Disaster risk & resilience
Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR)
Definition
The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery is a multi-donor partnership and grant-funding mechanism, established in 2006 and managed by the World Bank, that supports developing countries in understanding, managing, and reducing risks from natural hazards and climate change. It provides knowledge, funding, and technical assistance across the disaster-risk cycle — from risk identification and reduction to preparedness, financial protection, and resilient recovery — contributing to implementation of the Sendai Framework.
References
Supports definition and framing.
Overview
What it means
GFDRR works on both sides of a disaster: ex ante support to make development risk-informed (building codes, hydromet services, risk analytics) and ex post assistance for recovery that builds back better, including post-disaster needs assessments. Its grants are small but catalytic — in recent years informing many times their value in World Bank resilience financing.
How it is used
Governments and World Bank teams draw on GFDRR grants, tools, and labs for disaster-risk management projects; donors coordinate through its Consultative Group; and its programmes shape practice in urban resilience, resilient infrastructure, and disaster-risk finance.
Why it matters
Disasters can erase years of development gains in days; GFDRR is the main global facility dedicated to making development resilient before the next shock, not after it.