Case Studies of Subnational Disaster Risk Finance Success or Failure

Most disaster response is ultimately delivered at the local level. Most emergency finance is held at the sovereign level. This is the subnational gap. If finance can flow more directly to regional and city authorities, the speed at which available money translates into projects and frontline services can increase. Call this 'Trigger to Transit': time from shock trigger to funds arriving with implementers — a measurable KPI. This gap intrigues me, and so I have begun thinking about it and looking for expert views. Here’s the trajectory of my thinking, and I welcome help to course correct: Not all subnational units are equal. Access to risk finance mechanisms requires: Gate 1: A legal mandate. Gate 2: Revenue and creditworthiness. Gate 3: Knowhow and capacity. These gates are tall and heavy; they may even be locked. Certainly, they are not easy to open without national and international support in the form of political will and financial resources. But that is not a reason not to try. In the full piece linked below I propose three potential action areas. - Small bets before big bets. - Open existing channels. - Build resilience first. If you know of examples where subnational risk finance has worked (or failed) I am interested to know of them. #DisasterRiskFinance #CrisisFinance #Resilience #FiscalHydraulics Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)