PEER is funded by USAID/OFDA and implemented by NSET. However, NSET will be coordinating with regional organizations (e.g. SAARC, ASEAN) and with other relevant associations for the effective implementation of PEER. NSET will work under the guidance of nodal agencies (e.g. NDMOs) in respective countries and will work together with partner organizations (PO). PO could be a national training or research institution, local authorities, private-sector institution or a NGO working in aspects of disaster preparedness and emergency response. PEER will try to best fit into the emergency response program and roadmap of the SAARC and the respective beneficiary countries.

The earlier three stages of PEER have been successful in developing/adapting emergency response training courses in Asian context, engage key government and other relevant agencies in the PEER process, and initiate a process of PEER instructor development in the countries. Countries have realized the value and importance of the quality and standards for such training courses: a significant number of graduates and instructors have been developed in the countries. They are imparting emergency response courses, such as MFR, CSSR, HOPE and CADRE to develop instructors and end-users. However, as compared to the scale of problem that the countries have been facing, the progress and achievements so far have been not enough quantitatively in order to effectively reduce the risk of the countries significantly and to trigger self-sustained process. The process of institutionalization of emergency response capacity development has begun but has not matured yet. Therefore, continuation of PEER in its fourth stage (PEER 4) is considered absolutely necessary to provide the final support to countries in their quest for consolidating the foundation of PEER process and to make it a self-sustained process ingrained into the national programs and efforts. The proposed PEER 4 will be instrumental in addressing the huge needs in the target countries.

Activities

1. Continue implementing PEER training courses using improved curricula and plan with broader engagement of government academic and private sector institutions: Continue conduct of PEER courses, including instructor development trainings, maintaining and further advancing the high quality and appropriateness of the courses; further strengthen collaboration with present partner agencies and training institutes, and explore expansion to other potential relevant organizations for sustained PEER implementation in the target countries.

2. Strengthen coordination and sharing among emergency response experts and institutions by promoting national and regional networking and international linkages: Continue to work extensively with national emergency response agencies and also extend focus to work with private sector companies and academic institutions working in aspects of disaster risk management.

3. Develop and pilot a course on Swift Water Rescue (SWR) for South Asia: A course that will help address emergency preparedness and response capacities of countries that are highly vulnerable to huge flooding.

4. Support Strengthening of Regional Coordination and Synergy Development in Emergency Response in South Asia and Beyond: Explore possibility of extending PEER courses in additional South Asian countries, strengthen regional coordination of PEER countries in South Asia, capture and replicate experiences of regional organizations as applicable in South Asia.

The five year program of PEER4 will include54 meetings/workshop/conference events (Strategic Planning meeting, Country Planning Meeting, Regional Planning Meeting, Final Lesson Learned Meeting, Periodic Progress/Review Meeting, and Course Review Workshop) in 4 countries at different time. Similarly, 94 different training courses will be conducted during the 5 program years in 4 different countries. After the conclusion of these course total of 2428 graduates of different courses will be developed in PEER countries. These figure will change should additional countries of SAARC would be inducted into PEER4.

Theory of Change

NSET has envisaged that after the effective implementation of PEER 4, each PEER country would be able to develop a minimum of 6 (1 squad) mid-level professional responders for 400,000 population and 6 (1 squad) community level responders for 10,000 population. This is a tall order and would require close engagement and commitment of all stakeholders in each country.