The working group meets every six months and plays an important role in providing technical support to the African Union Commission, Regional Economic Communities, Member States and partners for the coordination and implementation of the Africa Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction and its Programme of Action. 

The meetings are part of the “Building Disaster Resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa Programme” a multi-year regional programme funded by the European Commission and being implemented as part of its cooperation with the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States. The programme has five result areas that are implemented by the African Union Commission, UNISDR, the World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery and the African Development Bank’s Clim-Dev Africa Programme. 

Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Cote D’Ivoire, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea, Swaziland, Tanzania, Angola, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, have so far received training in disaster loss databases, and Equatorial Guinea, Swaziland, Angola, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia have their databases up and running since the inception of the programme, allowing for better risk understanding and more risk informed investment in sustainable development. 

UNISDR has established a training server in Geneva as part of efforts to build capacity of countries to account for and analyse disaster losses. 

Mr. Abbashar observed that steady progress is being made on target (e) which seeks to substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020. “This work will get a major boost when the 2016 East African Communities Disaster Bill is enacted by the region’s Heads of State,” he said.

Date:

18 Oct 2017

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Africa (UNISDR AF)

Themes:

Governance

Regions:

Africa