THE PIROI CENTER: A REGIONAL PLATFORM FOR DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT

In order to meet the growing challenges of climate change and make it easier to implement its 2021–2025 strategic framework, PIROI, with the support of its partners, is becoming the PIROI Center. This regional centre for expertise, training, and innovation will focus on disaster risk management and adaptation to climate change.

The project will enable PIROI to build on its experience by responding to the ongoing development of its activities, and address the ever-growing challenges of protecting the region’s communities.

The PIROI Center’s purpose is to provide a space for collaboration and dialogue for professionals in the fields of humanitarian work, risk management, politics and development, research, and training, as well as with the private sector and general public. This sharing of knowledge and skills aims to create synergies to strengthen local, national, and regional capacities.

Role of the PIROI Center

Since 2017 PIROI has gradually been expanding the scope of its services to guarantee the sustainability of its activities. Construction of the PIROI Center will allow PIROI to progress towards new functions and to upscale. Based on the recommendations resulting from feasibility studies, five core missions have already been defined for the centre.

 

 

Strengthening PIROI’s ‘original’ activities

 

Disaster preparedness

Réduction des risques de catastrophes 

 Disaster response

Advocacy

Developing basic and further training opportunities for professionals, students, and businesses

PIROI will continue to develop its spectrum of training courses on offer, and to consolidate its position regionally and internationally. As a result, the range of core training courses the centre will provide to National Societies, governments, and humanitarian stakeholders working in the sub-region will be enhanced.

To achieve this, the PIROI Center’s offer will be structured around existing short courses that comply with IFRC standards, as well as simulation exercises, and new modules that in some cases will be delivered in partnership with specialised training providers.

people received disaster risk management training between 2008 and 2022

Developing innovative techniques

PIROI advocates the use of groundbreaking methods and tools to improve the quality of assistance provided to local populations. Creating the regional centre will make it easier to experiment with new tools, develop testing protocols, and disseminate innovative products.

By monitoring technological development and drawing on a network of sector-wide professionals, the PIROI Center will become the ideal place to share ideas and support innovation creation.

 

Developing research

By supporting research, PIROI aims to encourage scientists and academics to produce results that will benefit humanitarian work. These research goals can be achieved through three operational strategies:

  • Disseminating and communicating research findings ;
  • Providing a working environment for multidisciplinary researchers through PIROI’s field operations ;
  • Conducting targeted research in conjunction with partners such as the French Red Cross Foundation.

Developing a ‘leverage and learn’ function and a ‘quality’ approach

Through its regional programme, the PIROI Center also promotes group learning by supporting and encouraging local partners to develop monitoring and assessment activities as well as joint feedback exercises. The PIROI Center will initiate workshops to share experience, and to write and produce summary documents for distribution to sector-related professionals.

Planned construction schedule

Versatile architecture

Built in the ZAA Lagourgue airport industrial area in Sainte-Marie, Reunion Island, the PIROI Center will consist of three interconnected facilities on a 4,000 m² plot of land :

  • a 300m² training centre that can also be used to host seminars, conferences, international meetings, etc ;
  • a 900m² humanitarian warehouse with capacity to meet the priority needs of 25,000 people (doubling PIROI’s existing storage space) ;
  • 300m² of offices and a crisis management area that can be used by 25 to 30 employees.

In addition to these facilities, several outdoor spaces—a service yard, 700m² practice area, and car park—will be part of the centre, which will also have the potential to develop and be optimised over time.

In the medium term, the PIROI Center could house a virtual reality station focusing on natural hazard-related disasters, which would be open to the general public and schools to help raise public awareness about issues.

A resilient, bioclimatic building

PIROI is committed to sustainable development goals, and would like the centre to reflect the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’s concern for climate and environmental issues. For this reason, special consideration will be given to building and operating methods, with emphasis placed on environmentally friendly architecture. The PIROI Center will be constructed according to bioclimatic architecture standards, which aim to find an optimal balance between the building, surrounding climate, and user comfort.

The PIROI Center construction project is being jointly funded by the French government through a Convergence and Transformation Contract (CCT), the French Development Agency (AFD) through the 3 Océans project, Réunion Island’s Regional Council, and the European Union through the INTERREG programme.