The UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on El Niño and Climate Change, Ambassador Macharia Kamau paid a courtesy call on the SADC Executive Secretary, Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax on 24th October 2016. The meeting was also among others attended by Dr Samuel Nyambi from UNDP and the SADC Deputy Executive Secretary, Dr Thembinkosi Mhlongo.
During the meeting the two Parties, among others, discussed progress made in mobilising support for the SADC Humanitarian Appeal in response to the devastated impacts of the El Nino induced drought and on how the UN could help in disseminating appeal messages, and sharing of lessons and best practices between SADC Member States on mechanisms for dealing with the impacts of the cyclical and recurrent droughts taking into consideration the unique national challenges, circumstances and specificities.
The meeting noted that the Appeal was continuing to raise resources from both Governments and International Cooperating Partners. The UN was called upon to continue supporting the Region in mobilising the additional resources to fill the current gap.
The meeting also concurred on the need for a Regional Resilience Strategy and the strengthening of Regional Early Warning Services. Central to building regional resilience would be the need to diversify economies and livelihoods and treat drought response and recovery as part of the overall SADC Industrialisation Strategy and the Poverty Reduction Strategy. This will also require that all national and regional initiatives mainstream the provisions of the Sustainable Development Goals, the African Union Agenda 2063 and the Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development in a holistic manner. The UN was called upon to explore ways of supporting SADC in mainstreaming and monitoring the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The two Parties resolved to continue working together for the benefit of the two organisations.
