South Africa - IOM this week (5-6/12) hosted a Regional Workshop for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Evaluation with donor USAID/OFDA in Pretoria.

The workshop marked the end of the third phase of the programme, in which Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia continued to strengthen capacities on DRM and CCCM, while Namibia and Botswana focused on consolidating their activities to prepare for a handover to the government.

Several achievements have been accomplished during this phase of the programme, such as the inclusion of CCCM in the National Contingency Plan budget in Angola, the use of CCCM knowledge in camp setting in Mossurize district and other camps in Mozambique, a higher engagement of national stakeholders in Zambia with internal displacement policy, and the inclusion of the CCCM approach in the national DRM policy for Namibia.

The Southern African region suffers from the impact of multiple natural hazards, which often cause displacement and require a great effort from all actors involved to assist and protect internally displaced persons (IDPs).

“Even though the camps have to be seen as a last solution to displacement due to their complexity and risks, very often they have served as a place where IDPs resort to because they trust that they will have access to minimum services and adequate protection from different actors,” said IOM Mozambique Chief of Mission Katharina Schnoering.

In order to contribute in addressing these displacement issues, CCCM and DRM regional capacity-building programmes were introduced in Namibia and later expanded to Mozambique and Botswana in 2013 and Angola, Zambia and Malawi in 2014.

The five-year programme aims to strengthen the national capacities of key Southern African disaster risk management stakeholders to effectively protect and assist displaced and at-risk populations in the five countries.

For further information, please contact Sandra Castaneda at IOM Mozambique, Tel.: +25821310779; Email scastaneda@iom.int