Disaster preparedness is a core component of much of CDP’s grantmaking. Across our funds, grants often help communities not only recover, but strengthen capacity, reduce risk and build resilience before future disasters occur. CDP’s Disaster Preparedness Fund takes this focus a step further by investing in initiatives that help communities proactively prepare for, mitigate and respond to disasters before they happen. 

Recent grants from the Disaster Preparedness Fund illustrate the many ways preparedness can take shape in practice. These grants are united by a primary focus on investing in activities that help communities identify risks, strengthen local capacity and reduce vulnerability before disasters occur. These grants highlight the diverse ways preparedness can be advanced through community infrastructure, mutual aid networks, mental health support, resilient livelihoods and locally led partnerships.  

From earthquake-affected communities in Afghanistan to neighborhood-based resiliency hubs in Houston, the projects highlighted below demonstrate that preparedness is most effective when it is community-led, connected to recovery, and designed around the people and systems already responding before, during and after disasters. 

International Grantee Partners 

Citizens Organization for Advocacy and Resilience (COAR) received $50,000 from the Disaster Preparedness Fund as a part of a $100,000 grant co-funded with the Global Recovery Fund to support earthquake-affected communities in Kunar Province through unconditional cash assistance for widows and women-headed households, cash-for-work opportunities to rehabilitate damaged community infrastructure, and community-based disaster risk reduction. This integrated, locally led initiative will strengthen household resilience, restore essential infrastructure and build community preparedness for future hazards. 

Ecosystems Work for Essential Benefits (ECOWEB) received $20,000 from the Disaster Preparedness Fund as part of a $79,331 grant to support community-led recovery in disaster-affected areas of Cebu and Iligan City, Philippines by strengthening locally led recovery systems, facilitating safer shelter and resettlement planning, and providing micro-grants for livelihood restoration and community priorities. This project will accelerate livelihood recovery and strengthen community-driven, risk–informed recovery systems for vulnerable and displaced populations. 

Read the full article about Sudanese-led response and recovery by Cari Cullen and Tracy O'Heir at Center for Disaster Philanthropy.