In order to mark the first anniversary of the EU Floods Recovery Programme in BiH, an exhibition of photographs was organised at the EU Info Centre in Sarajevo. The photographs show the reparation of buildings and infrastructure and the normalization of living conditions in local communities in the wake of the devastating floods and landslides in Bosnia and Herzegovina that occurred in May last year.
The exhibition entitled “EU Floods Recovery Programme” symbolically marked the World Humanitarian Day – 19 August, and Humanitarian Aid Month within the framework of the European Year of Development.
In his opening address, Charge d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to BiH, Dr. Renzo Daviddi said that, since the launch the Programme, it has achieved most of the objectives.
‘’We have rehabilitated houses to enable people to return home; schools to enable children to continue with their education, restored public facilities and communal infrastructure objects to enable vital public services for the citizens,” Daviddi said.
The results achieved during the first year of the programme were presented by UNDP Programme Manager of the EU Floods Recovery Programme, Mr. Edis Arifagić.
“In addition to the rehabilitation of housing units, public institutions, local roads and bridges, as well as facilities for water supply and sewerage, the fifth component of the programme MME was not so much talked about but is the most important and will have far-reaching results in the prevention of floods. We’ll make a comprehensive analysis of the entire area of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a special focus on populated areas when it comes to vulnerability to flooding and landslides. Results of this analysis will be shared with all local institutions that need to translate this information and data in to a strategy for the prevention of floods and landslides and minimize risk WITH regard to these two natural phenomena,” said Arifagic.
The EU Floods Recovery Programme is implemented by United Nations Development Programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNDP) in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). It was launched in August 2014 in order to restore normal living conditions in local communities and ensure that the aid reaches the most vulnerable after last year floods.
The value of the overall programme is 43.52 million, out of which 42.24 million is provided by the European Union.
