In 2014, IFRC Disaster Law assisted the Costa Rican Red Cross, the Red Cross Society of Panama and their respective governments to formalise an agreement to provide rapid, cross-border ambulance services, through harmonized protocols in both countries.
Between 2019 and 2020, IFRC Disaster Law supported Costa Rican Red Cross and its government to conduct an assessment of the legal and policy framework for disaster risk reduction in Costa Rica. The project, which focused on the national level and 7 cantons, was part of the Zurich Flood Alliance 2.0 Project and used the Checklist on Law and Disaster Risk Reduction as a benchmark. A report on the findings of the study was published in November 2020, called Study on the Costa Rican Legal Framework on Flood Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). At the end of this project, peer to-peer exchange of project experiences has been held between Costa Rica and Honduran Red Cross, revising the different experiences working for the strengthening of community resilience, fostering community participation in DRR and sharing relevant information on DRR legal frameworks to government authorities, external actors and society. Through this project, DRR legal frameworks were revised with municipal authorities, external stakeholders and society at large, enabling communities to be more prepared and more resilient during flood situations.
IFRC Disaster Law has trained Costa Rican Red Cross staff and volunteers, as well as municipal officials responsible for disaster risk management, in disaster law and legislative advocacy. With support from IFRC Disaster Law, Costa Rican Red Cross has developed legislative advocacy strategies for disaster risk reduction at the local level, which are available here and here.
