Organisations in Vanuatu can now contribute climate change and disaster risk reduction information to a central information portal that was launched at a National Advisory Board Portal (NAB) Workshop in August.
The NAB Portal aims to be a centralised ‘one stop shop’ for national projects and information related to climate change and disaster risk reduction information. It will act as the coordinating tool with the collaboration from all stakeholders while maintaining its role as a knowledge management hub for climate change and disaster risk reduction in Vanuatu.
“Information is power and the portal has coordination tools, contact lists and is a resource database that has the potential to equip people with this power,” said Mr Jesse Benjamin the Director General of the Ministry of Climate Change and Natural Disaster.
“The NAB portal is a unique portal that is user-owned and decentralised. It is a place where climate change and disaster risk reduction sectors and agency focal points are invited to access the website and update their own information.”
The Vanuatu Ministry of Climate Change is the first of three pilot countries to successfully upgrade their portal using the “Starter Package” developed through the Pacific iCLIM (https://www.griffith.edu.au/research/research-excellence/pacific-iclim) project, a joint partnership between the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and Griffith University.
The upgrade includes a new and improved e-architecture and features such as the multifaceted search, educational resource page and CC/DRR terminology to enhance content discovery and link to the regional Pacific Climate Change Portal (www.pacificclimatechange.net).
Financing of the NAB portal upgrade was made possible through the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR)’s Regional Technical Support Mechanism (RTSM- http://rtsm.pacificclimatechange.net/).
To ensure all agencies actively contribute content to the portal, the National Advisory Board on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Secretariat delivered a one day training workshop on 17 August for the NAB portal.
The training was attended by Government Agencies, such as the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) and the Department of Agriculture and Non-Government Organisations including Oxfam, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and the Care International.
For more information on the NAB Portal contact the NAB Secretariat on [email protected].