Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency leads a record-breaking development effort in the Western Balkans and Türkiye
With a budget of SEK 128 million and a duration of six years, the newly launched program IPA CARE is MSB's largest international capacity development initiative to date. Its aim is to address the needs of the Western Balkan countries and Türkiye in strengthening their ability to prevent risks such as earthquakes and health crises.
IPA CARE stands for Capacity for Risk Management of Earthquakes and Health Emergencies and will build capability by strengthening the legal frameworks, operational capacity, and preparedness as well as the capacity to act across borders.
“This is a unique opportunity for MSB to assume great responsibility. With both our broad and deep expertise in capacity development, we are involved in building lasting resilience that increases the security of the populations of the Western Balkans and Türkiye,” says Robert Wallén, Head of MSB’s Operations Department.
MSB’s mission and responsibility at home in crisis preparedness and civil defence, as well as making rapid interventions internationally, as in Türkiye and Syria in connection with the earthquake in February, are now well known.
“As head of MSB’s operations department, I would like to shed further light on the fact that our international commitment does not stop at rapid crisis interventions, but that we also both operate and participate in long-term international development cooperation,” Robert Wallén emphasizes.
Türkiye’s and the Western Balkans’ membership of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism is central to these development efforts. It is about being able to make optimal use of the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism to provide and receive support in the best possible way. Last in is Albania, which became a member in November last year.
“We think it is important to be involved in developing each country’s capacity and that it is also in line with the government’s priorities with regard to Swedish development cooperation and reform support, which means a rapprochement with the EU,” says Miriam Malmqvist, head of the unit for resilience building efforts at MSB.
As coordinator of IPA CARE, MSB leads a consortium of organizations that together are in charge of all aspects of the programme and organize the work carried out in the Western Balkans and Türkiye. In 2023, MSB’s role is to ensure that everything is in place so that development efforts can start early in 2024. A future broad mix of training, exercises and other efforts must be coordinated, while the work must be based on national capacities and priorities in each country.
More about the IPA CARE programme
IPA CARE has full cost recovery from DG ECHO, the European Commission’s Directorate-General. As coordinator of the programme, MSB leads a consortium of organizations that together hold an upcoming mix of courses, exercises, and other initiatives in the participating countries.
The consortium led by MSB includes Karolinska Institutet’s Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters, the Italian Civil Protection Agency, the Croatian and Romanian Ministries of the Interior, and two Italian research foundations that work with environmental monitoring and seismological risk prevention.
Purposes:
• strengthen the legal framework for disaster risk management and increase the capacity to prevent, prepare and respond to the consequences of earthquakes and health-related crises,
• strengthen operational capacity to identify and prevent risks as well as respond in the event of earthquakes and health crises,
• strengthen preparedness and operational capacity to act regionally, across borders, and at the local level, as well as provide and receive support under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
The mechanism was founded in 2001 and has since been activated over 650 times to provide support in crises.
