From 2nd to 4th of March the symposium for the network ‘we4DRR‘ – women exchange for Disaster Risk Reduction – was held in Hittisau, Austria. Numerous international female experts, working in the context of disaster risk reduction, met in the Frauenmuseum Hittisau (women´s museum), Vorarlberg, to set the basis for a network in Europe.
The symposium was organised by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU) and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (BMLFUW). The state councillor of the Province of Vorarlberg, Erich Schwärzler, Maria Patek (head of the Austrian Service for Torrent and Avalanche Control) and Christina Paulus (Head of Centre for Life Long Learning and Further Education) opened the symposium and the exhibition ‘On_Stage‘.
The BOKU provided support for the symposium with two different courses. Within the Seminar ‘Gender and Diversity Aspekte in Planung und Berufsleben‘ (Doris Damyanovic, ILAP) the participants portrayed women working in the field of disaster risk reduction and presented them in the exhibition ‘On_Stage‘. This is accompanied by the interdisciplinary ‘Project on Spatial Development – Landscape Planning‘ where students focused on the spatial aspects of disaster risk reduction in connection to socio-economical circumstances and planning processes in Hittisau (Britta Fuchs, Institute of Landscape Planning and Susanna Tscharner, Institute of Mountain Risk Engineering).
The exhibition ‘ON_Stage‘ is open until the 20th of March (Location: Frauenmuseum Hittisau, Vorarlberg) and from 26th of April onwards at BOKU Vienna.
The network ‘we4DRR‘ was officially launched on 4th of March, introductory information is available on www.we4drr.net. Future visions are empowerment of women, mentoring of young female professionals, equal opportunities, making gender-specific aspects visible and collecting data on disaster risk management and people at risk.
