Real Risk

buyers paying the same premium and receiving the same indem-

nity per unit of insurance.

The scheme is being tried in Morocco, Malawi, South Africa

and Ethiopia, bringing together the insurance industry, public

institutions on disaster, NGOs, the World Bank, international

reinsurance companies and private international banks.

Microfinance institutions and other organizations can serve as a

conduit in ‘joint products’ with loans.

The scheme’s credibil-

ity depends on government action in helping to develop basic

infrastructures, data collection, regulatory framework and the

integrity of monitoring.

Emergency relief

An effective mechanism should be developed to trigger response

to distressed communities, helping to guide drought-response

decisions via supply-type triggers reflecting moisture deficiencies

caused by acts of nature, and demand-type triggers reflecting

drought impacts, as practised in Australia.

20, 21

NEPAD’s review of emergency relief

resulted in a number of

relevant suggestions for the advocated strategy:

Regional financial reserve in a major trading currency

– Where

pooled food-reserve funds lower the contribution of each country

in a region.

Facilitating commodity exchange

–Where this is mutually advan-

tageous, neighbouring countries could borrow from each other’s

reserves.

Contracting food aid donors to manage stocks

– Stocks will be

pre-positioned in a few central locations for delivery to countries

urgently needing imported food to back up their safety net or

emergency programmes.

Coordinating humanitarian relief

– In case of a large-scale food

crisis affecting several countries, regional emergency prepared-

ness and response units could mobilize relief supplies and

logistics support at short notice and coordinate contributions.

Equally on 11 November 2004, the United Nations General

Assembly addressed a number of issues relevant in shaping the

advocated strategy when it was discussing the need to strengthen

the coordination of UN humanitarian and disaster relief assis-

tance. These include:

• Stressing the importance of including the views of and

working with local groups in developing emergency

programmes in order to ensure their long-term success

• Emphasizing the need to ensure a more equitable distribu-

tion of humanitarian assistance across emergencies, including

those of a protracted nature

• Noting the need for improving the quality and effectiveness

of humanitarian aid and for an effective response to today’s

humanitarian challenges

• Broadening views, to include political, military and devel-

opmental partners. The UN recognized that by better

listening to and coordinating with governments, NGOs and

affected populations, and by building local capacities, better

ownership and participation could be ensured, and the

chances for sustainable results could be increased

• Underlining the need to respect the principles of neutrality,

humanity and impartiality needed to guide all humanitarian

action which should be undertaken at the request of the

recipient government

• Noting that aid was abundantly provided in humanitarian

emergency situations that benefited from wide media cover-

age and that by contrast, as soon as the media spotlight faded

away, resources tended to be scarce, especially in some

specific regions and when the more difficult task of recon-

struction began

• Underlining the need to have a mechanism that would

enable a timelier implementation of programmes and a

more rapid disbursement of funds through productive part-

nership

• Underlining the importance of policy coherence and coor-

dination in the delivery of humanitarian assistance

• Underlining the need to close gap between relief and devel-

opment to ensure a smooth transition from humanitarian

emergency assistance to sustainable development.

Currently, African citizens are mere recipients of disaster manage-

ment activity outputs – mainly relief delivery by governments

and donors – and do not adequately participate in the design

and implementation of disaster reduction programmes.

Attitudes toward responses to drought must change, to allow

the reallocation of assistance to support the building of infra-

structure, such as wells or pipelines for water transfers. The

growth rate of organizations living on emergency management

has been tremendous over the past 20 years, but their success

should have been measured in terms of negative growth rate,

aimed at developing the capacity of the population to minimize

its reliance on food handouts. These rent-seekers must be

convinced that they can gain their living from the structural trans-

formation of African economies to contribute to broad-based

economic growth with food security, poverty reduction, equity

and better environmental management.

Implementation and partnership arrangements

AU/NEPAD noted in its review that government explicitly regards

civil protection against disasters as a key governance responsi-

bility.

Coordinating the interests and activities of various

stakeholders in DRR has been, however, ineffective.

Such arrangements should change, to create a culture of

drought risk prevention, reduction and resilience at all partner-

ship levels, through the structural transformation of drought

assistance management to ensure that agricultural drought disas-

ter risk prevention and reduction become a shared responsibility

while empowering farmers to protect themselves.

Through the SRPPTIP concept, existing intergovernmental orga-

nizations (IGOs) should help ensure joint planning to lead to the

creation of ASDZs and bring more areas under sustainable land

management and reliable water control and management systems

for each strategic commodity. The IGOs provide a forum to study,

develop, and coordinate policies and positions on common inter-

state water issues.

Further, African business communities should be motivated to

form ATNCs across the continent to develop ASDZs and Africa’s

capacity to have secure access to additional agricultural markets

currently estimated annually at over USD24 billion. ATNCs will

then become a source of lucrative job markets, enhancing the

capacity of farming communities to pay for water, land and land

development, and insurance.

The recent effort of the AUC

to revitalize its programme for

integrated management of the Fouta Djallon highlands in the

Republic of Guinea, which is the source of more than six major

rivers in the West Africa subregion, should favour the emergence

of ASDZs/ATNCs and facilitate the exploitation of positive syner-

gies between water, agriculture and ecosystems for social and

economic development.

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