The ProVention Consortium

The provention consortium was created in
February 2000 as a formal partnership between the World
Bank, other International Financial Institutions (IFIs),
bilateral donor organizations, the insurance sector, the
academic community, and civil society. Designed as a
think-tank to commission research and to disseminate risk
reduction tools, the provention secretariat was to rotate
from one partner organization to another. Thus, after three
years at the Bank, the secretariat was transferred to the
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies (IFRC) in Geneva. The overall goal of provention
is to reduce the social, economic, and environmental impacts
of natural disasters on vulnerable populations in developing
countries in order to alleviate poverty and contribute to
sustainable development. This is achieved through (a)
forging partnerships; (b) promoting policy; (c) improving
practice; and (d) sharing knowledge. Under the
Washington-based Secretariat, provention supported four
types of activities: applied research studies, pilot and
demonstration projects, education and training activities,
and workshops and conferences. Provention was repeatedly
criticized for its weak governance structure. Therefore, the
secretariat commissioned a governance review in 2005. The
governance review recommended reactivating the presiding
council (PC); replacing the Steering Committee (SC) by a
forum to discuss the impact of disasters in developing
countries; and creating an Advisory Committee as the main
governing body.