IGAD - Executive Secretary

IGAD Seeks Enhanced Partnership with Sweden for Drought Resilience

06 February 2019, DJIBOUTI (Djibouti): The Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), H.E. Amb. (Eng) Mahboub Maalim, and the Ambassador of Sweden to Ethiopia and IGAD, H.E. Ambassador Torbjörn Pettersson, today co-chaired a consultative meeting during which representatives from embassies of Sweden to capital cities in the region discussed the IGAD drought resilience agenda with a team of IGAD senior staff and experts.

This one-day meeting was convened in follow up to Sweden’s expressed commitment to support the IGAD Drought Disaster and Resilience Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) within the framework of Sweden’s strategy for regional development cooperation and on-going support to IGAD in leading and coordinating the implementation of IDDRSI

The Executive Secretary recalled the Summit of the IGAD Heads of State and Government that was held in Nairobi in September 2011, during which leaders committed themselves to the collective objective of ensuring that droughts in the region ‘would never again turn into famine and other humanitarian emergencies’. He recounted the efforts that have since been engaged to address the effects of drought on populations of the region and reported that there have been achievements by the IGAD Secretariat in the coordinating efforts among Member States in their commitment to the regional goal of ending drought emergencies.

Ambassador Pettersson noted the importance of cross-border cooperation and coordination in the fight against drought effects. He expressed Sweden’s readiness to contribute to the efforts aimed at achieving the goal of ending drought disasters in the IGAD region. A Concept Note prepared by IGAD describing key activities related to its capacity and role in coordinating the implementation of IDDRSI, which was recently submitted to the Government of Sweden for consideration and support, was presented at the meeting.

The concept proposed several areas of focus, seeking to optimize the implementation of IDDRSI, including scaling resilience-enhancing technologies and innovations in cross-border areas; improving the capacity and partnership needed to achieve the objectives of IDDRSI; enhancing resilience to environmental and socio-economic shocks; and complementing other resilience-building projects, being funded by other partners, notably African Development Bank, World Bank, European Union and Germany.

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IGAD Receives Institutional Strengthening Support from USAID

04 Jan. 2018, DJIBOUTI, Djibouti: The Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), H.E. Amb (Eng) Mahboub Maalim, this morning received in his office Mr. Jason Kapkirwok, Chief of Party for the USAID-funded Regional Intergovernmental Organisation (RIGO) System Strengthening Project to officially launch the activity for his organisation. Directors of IGAD Divisions, of IGAD Specialised Institutions from across the region, and senior staff members attended the meeting.

The RIGO is a five-year activity which was designed with active participation by IGAD, as well as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East Africa Community (EAC) and is meant for capacity building and institutional strengthening of the three regional organisations.

While the final IGAD priority areas for organisational strengthening support will be determined in a consultative process led by the recipient, the project is focused on the following core areas:

Financial management;
Performance management;
Strategic planning; and
Donor coordination of organisational strengthening activities.

The Executive Secretary noted that this was not the first capacity support package IGAD was getting from partners. He highlighted that IGAD already had a team of staff members endowed with extensive experience in matters of implementation of the institutional strengthening activities.

“This is additional support to IGAD which will assist us in filling in some gaps”, Amb Maalim said.

“The RIGO System Strengthening Project is designed to be a resource-lean, rigorous, and facilitative vehicle aimed at driving transformational change in organisational efficiency and effectiveness”, Mr. Kapkirwok said.

The implementation of RIGO System Strengthening activity was awarded to a consortium of firms led by The Kaizen Company.

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IGAD STRONGLY CONDEMNS THE COWARDLY AND REPREHENSIBLE ATTACK ON DUSIT COMPLEX IN NAIROBI, KENYA

15 January, 2019, Djibouti: The IGAD Executive Secretary, Amb. Mahboub Maalim, strongly condemns the cowardly and reprehensible attack on Dusit Complex in Nairobi, Kenya, which took place yesterday.

The Executive Secretary expresses IGAD's heartfelt condolences to the families of the bereaved and wishes quick and full recovery to the injured. At this moment of grief, Amb Mahboub reaffirms IGAD's solidarity with the people and Government of Kenya in their fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

He commends the gallantry of Kenyan security forces and emergency services for their swift response to the attack, noting that their action helped save many lives. He expressed confidence that the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of the attack will be brought to justice as soon as possible.

Amb. Mahboub states that "such barbaric attacks must not be allowed to weaken our collective determination to eliminate the scourge of terrorism from our region".

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Attachments:
Press Release_IGAD CONDEMNS TERROR ATTACK IN NAIROBI.pdf	[ ]	129 kB	2019-01-16 09:07