September 18, 2025 (Ethiopia): The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), through its Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) Platform Coordination Unit, has conducted a regional field mission to Ethiopia’s Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ (SNNP) regions. The mission aimed at experience sharing, documentation of resilience-building interventions, and strengthening cooperation among IGAD Member States.
Speaking on behalf of H.E. Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, IGAD Executive Secretary, the IDDRSI Regional Platform Coordinator, Mr. Mubarak Mabuya, underlined IGAD’s commitment to enhancing drought resilience and mitigating disaster risks. He emphasized that IDDRSI interventions focus on natural resource management, disaster risk reduction, market access and trade, livelihoods diversification, social services, infrastructure development, human capital enhancement, research and knowledge management, and conflict prevention with institutional strengthening. He noted that this mission follows the first regional field visit, which was conducted in Baringo, Kenya, in 2024.
H.E. Dr. Fikru Raggasa, State Minister at the Ministry of Agriculture of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, welcomed the delegation and highlighted the progress made in resilience programming. He observed that while in recent years emergency feeding had been a priority to save human and animal lives, today there are tangible achievements in natural resource management and disaster risk reduction.
The Ethiopian federal and regional authorities, together with project coordinators and local administrations, briefed the IGAD team and accompanied them on field visits in South Omo (Jinka, SNNP region) and Borena Zone (Oromia region). The mission observed water distribution systems, livestock and fodder marketing cooperatives, hay storage and fodder production initiatives, the construction of a Regional Veterinary Laboratory, and various rangeland development and water supply projects, as well as livestock health and market facilities. These initiatives reflect ongoing efforts to improve livelihoods, strengthen food security, and build resilience against drought.
The mission was supported by the Government of Sweden, while the projects visited received support from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB). Participants agreed on best practices to be scaled up, renewed partnerships, and reaffirmed IGAD’s leadership in advancing resilience across the region.
This effort builds on IGAD’s mandate under IDDRSI, which was launched in 2012 following the devastating 2011 Horn of Africa drought crisis that affected over 13 million people, when the region’s leaders declared: “Never again shall drought become famine in the Horn of Africa.”
