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From strategy to practice: Enabling interoperability through Kiribati's Strategic Roadmaps for Emergency Management
Emergency management agencies increasingly operate in environments where coordination across organisations is essential but difficult to sustain. In small, resource-constrained island countries, interoperability depends less on technology and more on shared understanding, inclusive collaboration, and trust. Experience from the Pacific Islands Emergency Management Alliance (PIEMA) demonstrates how national Strategic Roadmaps for Emergency Management (SREM) can enable these conditions when applied pragmatically.
Kiribati’s SREM, endorsed in the 2020s, provides a useful case study of how a strategic framework can support interoperability across key national agencies including the national disaster management office, police, fire and emergency service, aviation authority, health and other relevant agencies. In Kiribati, this approach contributed to improved operational coordination between domestic and airport fire services, joint training across agencies, and more coherent multi-agency responses during national emergencies such as the 2022 drought. Interoperability emerged not through full implementation of plans, but through necessity, constrained resources and consistent interaction during training and exercises.
Experience from Kiribati highlights progress occurred where agencies trained together, tested arrangements through exercises, and adapted systems to local realities. In several cases, coordination outcomes were achieved through parallel programs rather than direct roadmap funding, where SREM served as a reference point rather than a compliance mechanism.
While the focus is on interoperability within Kiribati, the experience offers transferable lessons for other Pacific Island Countries implementing SREM. Kiribati’s experience highlights how interoperability is strengthened through working together- building trust and integrity across agencies, fostering inclusive coordination mechanisms, and delivering practical impact in preparedness and response. For emergency management agencies, particularly those operating in low-resource contexts, these insights underline the importance of sequencing strategic frameworks alongside relationship-building, prioritizing collaborative practices over perfect system design, and recognizing interoperability as an evolving capability rather than a fixed end state.
Kiribati’s SREM, endorsed in the 2020s, provides a useful case study of how a strategic framework can support interoperability across key national agencies including the national disaster management office, police, fire and emergency service, aviation authority, health and other relevant agencies. In Kiribati, this approach contributed to improved operational coordination between domestic and airport fire services, joint training across agencies, and more coherent multi-agency responses during national emergencies such as the 2022 drought. Interoperability emerged not through full implementation of plans, but through necessity, constrained resources and consistent interaction during training and exercises.
Experience from Kiribati highlights progress occurred where agencies trained together, tested arrangements through exercises, and adapted systems to local realities. In several cases, coordination outcomes were achieved through parallel programs rather than direct roadmap funding, where SREM served as a reference point rather than a compliance mechanism.
While the focus is on interoperability within Kiribati, the experience offers transferable lessons for other Pacific Island Countries implementing SREM. Kiribati’s experience highlights how interoperability is strengthened through working together- building trust and integrity across agencies, fostering inclusive coordination mechanisms, and delivering practical impact in preparedness and response. For emergency management agencies, particularly those operating in low-resource contexts, these insights underline the importance of sequencing strategic frameworks alongside relationship-building, prioritizing collaborative practices over perfect system design, and recognizing interoperability as an evolving capability rather than a fixed end state.
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