A project aimed at strategically planning and coordinating resilience activities that strengthen the capacity of stakeholders in lowland areas was launched today.
The Partnership for Lowlands Resilience Activity (PLRA) project is expected to benefit lowland communities in Somali, Afar, Oromia, and South Ethiopia regions.
The three-million-USD project is funded by USAID.
The Partnership for Lowlands Resilience Activity program will assist Ministry of Irrigation and Lowlands (MILLs) to improve coordination, collaboration and communication among the government and development partners in order to support resilience of projects in the stated regions, it was learned.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, Irrigation and Lowlands State Minister Indiriyas Geta said the goal of the project aligns well with the ministry because it brings together multiple partners and stakeholders, each with unique resources and capacities, towards achieving collective impact at the grassroots level.
While Ethiopia is one of the m
ost disaster-prone countries in Africa, most of the climate related hazards occur in the lowland and pastoral areas of the country which cover about 62 percent of its landmass and 12 percent of the population.
According to him, the lowlands are often characterized by unreliable climatic conditions such as erratic rainfall and patchy distribution of resources that make livelihoods vulnerable to climate induced and associated shocks, food insecurity, and high levels hunger and poverty.
But, he stressed that it is important to note that Ethiopia’s lowlands have great potential, while at the same time facing high risks, mainly due to climate change and variability.
‘Through several ongoing initiatives, the Government of Ethiopia, and its development partners, including the World Bank, USAID, UN Agencies. EU, GIZ, IFAD, and African Development Bank are working to increase the resilience of these communities. These programs are showing encouraging results to bring sustainable development and lasting resilience.’
One of the issues is lack of strong coordination among development partners, government institutions, and community institutions engaged in resilience building initiatives at the federal, regional, and woreda levels, the state minister pointed out.
Country Lead of Champions for Food Security (C4FS) Activity, a partner organization, Belay Demissie said this pastoral resilience area activity is aimed to address the coordination role of the MILLs and other national and regional level stakeholders.
“In terms of implementing activities, we follow a participatory demand driven approach that a co-creation of different activities. We are not driving the process, the process will be driven by our stakeholders. (They) will be in the driver seat. So we are supporting and facilitating that process to bring about impact with our all implementing partners that are supported by USAID and other donors.”
Among the beneficiary states leadership, Advisor to the President of Somali Region Ahmed Ismail Hussein said ‘since the
region is affected by climate change and there is recurrent drought happening every two to three years. We decided that we bring all actors together so that we build the capacity and resilient of pastoral communities. ”
Ahmed noted that the project is really important for the region in the sense that it helps to improve coordination and bring the different actors together so that they all could bring their initiatives and programs to achieve the intended outcomes.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency