Arctik discussed disaster risk reduction with Commissioner

Arctik interviewed Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, as part of Arctik’s activities in the ENHANCE FP7 project, in which the consultancy leads the communication and dissemination work. The ENHANCE project promotes public-private partnerships for disaster risk reduction through 10 dedicated case studies.

The interview offered Arctik the opportunity to discuss key EU actions on disaster risk reduction as well as the European Council conclusions on the Post-2015 Hyogo Framework for Action in July 2014 with the Commissioner. She pointed out that public-private partnerships would be important to improve disaster risk reduction involving the private sector more and with a legal framework facilitating their participation. She also suggested that the project could support to a larger extent certification and standardisation schemes in order to provide businesses with a tool that helps them to become more resilient vis-à-vis risks, foster best practices and unleash competitive advantage.

To share the knowledge acquired in the ENHANCE project and engage with stakeholders, Arctik is currently conducting interviews with key actors in Europe. The interviews contribute to highlight the project’s achievements while connecting key actors and decision-makers. In the coming weeks, Arctik will for instance interview Ian Clark, which is the Head of Unit at Directorate General Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection for the European Commission.

Watch our interview with Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva.

The interview was recorded on 7 July 2014

Interested in our communication activities in the ENHANCE project? Please take a look at the ENHANCE website and stay tuned for more activities via our twitter hashtag #enhanceproject!