Partnership for Urban Risk Reduction (PURR)

The “Partnership for Urban Risk Reduction” is an adhoc coalition of 5 international organizations: United Cities and Local Governments (UGLG), Earthquake and Megacities Initiative, Metropolis, CityNet, and ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability. The partnership has been set up as an advocacy and support initiative to all local authorities in developing safer, more resilient, and more sustainable living environments in their cities and for their communities.

PURR's premise is that implementation of developmental and social policies takes place at the local level, as the day-to-day undertakings of physical and land use planning; urban development, construction control, social programs and infrastructure development remain in large part the responsibility of local governments. Further, local authorities remain the primary agent of service delivery to the population, thus directly impacting restitution of livelihoods and welfare during and after a disaster. Thus, by engaging in effective disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies and practices local authorities could bring about large scale protection of human life and property, and preserve development assets and socio-political stability. This is the core of the contribution of local authorities to the Hyogo Framework for Action. HFA can be made more specific for cities and provides a vehicle for local authorities and institutions to provide more concrete action and to upscale DRR progress globally.

The Partnership for Urban Risk Reduction has three main goals:

1. Worldwide awareness campaigns about risk reduction in regions regularly affected by natural disasters.
2. Building capacity at the local level to foresee and manage risks by transferring technical know-how to local actors and decision-makers.
3. Setting up a global platform for local authorities and their partners in order to build and promote a sustainable strategy for disaster risk reduction within the broader international context.