As Fiji enters its six-month cyclone season from November to April, the Australian Government-funded Fiji Community Development Program (FCDP) has organized a three-day workshop, in Suva, in mid-November to develop a framework for collaboration and capacity building among civil society organizations (CSOs) in the country for disaster risk management.

The recently released 2013-14 Tropical Cyclone Season Outlook has predicted that the region will be hit by one or two cyclones that may reach or exceed category three status.

Often disaster management efforts have suffered due to overlapping services and visible lack of coordination between different relief agencies. The workshop organized by FCDP focused on defining the role of CSOs in a disaster situation and placing these organizations in the center of collaboration among government agencies, donor groups and humanitarian organizations during disaster relief and management.

"This workshop provides a forum for government, civil society organizations and faith-based groups to freely exchange information, successes and challenges and ultimately learn from each other in order to enhance coordination in the ways communities are equipped to prepare for and respond to disasters in Fiji," FCDP Team Leader Michael Brownjohn said.

The two cyclones predicted to hit Fiji during the next six months are among the four to eight other tropical cyclones predicted in the region to affect Cook Islands, Tokelau, Samoa, Niue, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna and New Caledonia.

The focus on the workshop was to develop a coordinated strategy to handle the aftermath of such natural disasters and part of which the participants conducted mapping and simulation exercises.

"We all know there are tensions between the government and non-government sectors in all societies," Brownjohn said.

"But when it comes to disasters, we all have one goal in mind and that is to minimise, to the best of our collective ability, harm to people and property," he noted.