Ethiopia: Commemoration of the 2015 International Day for Disaster Reduction

Celebration of IDDR in the capital of Africa, Addis Ababa: The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia will celebrate the IDDR for the 6th time and for the 2nd time jointly with the African Union Commission (AUC) with participation of the African Permanent Missions. This year’s IDDR will be the first to be celebrated after the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 at the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held from 14 to 18 March 2015 in Sendai, Japan. There will, therefore, be a dedicated session on the Sendai Framework where progress made so far and follow-up actions identified to ensure effective implementation of the Framework on the African Continent will be discussed.

Theme of the event:

This year’s IDDR is going to be celebrated in Ethiopia under the global theme: “Knowledge for Life” and guided by the UNISDR concept note with the contextualized national dictum of “Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Reduction”

Organizers:

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Africa Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with UNISDR and other partners (UN agencies, WB, NGOs etc).

Objective of the event:

The objective will be twofold: (i) to promote the importance of IDDR in advocating the culture of prevention and reduction of disaster risks in the context of sustainable development and thus strengthening the resilience of persons, communities, countries and their assets; and (ii) to raise awareness and generate political commitment for effective implementation of the Sendai Framework on the African continent with full engagement of local people and use of indigenous and traditional knowledge.

Expected outcome of the event:

The event is expected to create awareness on existence of plenty of (currently used & other untapped) indigenous and traditional knowledge and local experiences which should form the basis of local level decision making in disaster risk reduction for resilience and hence play a crucial role in the implementation of the Sendai Framework. . The event is also expected to provide a unique opportunity to update participants including African Permanent Missions on progress made so far and follow-up actions identified to effectively implement the Sendai Framework in Africa thereby helping generate increased awareness and political commitment to effectively implement this global framework across the continent. Above all the event will help raise awareness and generate commitment to promote risk informed development planning and investment thereby contributing to the achievement of sustainable development..

Structure of the event:

To colorfully commemorate the 2015 IDDR, the National Committee for Organizing the event (composed of AUC, Government institutions, UN-agencies, NGOs, etc) is established by the Ethiopian Government. The main components of the event include: Conference, Pre conference press release, Exhibitions and full media coverage. The Conference will have a number of presentations in line with the theme and sub-theme of the year. Following the opening of the conference, the first presentation will be on the Sendai Framework.

Conference participants:

Over 200 participants representing Federal and Regional government institutions, s, AUC, African Permanent Missions in Addis Ababa, UN-agencies, World Bank, NGOs, diverse media groups, and other institutions are expected to attend the event.

Date and Venue:

The 2015 IDDR will be celebrated from 11 to 14 October 2015 for 4 consecutive days. The conference event will take place at Hilton Hotel on 14th October 2015, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.