Kenneth Westgate has been involved with disaster management and risk reduction issues for most of his working life beginning with the pioneering work of the Disaster Research Unit at the University of Bradford in the UK in the mid-1970s that first recognised the importance of vulnerabilities in tackling the problems of disaster occurrence. Following a short period at Oxford Polytechnic, Kenneth joined the UK NGO OXFAM to develop their publications strategy before taking an overseas assignment as Field Director in Uganda in 1982 where he had to deal with complex problems including the ongoing civil war. Kenneth joined the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRCS) in 1984 and was assigned as a Relief Delegate to Darfur in Western Sudan during a period of famine. He was responsible for the development of an innovative famine information collection and dissemination service operated through the Sudanese Red Crescent in villages in Darfur using volunteers at community level. Later, Kenneth was appointed to work on the development of the Sudanese Red Crescent at national level before returning to Darfur in 1988. Later that year Kenneth was assigned by the IFRCS to be Representative in Tanzania where he worked chiefly with the Tanzania Red Cross on its development.

In 1990, Kenneth returned to the UK to join the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) at Cranfield University. He became the Director of the Centre in 1990 and remained in that position until 2001. This period saw the growth of the Centre as a respected outlet for research, consultancy and training. An annual international training course held in the UK each year became increasingly popular among the staff of governments and agencies with disaster management responsibilities. The DMC was appointed by UNDP and the then DHA (UN Department for Humanitarian Affairs) as the partner agency for the implementation in Africa of the UN’s Disaster Management Training Programme (DMTP) from 1992 through to 1998. The DMC also established the first Master’s degree in development-based disaster management. Kenneth’s consultancy work at this time included many missions for different agencies (including UNDP) to the African continent for training and institutional development, and later to India and the Caucasus. Kenneth became the first International Honorary Member of the Disaster Management Institute of Southern Africa in 1997. He joined UNDP in January 2003.

As Regional Disaster Reduction Advisor for BCPR’s Disaster Reduction Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean, Angeles Arenas works with the Country Offices of the region, the Latin America and Caribbean Sub-regional Resource Facility (LAC SURF), and partner organizations to provide high quality technical advice and backstopping to the LAC region in the area of disaster risk reduction. This support focuses on: strategies for mainstreaming risk reduction in development projects; risk reduction capacity-building through sub-practice networks, best practices and lessons learned from the post-disaster recovery; and policy, advocacy and awareness. Other areas of expertise include consulting support in prevention and mitigation, the fostering of partnerships within and outside of the UNDP, resource mobilization, human resource development, and reinforcement of in-country cooperation regarding MDGs.

Angeles has eleven years of professional experience in the areas of disaster reduction, gender and development, and rural development and environmental protection. Her previous positions included work with multilateral, bilateral, and non-governmental organizations in Central and South America, and her previous experience within UNDP encompasses the areas of design of disaster risk management and recovery strategies, policies, and programs; disaster damage assessments, including gender considerations; development of the UNDP Regional Strategy for Disaster Reduction in Central America; and working with the BCPR Disaster Reduction and Recovery Cluster and the Nicaragua and El Salvador Country Offices. She holds a Masters degree in Cooperation for Development from the Spanish Center of Latin American Studies, Spain, a Postgraduate degree in Women and Development from the National Women's Institute, Spain, and is a candidate for a PhD in Anthropology.

Jokin Azpiroz holds a Bachelor of Science from the Universidad Pública de Navarra, Spain, and also earned Masters Degrees in Electronic Engineering from Surrey University, England, in Information Technology Management from the Escuela de Organización Industrial, Madrid, Spain, and in NGO Management and Promotion from the Instituto Universitario de Desarrollo y Cooperación, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He joined UNDP as a consultant to the Disaster Risk Reduction Unit in Dominican Republic, performing duties such as the drafting of annual strategic plans and the establishment and coordination of emergency response mechanisms, including drafting funding proposals, evaluating disaster impact, and mobilizing private donor resources. In his current function as Disaster Reduction Analyst for BCPR’s Disaster Reduction Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean, he provides thematic support to the mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction into development planning, sustainable recovery, capacity-building and strengthening, and local level risk management. More specifically, Jokin supports the office in the management of emergency response and recovery measures; providing logistical and coordination support to BCPR’s regional disaster risk reduction/management operations and relevant knowledge management initiatives; organizing disaster risk reduction/management workshops and training sessions; drafting, monitoring, and supporting UNDP risk reduction/management programmes and projects; and networking within the BCPR system and with other UN agencies, regional ministries, and regional disaster management institutions and NGOs.