The first phase of Towards A Safer World was a data collection exercise from October 2010 to June 2011. Teams representing different disciplines documented the primary achievements and lessons of pandemic preparedness efforts of the past five years under 11 thematic headings. These teams developed documents that presented key achievements, lessons learned and recommendations for how to move forward. Discussion and presentation of the collected data took place at a conference hosted by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome on September 15‐16, 2011. This conference gathered approximately 170 participants from Governments, UN agencies, technical and specialized agencies, NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement and private companies to determine the best path for continued advancement of these important issues. Conference participants identified a number of key tenets which were central to discussions in all groups and across all of the 11 themes previously identified. These included the need to:

• Work disaster preparedness as a ‘whole‐of‐society’ issue with the goal of reducing risks to populations and societies, and building resilient communities and organizations.
• Empower local communities through involving them in planning disaster preparedness and response activities.
• Integrate pandemic preparedness into overall disaster preparedness.
• Ensure political and public support for preparedness efforts.
• Facilitate integration of all levels of private sector into preparedness and response efforts.
• Consider ways to institutionalize linkages between units and sectors.
• Continue to facilitate efforts to develop and implement disaster and pandemic plans.
• Focus on risk communications in pandemic and disaster preparedness.
• Address the roles of new social media tools in spreading information and shaping public perspectives.
• Assess budgetary requirements and develop sources of funding.
• Assess programme effectiveness and progress including using metrics.
• Facilitate coordination of related programmes to build synergy of effort.
• Develop concrete action plans to identify roles, assign tasks and specify timelines.
• Ensure better knowledge management and documenting and sharing of lessons learned among all stakeholders.

There was broad consensus that:

• The TASW network of individuals and organisations should be maintained to support the advancement of disaster and pandemic preparedness.
• The TASW network should identify, support and collaborate with existing groups and platforms, to enhance disaster preparedness, building a broader coalition of stakeholders.
• TASW should promote implementation of the best practices for disaster preparedness and response identified at the conference.
• TASW should identify sources of funding to support continued preparedness efforts.
• An action plan should be developed to identify specific objectives and assign responsibilities for task accomplishment.

Rome, 15-16 September 2011

Conference presentations available for download at the bottom of this page

Report from the TASW Conference

1. Whole-of-Society planning: (addressing TASW Asia and Whole of Govt chapters)

• What can we learn from whole-of-society planning for pandemic that will help us to prepare for other threats?
• How do we best break down silos? How do we best engage the private sector and civil society?
• How do we best sustain whole of society readiness for pandemic?

• What can we learn from communication experiences in pandemic preparedness that will help us to prepare for other threats?
• How do we best communicate in crises? How do we best involve social media?

• What can we learn from experience with partnerships, planning and simulations in pandemic preparedness that will help us to prepare for other threats?
• How do we best build trust?
• How do we best analyse and plan for continuity of critical services?
• How do we conduct effective simulations?

• What can we learn from experience with resource mobilization and coordination in pandemic preparedness that will help us to prepare for other threats?
• How do we best stimulate finance for preparedness?
• How do we best gain political commitment?

• Whole of society planning– report back from Dr Magued Osman (Egypt)
• Communications– report back from Mark Rasmuson (FHI 360)
• Resource mobilization/coordination– report back from Olga Jonas (WB)
• Partnerships/planning/simulations– report back from Joe Inge (CDHAM)

• What can we learn from pandemic preparedness in the human and animal health sectors that will help us to prepare for other threats?
• How can we best sustain readiness for pandemic in these sectors?

• What can we learn from pandemic preparedness at community level and in the humanitarian sector that will help us to prepare for other threats?
• How do we best engage civil society?
• How can we best sustain community and humanitarian readiness for pandemic?

• What can we learn from private sector pandemic preparedness that will help us to prepare for other threats?
• How do we best engage the private sector? How can we best sustain private sector readiness for pandemic?

• What can we learn from approaches to measurement of pandemic preparedness that will help us to prepare for other threats?
• How do we best measure progress in preparedness?
• How do we best prove impact?
• How do we best document, detail and price the consequences of disasters?

• Human and animal health– report back from Paul Gully (Canada)
• Private sector– report back from Charles Blitzer (IFC)
• Community/humanitarian– report back from Kathryn Bolles (Save the Children)
• Measurement– report back from Michael Mosselmans (WFP)

• Whole of society– key to success to emergency preparedness and responses:  Randriatahina Raymond (National Office for Disaster Risk and Reduction, Madagascar)
• Pandemic and disaster preparedness plan in Nepal:Shankar Prasad Koirala, (Joint Secretary, Chief of Disaster Division, MoHA, Nepal)
• Military Medical Support: Air Vice Chief Marshall Dr Mariono Reksoprodjo, (Surgeon General, Indonesia)
• Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness: Vincent Briac ( Senior Officer, Health Department, IFRC, Geneva)
• Developing common approaches to business continuity management. Brian Gray, (Chief, UN Business Continuity Management Unit, New York)
• Multi-hazard business continuity management:Donato Kiniger-Passigli, (Senior Specialist, Strategic Partnerships, ILO, Geneva)
• The Pandemic Toolkit: Lisa Stone (Pandemic Preparedness Consultant, PREPARE, Massachusetts)
• Where disaster risk reduction is heading: Neil McFarlane (Coordinator, Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, ISDR, Geneva)

• OIE Presentation: Dr Alain Dehove,  (Coordinator of the World Animal Health and Welfare Fund, OIE)
• Fire Rescue: Robert Triozzi, Chief, Fire Rescue Development Program, Rome
• Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data and breaking through influenza walls: Alan Hay, (Co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of GISAID)
• Overview of BARDA current activities: Michael Perdue, (Influenza Division, BARDA, DHHS, Washington DC)
• Civil military coordination and planning in pandemic preparedness: RADM Thomas Cullison MC USN (Ret), (Center for Excellence)
• Organisational resilience: Michael Tarrant, Australian Emergency Management Institute

• How can we transfer and apply the lessons from our pandemic experience to the wider all-hazard preparedness agenda

• How can we progress the wider disaster preparedness agenda and
• strengthen global disaster preparedness capabilities

• Building on discussion over past 2 days, what are the key actions required to sustain pandemic preparedness, who should take such actions, and what funding is required to enable them?

• Building on discussion over past 2 days, what are key actions required to strengthen global preparedness for major disasters, who should take such actions, and what funding is required to enable them?

• Pandemic preparedness: report back from Andy Bates (CoE)
• Disaster preparedness: report back from Randolph Kent (King’s College)

• How to move the TASW agenda forward after this meeting – call to action / next steps / roadmap?