The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) today convened the 7th meeting of the General Assembly of its Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) Platform in Mombasa, with the Cabinet Secretary for Devolution and ASALs of Kenya, Hon. Eugene Wamalwa, the Executive Secretary of the regional bloc, Dr Workneh Gebeyehu, and the Minister of Agriculture of Sudan, H.E Eltahir Ismail Mohamed Harbi, presiding.
The IDDRSI Platform General Assembly meeting was attended by officials from the ministries in charge of drought and related matters in IGAD Member States as well as senior representatives of development partners, some physically and others joined the meeting online.
The 7th meeting of the IDDRSI General Assembly was centred around the theme Consolidating the Path to Resilience and Sustainability, coming almost two years after launching the second five-year phase in the implementation of the IDDRSI Strategy.
In his opening remarks, the IGAD Executive Secretary described the regional bloc’s determination to ‘tackle the impact of disasters through preventative & pro-active measures’. ‘Our single greatest imperative at IGAD remains the urgent need to build the resilience of our communities to recurrent drought & similar shocks’, he explained.
‘IDDRSI is the flagship mechanism through which countries of the IGAD region address the challenges, including poverty, food insecurity and environmental degradation, which are faced by vulnerable communities, particularly in cross-border areas, employing concerted and coordinated approaches’, Dr Workneh said.
The Cabinet Secretary for Devolution and ASALs of Kenya noted with appreciation that the IGAD Secretariat had ‘initiated a number of cross-border drought resilience enhancing projects’ to mitigate conflicts that may arise from movements of pastoralists in search of water and pasture. Hon. Eugene Wamalwa extended appreciation to the development partners for ‘their continued support’ before declaring the meeting open.
During the General Assembly, reports on the progress made in the implementation of IDDRSI, throughout the IGAD region, were presented by Member States; and there were statements from development partners on their respective contributions to the region’s drought resilience initiative.
The meeting reviewed the progress, noted the challenges and discussed the plans and proposals for future interventions in the region’s efforts to consolidate its path to building resilience and attaining sustainability.
The General Assembly meeting closed with the adoption of the Communiqué herewith attached.
The IDDRSI Platform General Assembly meets once a year and brings together all stakeholders involved in the drought resilience initiative, including Member States, IGAD Secretariat, Development Partners, UN agencies, Civil Society and specialised research and training institutions.
The platform provides the opportunity and mechanism through which the needs and support for the region’s priorities for intervention in the drought resilience initiative can be discussed by affected countries and interested development partners.
