The conference in Bucharest was the 1st event in DPPI SEE training program for 2023. Hosted by the Department for Emergency Situations of Republic of Romania, the event focused on the importance of risk information as foundation for effective disaster risk reduction. Trusted, accurate and widely used risk information saves lives, particularly when it reaches ‘the last mile’ and is put into practice to protect vulnerable communities, goods and systems.

The last event under Disaster Management Training Program for 2022 was held in Podgorica, Montenegro on the topic of civil protection training centers. The workshop was held in the newly established civil protection training center and this was the first international event held there.

The objective of the seminar was to share practical examples on business continuity planning and critical infrastructure protection in context of disaster management. During the days of the seminar member states had valuable exchange on industrial accidents prevention and discussed options for future collaboration. Each country contributed by making a presentation to the seminar attended by representatives of 9 DPPI member  countries, including Türkiye.

 In close collaboration with the Civil Protection Directorate of Republic of Croatia and the UNDRR office for Europe and Central Asia, DPPI SEE hosted the Round table on DRR financing and the workshop on the same topic. The Round table on DRR financing gathered around high officials from the member states as well as from UNDRR, UNDP, DG ECHO, World Bank, IFRC, Regional Cooperation Council and EuropaRE.

Upon the invitation of the Ministry for climate crisis and civil protection of the Hellenic Republic, Head of Secretariat participated at the EFDRR Action oriented dialogue in Athens (21 October 2022). The entire event was organized as a combination of working laboratories and a ministerial round table. During the working laboratories the topics of heat waves as major threats to our resilience was discussed in combination with the increased frequency of forest fires.

Sector for Emergency Management of Republic of Serbia hosted the Host Nation Support workshop in Belgrade. The workshop was part of our DMTP program and was used to exchange on various elements that are part of sending and receiving assistance. In the last 10 years there were over 48 activations of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism only in this part of Europe.

Upon the invitation of the Protection and Rescue Directorate of Montenegro, Head of Secretariat at DPPI SEE participated at the EU BALANCE field exercise as lead trainer. Together with the Head of Secretariat the exercise was also supported by the Finance/Admin assistant and the two interns from Lund University – Masters program of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, Spilios Iliopoulos and Tjorben Niklas Zenker.

This event was a contribution of the Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief of Republic of Slovenia to our annual training program. Total number of 16 firefighters from 8 DPPI SEE member states had the opportunity to train various fire suppression techniques, to exchange and to learn from each other. The Training Center in Ig, Slovenia offered excellent working conditions to meet the learning objectives. This is one of our traditional trainings that we are having in our program and one of the most appreciated by the participants.

DPPI SEE member states and DPPI SEE Secretariat were present at the EU Civil Protection Forum in Brussels, Belgium. During the warm up session held on the 27 June special attention was given to the Western Balkans by recognizing the efforts of Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina to become future members of UCPM. By the words of EU commissionaire Janez Lenarcic, the expansion of the UCPM with Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina is his top priority.

As associated partner to the EU funded project LINKS, DPPI SEE member states participated at the workshop in Split, Croatia on the 24 June. The workshop had the following objectives: