The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) has engaged disaster risk management (DRM) stakeholders on the review of the National Disaster Risk Management Communication Strategy (NDRMCS).
Speaking on Monday (July 2) in Salima District when opening a working session on the review of the communication strategy, DoDMA’s Director of Disaster Risk Reduction James Chiusiwa said the review is aimed at incorporating emerging climate and disaster risk management issues, but also reflect on successes and challenges in the implementation of the strategy.
“In 2014, we developed the National Disaster Risk Management Communication Strategy whose implementation period comes to an end this year [2018]. We have secured funds under the Saving Lives and Protecting Agriculture-based Livelihoods in Malawi: Scaling up the use of Modernised Climate Information and Early Warning Systems (M-CLIMES) and one of the major activities is the review of the NDRMCS,” said Chiusiwa.
The working session has brought together various national, district and community-level DRM stakeholders which include civic educators, members of the press, climate and weather experts, planners, humanitarian partners and civil protection committees.
In May this year, DoDMA engaged communities from eight districts of the country namely; Zomba, Mulanje, Mwanza, Kasungu, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Karonga and Dedza as part of the processes in the review of the communication strategy. The communication strategy is expected to be finalized and launched before the end of this year.
The M-CLIMES is a 6-year, US$16,264,545 (about K12 billion) project funded by the Green Climate Fund, the Malawi Government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It aims at supporting the Malawi Government to take steps in saving lives and enhance livelihoods at risk of climate-related disasters.
