Multi-country workshop on improving availability, access and use of disaster risk information for early warning and action

Background

In 2018, as part of the “Building Disaster Resilience to Natural Hazards in Sub-Saharan African Regions, Countries and Communities” Programme, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and CIMA Research Foundation developed risk profiles for floods and droughts at the national level for sixteen African countries. The Country Risk Profiles provide a comprehensive view of hazard, risk and uncertainties for floods and droughts in a changing climate and socio-economic situation, projected over the next 50 years. The profiles include the estimation, under current and future climate, of the monetary losses for the different sectors identified by the Sendai targets, namely: housing, health and education, agriculture, productive asset, critical infrastructure, housing, services and transports. Risk Profiles combined with data on disaster losses and budget review of DRR investment provide a solid base of risk information for developing actionable strategic plans as DRR strategies, Climate Change Adaptation and development plans towards sustainable societies.

Based on the experience gathered in the previous phase of the programme and the feedback received from the partner countries, the Phase II of the project has been structured to enhance the ownership and uptake of the probabilistic risk profiles developed and foster their utilization in different fields of DRR, including for the development of inclusive and actionable strategies for disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, sustainable development, the support to the development of impact-based early Warning Systems for weather-driven events and for improved transboundary risk management. As a result, the main objectives of the project is to develop a strategic, inclusive and coherent roadmap to build resilient societies by further improving availability, accessibility and use of risk information at continental, regional, national and local scale involving AUC, the RECs and the countries, as well as key African actors in the field of DRR, such as the Africa Risk Capacity (ARC) and the academic network Periperi U. The Roadmap will focus on impact-based Early Warning Systems, and in this context will enhance capacity for data exchange and coordination among national, regional and continental actors.

Main outcomes include:

1. The development of the roadmap;

2. The establishment, in cooperation with the government of the beneficiary countries and institutions selected for the follow-up phase, an open-source web platform to facilitate the exchange of data and information to strengthen the national platform for DRR (or other existing national coordination mechanism for DRR stakeholders);

3. The strengthened access to risk information by further engaging national governments and key stakeholders in the revision and update of national risk profiles;

4. The built capacity of the technical experts to integrate local knowledge and experience in the risk profiles, to enhance national ownership and ensure their continued update beyond the closing of the programme;

5. The training about the use of the improved risk profiles for the development of impact-based early Warning Systems; and for the transboundary risk management.

Workshop Overall Purpose and Objectives

The overarching purpose of the three-day workshop is to increase knowledge and awareness of stakeholders on how improved availability, accessibility and use of risk information can effectively advance Early Warning Systems and transboundary risk management at National, Regional and Continental level. The workshop will be instrumental for improving the ownership and engagement of national, regional and Continental institutions for the development of the Road Map and its future implementation-

The workshop has specific objectives to:

• Consolidate the knowledge of on the core components of Early Warning Systems - Risk Knowledge, Monitoring and Forecasting, Communication and Dissemination, Preparedness and Response Capacity- and the need of multi-actors’ coordination.

• Review the draft baselines analysis on status of EWS in target Countries, continental and regional level, RECs and AUC; Revise Road Map for improving availability, access and use of disaster risk information for building resilient societies; propose key practical actions for future improvement of the EWS at National as well as at Regional and Continental level

• Practicing with the use of MyDewetra platform as a concrete open source technology for improving exchange information for EWS and transboundary risk management (focus on floods and droughts). Identify the main opportunities and challenges in the operations of the platform.

Participants Selection

The participants of this Workshop will include approximately 30 participants from Disaster Risk Management authorities, Meteorological and Hydrological experts and line-ministries of the target Countries, RECs and AUC as well as international partners.