snapshot is taken) Chisinau event Aviz Emergency Situations (announcement) , DRR (despre Service day eveniment) 13/10 Canal 3 http://www.canal3.md/ru/novosti/kak-rabotayut- Balti event, DRR day Как работают pozharnye-i-spasateli пожарные и спасатели

13/10 Civil Protection and http://dse.md/ziua-de-prevenire-dezastrelor-la- Chisinau event, DRR Ziua de prevenire a Emergency Situations %C8%99coala-securit%C4%83%C8%9Bii-foto-video- day dezastrelor la Service de-spc-se Școala Securității (FOTO / VIDEO de SPC SE)

Cum sa Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP90b4gzWRw Heatwaves spot, supravietuiesti Romanian valurilor de caldura Что необходимо Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hvPMyZ34Xg Heatwaves spot, делать при Russian экстремально высоких температурах Cum sa Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63FmdhtkWNM Cold waves spot, supravietuiesti Romanian valurilor reci Что необходимо Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVdy9jEl4n4 Cold waves, Russian делать при экстремально низких температурах

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