Madagascar: Locally-led, locally-driven
Rolling out logistics preparedness workshops across five of Madagascar’s most high-risk regions
Under a community pavilion in Manakara, 25 humanitarian responders from Madagascar’s Vatovavy-Fitovinany Region gather on day three of the region’s first logistics preparedness workshop.
Today, the agenda is focused on milestones and next steps: what are the short-term activities? How do we measure long term actions? Who’s responsible where?
The information gathered will be compiled into a locally-led, locally-driven action plan, tailored specifically to the Vatovavy-Fitovinany context.
Manakara is located over 500 kilometres south of the Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, on the country’s east coast. Following a national logistics preparedness workshop held in August this year, it was identified as one of five high-risk zones, and a priority to begin the roll-out of preparedness initiatives.
Tailored & tageted preparedness activities
Overall, Madagascar is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, and the five identified regions are intended to comprise the diverse range of disaster and preparedness risks across the country: from cyclones and severe flooding putting some of the hardest-to-reach communities at risk, to devastating drought impacting livelihoods in the south.
So far two sub-national workshops have been rolled out, with the next set to take place in Toliara in early December. Participants span the emergency response sector representing dozens of organizations across government, NGO, UN agencies, Red Cross/Red Crescent, port authorities and private industries.
The roll-down effect – from national-level coordination mechanisms to community-led responders – is a key component of logistics preparedness activities in the country, supported by the Logistics Cluster.
Not only does it ensure preparedness activities are led by local voices, in a country as geographically diverse as Madagascar, it also targets activities specific to the region.
“It’s great to see everyone working together. When you strengthen supply chain capacities and coordination systems across all levels, those with local knowledge are empowered to drive the response,” said Tokiniaina Rasolofomanana, Logistics Cluster Preparedness Officer in Madagascar.
As part of each workshop, participants can apply their knowledge during simulation exercises. The simulation’s lessons learned then lay the ground-work for the development of their own work plans. It’s all about creating a forum in which participants can learn from each other and enhancing collaboration among responders, before disaster strikes.
What's next?
Workshops across the five regions will continue into 2019. At the conclusion of each workshop, an action plan and workshop report will be compiled. Stay up-to-date with all the latest on our dedicated Madagascar preparedness page.