The Pacific is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Disaster risks converge with critical socio-economic vulnerabilities, environmental degradation, climate change, and more recently COVID-19, making the Pacific a disaster hotspot.
Disasters affect women, girls, boys, and men differently. Recent UN Women and UNICEF research confirmed that women, children, and youth are among the most vulnerable to natural hazards, conflict, climate change, and other threats such as COVID-19. Similarly, analysis of mortality rates from recent disasters in Asia and the Pacific region shows that women and girls die in greater numbers and have different and uneven levels of resilience and capacity to recover.
The Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) programme proposes a comprehensive package to strengthen the resilience of women and girls. The WRD Programme's goal is to render women and girls' lives and livelihoods resilient to disasters and threats, contributing to sustainable, secure, and thriving communities. In the Pacific, the WRD will initially be implemented in Kiribati, Vanuatu, and Fiji. It has been designed for replication and upscaling in the region and worldwide.
