Benin: Strengthening the Legal, Institutional and Technical Capacity to Manage Climate and Disaster Risks and Health Emergencies

Context and Objectives

Benin is highly exposed to a range of natural hazards, including flooding, strong wind, coastal erosion, and forest fires. The Government of Benin is currently undertaking critical reforms to better manage disaster risks, including updating sector policies and guidelines, and incorporating budgetary mechanisms for financial resilience. It is within this context, that the Government requested support from the ACP-EU NDRR Program.

The project strengthened the Government of Benin’s technical, legislative and institutional capacity for managing climate and disaster risks, by supporting key regulatory and policy reforms in the country, as well as by analysing and documenting the potential environmental and social impacts of these reforms. 

The reforms supported by this project were part of the prior actions of the Development Policy Loan with Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (DPL with Cat-DDO) for Benin. 

Main Activities

Project activities were implemented under the following components: 

Component 1: Strengthening institutional and technical capacity of the Government for managing climate and disaster risks and health emergencies.

This component supported the finalization of the new Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Bill, by providing technical inputs to the Bill. Support was also provided for the development of a DRM Strategy, which will clarify roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders across ministries. 

The component also strengthened the existing National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), the coordination mechanism for all stakeholders. Lastly, the component supported the preparation of the operations plan for the Public Health Emergency Operation Centre.

Component 2: Strengthening territorial planning and construction standards for DRR in key sectors

This component supported the strengthening of territorial and urban planning tools and construction standards for disaster resilient infrastructure, including the education, transport and health sector. This included the finalization of a Road Maintenance Plan, the development of a roadmap/strategy for safe and resilient school infrastructure, and the review and update of Municipal Territorial Plans.

Component 3: Analysis of potential social and environmental impacts of the DRR reform program

This component supported ex-ante analytical work to further deeper understanding of the potential social, and environmental impacts of the ongoing and planned DRM policy reforms in the country. 

Component 4: Communication and knowledge sharing and dissemination

Knowledge sharing was supported through workshops, forums, and the dissemination of knowledge products produced under the project. Activities under this component included a five-day DRM Forum in Cotonou on financial and physical resilience, and a workshop on disaster preparedness and response for staff of the National Civil Protection Agency. 

Results

Key achievements that were obtained during the project included: 

• A technical workshop organized for the revision of the Urban Planning and Development Code, which encouraged the Government and stakeholders to rethink urbanization and promote a more sustainable approach to developing cities that takes into account disaster risks;
• The development of the Safer Schools Technical Guidelines and Safer Schools Strategy which contributed to the government of Benin’s understanding and integration of resilience into the planning, design construction, and maintenance of education facilities;
• The integration of DRM and climate change consideration in Land Use Planning tools, which resulted in increased opportunities for risk informed territorial planning. 

Partnerships and Coordination

The EU Delegation was actively engaged during the preparation and implementation of the project. 

The project's implementation was carried out by relevant government ministries, departments, and agencies of the government of Benin including the Ministry of Planning and Development, the Ministry of Interior's National Agency for Civil Protection, the Ministry of Living Conditions and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Health, the National Agency for Territorial Planning, and the Agency for the Construction of Infrastructures of the Education Sector. 

The project also supported active dialogue and coordination among the various development partners active in Benin, including the French Development Agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency, World Health Organization, United Nations Development Program and the National Red Cross.