United Nations
Development Programme

Plot 24 Prince Charles Drive, Kololo

P.O Box 7184

Kampala, Uganda

Tel: (256) 414-233440/1/2/5

Fax: (256) 414-344801

Email: registry.ug@undp.org

Between September 29th and 30th, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), with support from UNDP Uganda Country Office conducted a multi-stakeholder workshop organized to support the development of a roadmap to integrate Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) into development in Uganda. Participants came from government, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes as well as civil society organizations.

The workshop is one of the several activities aimed at supporting Uganda to put in place and implement a roadmap towards mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction and activate recommendations of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination mission done in 2008. The assessment recommended finalization of the National Disaster Preparedness and Management Policy.

Over the last three years, various parts of the country have proved to be vulnerable and have fallen victim to floods, landslides, drought, epidemics and epizootic outbreaks. Over this time, more than one and a half million Ugandans have felt the impacts of these disasters. The poor, especially women and children, have particulalry borne the brunt.

The increasing frequency and severity of disasters in Uganda and their adverse impacts on human development, renders mainstreaming of DRR a priority for the country. It is even expected that floods and droughts, landslides, hail storms, as well as man-made disasters such as ethnic conflict, affecting the lives of thousands of people, will increase in occurrence and severity, partly due to external factors such as Climate Change.

Both the government and the UN Country Team acknowledge this fact. It is against this background that a National Platform for DRR has been established to ensure DRR becomes an integral part of all sectors and policies of government.

By the end of the workshop, a draft roadmap to mainstream DRR in Uganda and a precise plan in terms of steps towards finalization were developed. Participants went through a rigorous exercise to relevantly define “Disasters” and “DRR” in Uganda’s context. They also examined their understanding of the concept of “DRR mainstreaming” and its practical implementation in different sectors and spheres.

In this context, participants agreed that DRR is “ a set of planned policies, activities, strategies and assessments to reduce, mitigate, prevent, minimize and assess the occurrence and damage of disasters and to build community resilience.” In terms of practical activities to reduce disaster risk, participants underlined the importance of adapting institutions, structures, strategies and partnerships, early warning, education and public awareness rising, health and infrastructure, as well as community disaster preparedness.

This is in line with the official UN definition of DRR and the Hyogo Framework for Action, the global blueprint for DRR efforts during the next decade.

As first steps to quick fix the mainstreaming, participants to the workshop agreed to focus on the key disaster risks in Uganda, namely floods and droughts, and to prioritize the sectors of agriculture and health in a three year rolling plan with annual assessments.

Thereafter, a draft rolling roadmap was developed through a consultative, group work, critical discussions and plenary presentations. This draft rolling roadmap contains results, milestones and key activities for interventions in different sectors as well as deliberations about the key stakeholders to engage with and the role of OPM and the National Platform on DRR.

Mr. Martin Owor, Commissioner for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, OPM, welcomed the work done and conclusion arising from the workshop which will be further followed-up and implemented by the National Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction. With an ongoing engagement and commitment on the side of all participants, the September workshop conclusions was a big leap for the integration of DRR into development in Uganda.