The Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Coordinator for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Ms. Joyce Msuya and the SADC Executive Secretary His Excellency Mr Elias Mpedi Magosi have reiterated the urgent need for accelerated action and strong partnership between SADC and OCHA to address the impact of climate change in the face of increased frequency and intensity of disasters in the region
This was said during the meeting between the Assistant Secretary General and the SADC Executive Secretary at the SADC Secretariat on 13 November 2023, as part of the UN OCHA Assistant Secretary General’s tour of Southern and Eastern African region to show UN’s commitment to support countries that are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis.
The UN OCHA Assistant Secretary General commended the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) for its work in protecting communities and building confidence among communities in the areas of Cabo Delgado Province where SAMIM is deployed as part of the SADC’s regional response to support the Government of Mozambique to combat acts of terrorism and violent extremism.
Reflecting on her visit to the SADC Humanitarian Emergency Operations Centre (SHOC) in Nacala, Mozambique, the UN Assistant Secretary General commended SADC for establishing the Centre to coordinate regional disaster risk preparedness, response and early recovery. She pledged OCHA’s support to the SHOC through facilitating linkages with financiers, capacity building and peer-to-peer learning exchanges.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of SADC, appealed to the international community to support regional efforts aimed at mitigating the impact of disasters. On this note, H.E. Magosi applauded OCHA for taking steps towards the establishment of a Climate Financing window under the OCHA Central Emergency Response Fund (CERT) to support climate change programmes.
The two underscored the need for collaborative efforts between Governments and development partners to put in place inclusive socio-economic measures to address social inequalities that have the potential to drive conflicts.
SADC and OCHA have a long-standing partnership and currently the two have partnered in the implementation of the Disaster Risk Management Strengthening in SADC (DRMSS) Project whose overall objective is to contribute to the reduction of the impacts of natural and manmade hazards, strengthen disaster management and preparedness capacity, and increase resilience.
The SADC Executive Secretary was accompanied to the meeting with the UN OCHA Assistant Secretary General by the Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration, Ms. Angele Makombo N’Tumba and other senior officials from the Directorate of Food Agriculture and Natural Resources and Disaster Risk Reduction Unit.
