What TOGETHER is about
The central challenge of disaster risk management lies in persistently weak and fragmented disaster risk governance, characterised by siloed institutions, insufficient cross-sectoral and multi-level coordination, information barriers, and breakdowns in the decision chain, which collectively limit the effective use of available knowledge and tools, and reduce the overall effectiveness of disaster risk management efforts.
The TOGETHER project aims to address these challenges, focusing on multi-level and cross-sectoral coordination to build a disaster-resilient society amidst climate change and multi-hazard risks. The final outcome of this project is a toolkit that embodies three innovations: (1) Interoperability frameworks (legal, organisational, technical, semantic, and cross-domain) to provide Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data, (2) a multi-tool system (MTS) – an intelligent AI agent to generate insights using the FAIR data for Disaster Risk Management Governance (DRMG), and (3) DRMG that comprises innovative solutions and existing systems and best practices to enhance multi-level and cross-sectoral interactions within the existing governance systems and protocols for more efficient disaster management coordination. The tool will implement a novel public-private-civil partnership (PPCP®) approach in three Disaster Risk Management Innovation Hubs (DRMIHs) (Norway, Greece, Spain) to co-create, co-evaluate, and demonstrate the functionalities. Two replication studies in Portugal and Türkiye will showcase the robustness of the toolkit for DRMG.
Project Objectives
- PO1 – Enhance synergy building & citizen engagement: Enhance synergy-building and citizen engagement among the scientific community, research programmes, practitioners from disaster management authorities, policymakers, civil societies, citizen volunteers, and local communities in DRMIHs through TOGETHER Stakeholder Partnership Forum.
- PO2 – Promote polycentric risk governance system: Promote polycentric risk governance systems for disaster risk management and governance, acknowledging the unique characteristics and challenges of local communities (e.g., the diverse environmental, political, social, and cultural factors) through the multi-stakeholder Public-Private-Civil Partnership (PPCP)
- PO3 – Improve seamless integration to social-physical-cyber systems: Improve seamless integration of the selected innovative solutions in the TOGETHER Toolkit, including IF, MTS, and DRMG framework, to existing social-physical-cyber systems by addressing technical, semantic, legal, organisational, and cross-domain interoperability.
- PO4 – Raise situational awareness of disaster-related risks by citizens and multi-stakeholders: Raise timely situational awareness of disaster-related risk by citizens, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders and enhance the society’s readiness level for future disasters, given the scientific insights from the AI-empowered TOGETHER MTS.
- PO5 – Strengthen multi-stakeholder collaborative efforts: Strengthen the multi-stakeholder collaboration through the TOGETHER DRMG framework, addressing missing capabilities in social-physical-cyber systems and decision-making gaps in disaster management
- PO6 – Co-creation of TOGETHER Toolkit for enhanced coordination: Co-creation of the TOGETHER Toolkit, including IF, MTS, and DRMG framework, with stakeholders from disaster management organisations, policymaking institutes, civil societies, citizen volunteers, and local communities, particularly through the PPCP Living Labs (LLs).
- PO7 – Operational demonstrate with people-centered use cases: Co-evaluate and demonstrate the TOGETHER Toolkit with multi-stakeholders, particularly at 3 DRMIHs (Oslo, Orihuela, Egaleo), in an operational environment through use cases related to different phases of disaster risk management cycles and governance and replicate at 2 RSs (Lisbon, Istanbul).
- PO8 – Foster a faster transfer from science into practice: Foster a faster transfer of TOGETHER results (i.e., TOGETHER Toolkit, IF, MTS, DRMG framework) from science into practice through a clear plan for near- and far-future sustainability
Added value
Timeline
TOGETHER glossary
To support clear communication, the TOGETHER project is developing a shared glossary of key terms used in disaster resilience and disaster risk reduction. The glossary builds on widely recognised definitions from organisations such as ISO, UNDRR and IFRC, helping ensure a common understanding across research, policy and operational communities.
The glossary is used throughout the project to provide consistent terminology in all outputs and activities, while remaining flexible to include new or context-specific terms where needed. It is a living resource, continuously updated as the project evolves and as new concepts are developed.
By making this glossary available, TOGETHER aims to support better communication, collaboration and interoperability across stakeholders working on disaster resilience.