Sh13.5b partnership set up to combat regional disasters

The Rockefeller Foundation, in conjunction with the American and Swedish aid agencies, USAID and SIDA, has announced a new partnership that will assist in disaster relief and recovery.

The Global Resilience Partnership will be active in three regions: the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and South East Asia, areas where a significant chunk of disaster and risk recovery funds are spent.

Each of the partners has committed $50 million (Sh4.5 billion), part of which will be advanced to aid agencies that show their competence in developing solutions to specific problems facing the three regions.

According to Rockefeller’s associate director for Africa, CD Glin, the new partnership presents a new way of thinking in how the global community responds to shocks in the world’s disaster-prone zones.

Speaking at a press briefing in Nairobi last week, Mr Glin said the new programme would move away from the traditional humanitarian assistance, where interventions are only provided following a disaster, to planning ahead.

New normal

“Crisis is the new normal. Something that needs urgent intervention is always happening somewhere around the world. We want to build advance resilience through a multi-sectoral approach,” said Glin, adding that the aim of the new partnership is to keep future disruptions from becoming major disasters by having community investments upfront.

“The World Bank states that one out of every three dollars spent on development has been lost due to recurring crises in the last 30 years. This is close to $3.8 trillion. Imagine if we had invested a fraction of that beforehand — we would be preparing for war in times of peace,” he said.

The final selection of the teams that will implement the new programme will be conducted in September.