A consultative meeting between IGAD and its partners has convened in Djibouti, the Republic of Djibouti, bringing together experts from 30 partners of IGAD.
This is the third meeting for the implementation of the Horn of Africa Initiative to end drought disasters in the region in the wake of the devastating drought of 2010 – 2011 that struck the region leaving 13 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
Heads of States from the East African countries met in Nairobi on September 9, 2011 and expressed their strong commitment to end the drought emergencies through enhanced partnership for long term investment particularly in the arid and semi-arid lands in the region. The Heads of States charged IGAD with the responsibility to lead and coordinate with the implementation of this initiative.
At a meeting in November 2011, the partners agreed to coordinate their efforts an enhanced partnership through a regional platform and tasked IGAD to formulate Terms of References for the platform.
The platform is aimed to facilitate and coordinate the identification and prioritization of the region’s interventions and to mobilize resources.
Opening the meeting, the Executive Secretary of IGAD, Eng. Mahboub Maalim announced that the Secretariat has come up with a proposal for the establishment of regional platform. During this one day consultative meeting with the partners, the proposal was agreed.
The Executive Secretary confirmed that there was enough donor support and the Secretariat was ready to support its formation.
The meeting appointed an interim Steering Committee comprising eleven members from the partners to sit to the finalization of the platform.
