Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP)

The Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) was co-led by CDAC Network and Start Network in 2014–2018, funded by UK Aid.

The collaborative approach taken by DEPP aimed to improve the quality and speed of humanitarian response at a national and local level by building the capacity of national actors, who are predominantly the first responders to a disaster. DEPP projects were designed to build capacity in individuals, organisations and systems.

The two-year Innovation Labs window of the programme adopted a human- or user-centred design approach. Four innovation labs were set up among underserved communities at risk of or facing recurrent and protracted crises such as drought, typhoon, flooding and conflict. The labs supported local, scalable solutions to protect communities living in disaster-prone environments and advance innovation in the sector by involving people in crisis at all stages of the process.

Through these labs, more than 90 groups or individuals progressed through a structured curriculum, accessing specialist expertise in business development, social entrepreneurship and the sectors and markets they were looking to enter, as well as opportunities to present to potential future investors and partners. By the end of the programme, more than 40% of innovators had secured future support and were up and running or market-ready.

The teams were creative in overcoming challenges in areas such as safeguarding – the innovators were invariably not trained humanitarians and so required extensive training and tools, which were developed with experts Safe Edge.

Many initiatives established under DEPP are still going strong, such as the Shongjog multistakeholder platform in Bangladesh.

Visit the DEPP website