The Intergovernmental Authority on Development is one of the African Regional Economic Communities involved with the Result Area 2 under the “Building Disaster Resilience to natural hazards in Sub-Saharan African Regions, Countries, and Communities” Program. Representing eight East African states (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda), IGAD has been improving its capacities for coordination, planning, policy advice and knowledge dissemination, advancing a regional DRM agenda, and assisting its member states in taking informed decisions to build disaster and climate resilience. IGAD’s work in the context of the R2 Program has played a critical role in coordinating responses to the hazards that frequently affect its member states, including drought, desertification, disease outbreaks, flooding, and desert locusts, all of which devastate regional agricultural and contribute to chronic food insecurity.
IGAD has made considerable investments in its Disaster Risk Management Program and has shifted its response strategy from a purely reactive and humanitarian posture to mainstreaming DRM concepts throughout regional, national, and local institutions. The R2 Program has assisted with implementing this new strategic approach that emphasizes the prevention aspect to disasters, while improving the effectiveness of rapid reaction to disaster events. Activities under the Program have led to advancements in early warning capacities such climate monitoring and forecasting. The R2 Program has also provided venues for building knowledge networks and sharing best practices.
The participation between IGAD, the European Union, and the World Bank has also resulted in technical achievements in producing a regional approach to managing floods, droughts, and locust invasions. These advancements have made a difference in the lives of IGAD communities who have benefitted from increased resilience to climate and disaster hazards and have improved their livelihoods.
Learn more about the impacts of this collaboration between IGAD, the European Union, and the World Bank in the following long video and shorter video.