DoDMA reviews national disaster risk management communication strategy with stakeholders
The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) and various Disaster Risk Management (DRM) stakeholders converged in Salima on Wednesday and Thursday for a working session aimed at finalising the review of the National Disaster Risk Management Communication Strategy.
DoDMA’s Chief Mitigation Officer, Dr. Stern Kita said the review was aimed at incorporating emerging climate and disaster risk management issues into the strategy, while also reviewing the progress that has been made since the strategy was developed in 2014.
“In 2014, we developed the National Disaster Risk Management Communication Strategy whose implementation period came to an end in 2018,” Kita said during the opening ceremony.
“It was high time we reviewed the communication strategy to incorporate emerging climate change and disaster risk management issues,” he said.
The working session brought together civic educators, civil society organisations, climate and weather experts, planners, communication experts, humanitarian partners, police, road traffic, water resources and geological survey experts, among others.
In previous working sessions leading to the finalisation of the NDRMCS, DoDMA engaged communities from some districts of the country such as Zomba, Mulanje, Mwanza, Kasungu, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota as part of the processes in the review of the communication strategy.
The department also held a review meeting with various DRM stakeholders, engaged various stakeholders in development and trial-testing of developed and improved messages.
The review of the NDRMCS has been made possible with funding under the Saving Lives and Protecting Agriculture-based Livelihoods in Malawi: Scaling up the use of Modernised Climate Information and Early Warning Systems (M-CLIMES) Project.
The M-CLIMES is a 6-year, US$16,264,545 (about K12 billion) project funded by the Green Climate Fund, the Malawi Government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
It aims at supporting the Malawi Government to take steps in saving lives and enhance livelihoods at risk of climate-related disasters.
