DoDMA starts development of new disaster risk management project
DoDMA officials during an earlier consultation meeting on a similar project
The Department of Disaster Management Affairs-DoDMA has embarked on a consultation process towards the development of a tailor-made program that will succeed the disaster risk management for resilience project.
The department has in a statement disclosed that it is consulting communities, district and city councils
Dubbed the DRM4R, the 5-year project started in 2019 with funding and technical support from the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office and United Nations Development Programme-UNDP.
The project which is in its final year of implementation, sought to build resilience through strengthening capacity of national and local level actors in effective disaster risk and resilience governance.
Speaking in Karonga District, DoDMA’s Director of Recovery and Resilience Peter Chimangeni said the department is committed to implementing people-centred projects for resilient communities.
“We don’t want to impose disaster risk management (DRM) projects on communities and councils. We are using the bottom-up approach for the development of a successor project with emphasis on understanding the needs of the most vulnerable,” Chimangeni explained.
According to Chimangeni communities have a better understanding of the challenges they face and can suggest better solutions that will contribute to building their resilience to climate-related shocks.
The consultation, which are being held in collaboration with the UNDP, will also be conducted in Mzuzu, Ntchisi, Salima, Mangochi and Chikwawa.
Among other notable interventions through the DRM4R Project, the DoDMA has constructed modern evacuation centres in Balaka, Mangochi, Zomba, Phalombe and Chikwawa districts; as well as flood mitigation structures such as drains in Mzuzu and Lilongwe Cities; and dykes in Chikwawa District.
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