H.E Andrea Semadeni, the Swiss Ambassador accredited to Ethiopia, South Sudan, Djibouti, the AU and IGAD had a working visit to the IGAD secretariat on Monday 17th November. The officer in charge, the Legal counsel Yufnalis Okubo on behalf of the executive secretary, received him at the secretariat. H.E the ambassador held briefs with all the divisions in the spirit of cooperation between IGAD and Swiss Confederation.
The IGAD-Swiss Confederation areas of cooperation include Peace and security with funding already secured towards the establishment of the mechanism for advancing federalism and decentralization in IGAD member states. Discussions are underway towards concluding specific agreements in support of the mediation support unit and CEWARN.
In migration, an agreement has already been concluded towards the program “Building Regional and National capacities for improved migration governance in the IGAD region and more so the Regional Consultative Process on Migration.
Drought Resilience is another area of cooperation with support going towards IDDRSI for increased food security and resilience of dry land communities with initial geographical focus on Somalia, North and Northeast Kenya, southeast and south Ethiopia. Specific initiatives include the IGAD/FAO partnership programme on Drought Resilience and support to the Platform Coordination Unit and ICPALD. The Land Policy Initiative (LPI) led by the UN Economic Commission for Africa is a another areas of cooperation fro the Agriculture and Environment division with the initial phase comprising of capacity building for IGAD. To generate support from research and science for the programs of IGAD and the respective cooperation envisaged within the strategic partnership agreement, networks of IGAD centers of competence shall be established in the areas of Drought Resilience and Federalism. These centers shall also contribute to the setting of regional research and training agendas.
The partnership and cooperation initiatives are aligned to the IGAD strategy 2011-2015 and the Swiss Strategy for the Horn of Africa 2013-2017.
For more information on the partnership, please contact the Regional Coordinator on;
Caroline.njuki@igad.int
