Final Conference

Resume / Sommario Top

After three years of hard work, “Culture And RISk management in Man-made And Natural Disasters” (CARISMAND) reached its end. The project final conference „Making a difference Managing differences: Cultural factors in disaster management“ took place in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy, on 18 and 19 September 2018 promoting the CARISMAND Toolkit and its key features and recommendations. The event gathered more than 130 experts and practitioners from the disaster management community across Europe.

CARISMAND Final Conference started with a project introduction and continued with two key presentations. The detailed overview of project results was followed by a presentation by Dr Sandra Appleby-Arnold (University of Malta) on the cultural factors in disaster management; while Dr Noellie Brockdorff, from the same university, and Alexandra Tsvetkova (LIBRe Foundation) revealed to the audience the developmentmethodology,architecture and functionalities of the CARISMAND Toolkit including its special feature – the Cultural Map.

CARISMAND’s overall objective was to identify cultural factors in disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery, reveal existing gaps and explore opportunities for using these cultural factors to improve disaster policies, guidelines, processes and procedures. Accordingly, the CARISMAND Toolkit represents a key deliverable of the CARISMAND project, as it develops a comprehensive knowledge base for practitioners, citizens and policy-makers which provides concrete ideas, examples and recommendations for culturally-aware practices in disaster contexts.

To achieve this goal, the toolkit development follows a broad, multi-disciplinary approach. On the one hand, it incorporates proposed solutions developed within the continuous feedback-loop between disaster management stakeholders and citizens throughout the project’s life cycle. On the other hand, it is shaped and informed by the ongoing research carried out by project partners with expertise in a large variety of fields, ranging from cognitive science, anthropology, psychology and sociology to IT and law, effectively collating a wide range of viewpoints, knowledges and approaches. Together with the expertise of disaster management practitioners – project partners as well as participants of the three Stakeholder Assemblies – and the experiences and expectations of citizens collected during the six Citizen Summits, this collation of practical, scientific and “lay” knowledge provides both the backbone and the multiple layers of the CARISMAND Toolkit.

The project toolkit is focused specifically on cultural factors which may vary in their impact depending on the respective actors involved, the specific types of hazards or disasters, and the respective disaster phases (prevention, preparedness, response and recovery). In addition, it is not restricted to preventative risk management and/or immediate disaster response but also takes into consideration long term actions that are aiming to enable different communities to be more disaster resilient. Accordingly, the CARISMAND Toolkit allows interested parties (disaster managers, citizens, policy-makers) to search and access information which may be relevant to a specific cultural context, to their specific area of expertise, to different disaster situations, or a combination of choices.

With respect to the above, the two-day event covered three specialized sessions dedicated to the content of the CARISMAND Toolkit. During the first day, Dr Aitana Radu (University of Malta), Dr Sunčica Zdravković (University of Novi Sad), Samuel Iheanyi Nwankwo (Leibniz University Hannover) and Dr Ionut Olaru (SMURD Foundation), presented CARISMAND recommendations for policy makers, while Dr Noellie Brockdorff, Dr Sandra Appleby-Arnold, Laure Fallou (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre) and Valentin Stoian (“Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy) showcased CARISMAND recommendations for practitioners andcitizens during the next day. Reflections on the CARISMAND concepts and the potential impact of its findings by the special guests of the event – Dr Raid Arafat, SMURD Foundation, and Prof Maurizio Fiasco, Istituto di Studi Politici "S. Pio V", complemented the presentations.

To feel the flavor of the project and to experience the CARISMAND thinking process, all participants were involved in a series of high-table discussions based on some of the CARISMAND Toolkit recommendations presented earlier. The immediate feedback from rapporteurs from each table discussion illustrated the information feedback loop the CARISMAND relied on to produce its findings and was found extremely interesting and useful by both guests and project partners.

