Julie Dugdale, a member and former vice chair of IFIP WG5.15 (Disaster Risk Reduction) is also a founding member of JUSTSAFE, an EU-funded project aimed at developing just and inclusive cliemate resilience solutions across Europe.
The JUSTSAFE project, which involves 25 partners from 12 countries and a total budget exceeding €7 million, officially kicked off last month and will run for four years. Julie attended the kick-off meeting in Egaleo, Greece, and said the project has a strong ICT component, which may be of interest to other IFIP members.
JUSTSAFE’s Co-design and Co-creation Framework (CCF) represents a novel approach to citizen and community engagement by involving multi-level stakeholders—including refugees, people with disabilities, gender-vulnerable individuals, local authorities, and civil society organisations—in the development and implementation of climate adaptation strategies, thus placing vulnerable and marginalised groups (VMGs) at the heart of adaptation efforts
Climate change disproportionately impacts vulnerable populations, and JUSTSAFE aims to bridge this gap by ensuring fair and inclusive adaptation solutions. Through six integrated components—Know, Raise Awareness, Co-Design & Co-Create, Outreach, Keep Engage, and Evaluate—the project fosters continuous participation from community members throughout the entire process, from problem identification to solution rollout.
The goal is to empower those most at risk from climate change impacts to actively shape the policies and measures designed to protect them. By co-creating solutions with vulnerable groups and local administrations, JUSTSAFE will create a replicable model for just climate resilience that can be scaled across Europe and beyond.
The project will deploy and test innovative social and technological tools, such as vulnerability modelling, human behaviour models, and digital decision support systems, across ten demonstration and replication sites in Greece, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania, and Latvia. These real-world applications will showcase equitable distribution of climate adaptation benefits, including flood protection, heat stress mitigation, and nature-based solutions.
JUSTSAFE also prioritises capacity-building for local and regional public administrations to enhance their engagement with VMGs, ensuring adaptation efforts are socially just and effective. In addition, it will develop policy recommendations and roadmaps to promote the uptake and scalability of just climate resilience practices throughout the EU.
The project kickoff event took place on June 11-12, 2025, in Egaleo, Greece, bringing together key partners, stakeholders, and community representatives to launch this transformative initiative.
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- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/justsafe-eu/
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