BEAVER

Overview

Description

BEAVER’s overall aim is to strengthen local communities’ preparedness and resilience to disasters and emergencies, with a focus on vulnerable groups and the integration of climate adaptation as a cornerstone of robust civil protection (CP) systems. Key to the project is the development of Resilience Proximity Labs (RPLs) in four territories across Europe, designed as novel mechanisms for organising, creating, and sustaining capacities in the ‘last mile’ of CP. The RPLs will focus on three specific objectives: 

- Enabling community contribution and participatory governance, fostering collective stewardship of preparedness, resilience, and adaptation plans while driving new alliances between CP actors and local communities. 

- Empowering CP actors and local communities in inclusive risk prevention and preparedness, enhancing their ability to anticipate, adapt to, and respond to disasters as a shared responsibility. 

- Embedding innovative approaches to civil protection within local policies and strategies, integrating resilience and adaptation goals through practices that bridge formal CP structures with community efforts. Building on best practices, the RPLs will act as ‘hotspots’ of civil protection 

- blending digital and door-to-door awareness campaigns, delivering hands-on training, providing climate shelters, facilitating collective investment in adaptation measures, and embedding a culture of risk prevention within local communities. The Labs will work with and for a diversity of stakeholders well beyond the sole CP field, ultimately seeking to unleash co-benefits of resilience and adaptation especially for vulnerable groups. Towards long-term impact, BEAVER will create a comprehensive set of resources including guidelines and practical tools that can be transferred and tailored to different contexts, supporting the upscaling of RPLs as a more responsive, adaptive, and community-centered approach to civil protection across Europe.

Partner organisations