A panel discussion involving Ramesh Tripathi (World Meteorological Organisation), Prof Maurizio Fiasco and Prof Joseph Cannataci (CARISMAND project coordinator) was focussed on the importance and specifics of the multi-stakeholder approach undertaken in CARISMAND and the mechanisms for integrating the project multidisciplinary results into the work of disaster managers and practitioners.

CARISMAND Final Conference concluded with the vision beyond CARISMAND, presented by Prof Joseph Cannataci. The final version of the toolkit is planned to be published online in the weeks following the event and will include a downloadable version that could be adaptable by users to suit their specific environments and needs. It was also announced that SMURD Foundation, one of the partners representing the disaster management community in the project, will take over and sustain the Toolkit after the official end in September 2018.

Agenda / Programma Top

You can find the Agenda in English language here.

You can find the Agenda in Italian laguage here.

Venue / Luogo Designato Top

CARISMAND Final Conference is held in the premises of Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, 50122 Florence, Italy.

Rotating High-Table Discussions Top

An important part of the conference was the involvement of participants in the overall discussions taking place. A series of high-table discussions based on some of the CARISMAND Toolkit recommendations presented during the conference allowed the participants to experience first hand the CARISMAND thinking process. The immediate feedback from rapporteurs from each table discussion illustrated the information feedback loop the CARISMAND relied on to produce its findings and was found extremely interesting and useful by both guests and project partners.

You can find the High Table Discussions' introduction in English language here.

You can find the High Table Discussions' introduction in Italian language here.

High-table discussions' proceedings will soon be published.

Resources / Risorse Top

CARISMAND Fact Sheet (EN) / Su CARISMAND (IT)

Presentations from the Conference / Presentazioni  della Conferenza

Overview of CARISMAND / Panoramica su CARISMAND (EN)

Cultural Factors in Disaster Management / I fattori culturali nella gestione delle calamità (EN)

CARISMAND Toolkit Concept: Recommendations & Cultural Map/ Concetto di Toolkit di CARISMAND: Raccomandazioni e Mappa Culturale (EN)

CARISMAND Toolkit – Recommendations for Policy Makers / Toolkit di CARISMAND - le Raccomandazioni per i Policy Makers (by Aitana Radu) (EN)

CARISMAND Toolkit – Recommendations for Policy Makers / Toolkit di CARISMAND - le Raccomandazioni per i Policy Makers (by Sunčica Zdravković) (EN)

CARISMAND Toolkit – Recommendations for Policy Makers / Toolkit di CARISMAND - le Raccomandazioni per i Policy Makers (by Samuel Iheanyi Nwankwo) (EN)

Reflections on CARISMAND / Riflessioni su CARISMAND (by Maurizio Fiasco) (IT)

CARISMAND Toolkit - Recommendations for Practitioners & Citizens / Toolkit di CARISMAND - le Raccomandazioni di Carismand per gli Operatori e i Cittadini (by Noellie Brockdorff) (EN)

CARISMAND Toolkit - Recommendations for Practitioners & Citizens / Toolkit di CARISMAND - le Raccomandazioni di Carismand per gli Operatori e i Cittadini (by Laure Fallou) (EN)

CARISMAND Toolkit - Recommendations for Practitioners & Citizens / Toolkit di CARISMAND - le Raccomandazioni di Carismand per gli Operatori e i Cittadini (by Sandra Appleby-Arnold) (EN)

CARISMAND Toolkit - Recommendations for Practitioners & Citizens / Toolkit di CARISMAND - le Raccomandazioni di Carismand per gli Operatori e i Cittadini (by Valentin Stoian) (EN)

Rotating High-Table Discussions / Dibattiti con rotazione tra i tavoli (IT)

Panel Discussion: Differences in Multi-stakeholder Approach / Tavola rotonda: Le differenze nell’Approccio Multilaterale (by Ramesh Tripathi) (EN)

Vision beyond CARISMAND / Visione oltre CARISMAND (EN)