Horn of Africa: Regional Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Program

Context and Objectives 
The project aimed to provide coordination capacity of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) secretariat. Specifically, the project aimed to:

• Strengthen institutional framework for Disaster Risk Management (DRM)/CRM at the national and regional level
• Increase resilience to disasters through strengthening of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) capacities at regional, national and local levels;
• Increase support for national and regional actions aimed at DRR/CRM through strengthened coordination of partners program; and
• Strengthen IGAD's Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC) and other regional institutions to enhance service provision in support of disaster and climate risk management.

Main Activities and results

The main activities centered on the development of regional capacity to support national Disaster Risk Management and included:

• The development of the Horn of Africa Disaster Resiliency and Sustainability Initiative. This consisted of:
  • Elaborating and operationalizing the framework (principles, strategic directions, components, work streams, programming and financing windows, results, coordination and governance) for the Horn of Africa Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative
  • Designing an investment Programme of Actions to Implement the Resiliency Initiative
• The development of IGAD's institutional base for DRM support. This consisted of:
  • Revising the regional DRM policy
  • Developing and strengthening of IGAD official structures for disaster management. This included: (a) DRR Unit transformation into IGAD DRM Secretariat (for administering IGAD DRM decisions) Drought Liaison Office (as part of DRU) (b) IDAD’s Climate Prediction Application Centre (ICPAC) transformation (into regional CRM service)
  • Strengthening the disaster and climate risk management capacity of the Secretariat.  
• The integration of disaster and climate risk reduction principles and practice within IGAD’s development agenda, structure, operations and programmes. This included the development of synergies between IGAD disaster and climate risk reduction strategies and relevant regional and national strategies related to other focus areas of IGAD (especially environment, governance, conflict management, poverty alleviation, social development and infrastructure).  
• Strengthening of coordination, by institutionalizing a Regional Platform for disaster and climate risk management.  

This project contributed to mainstreaming drought risk preparedness and enhancing disaster recovery capacity across the Horn of Africa. It did so by fostering an enabling policy dialogue for DRM and CCA, as well as through the exchange of technical knowledge and best practices among DRM practitioners and National Meteorological Services among IGAD's Member States and concerned development partners

Partnerships and Coordination
The project was implemented by the World Bank and aligned with EU regional activities. Close coordination was ensured with the EU delegation in Djibouti.