The 8th Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Seventh High-Level Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction has ended in Kenya with a virtual High-level Ministerial session.
The event, organized by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) was on the theme: “Towards Disaster Risk-Informed Development for a Resilient Africa in a COVID-19 Transformed World”.
The Deputy Minister for the Interior, Hon. Naana Eyiah, in her address, stressed the need for a collective effort to eradicate hazards and climate change and not on an individual country basis. She added that member countries need to work together as an Africa Platform and as disaster advocates.
“We have to set the agenda together, strategize together, monitor the progress together, and enjoy the accomplishment together”, she said.
Hon. Naana Eyiah admonished that disaster does not know colour, race, tribe, social status, country or alliance, and that least prepared countries are likely to suffer more damages.
The biennial Africa Regional Platform has established itself as a critical mechanism that brings together Member States, Regional Economic Communities, Development Partners and other disaster risk reduction stakeholders to review progress, share experiences, practices and lessons learnt on disaster risk reduction at the regional level.
The Platform seeks to build a consensus on the way forward to enable the Member States to deliver on their commitments to the Sendai Framework and the African Union’s Programme of Action for its implementation in Africa, thereby contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the ‘Agenda 2063 dubbed, ‘The Africa We Want.’
The High-level Ministerial session brings together Ministers responsible for Disaster Risk Reduction and Member States, Heads of Delegations who will consider and adopt the Regional Platform’s outcomes.
