Refining comprehensive risk management in Sub-Saharan Africa

Genesis provided technical support to fine-tune the United Nations’ comprehensive risk management (CRM) approach in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The initiative was commissioned by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s (UNDRR) Regional Office for Africa (ROA).

The aim was to identify new countries for support as well as the most suitable ways to promote and achieve a risk-informed and integrated approach to sustainable development. The results of this project were used to inform CRM-integrated planning in SSA and provide evidence for a UNDRR regional workshop in December 2022.

The project produced several key outputs including:

• An analytical report reviewing the status of National Adaptation Plans, Disaster Risk Reduction strategies, the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, and the development and approval of Green Climate Fund proposals. The report also looked at development processes that are related to climate change adaptation financing and are associated with the CRM approach. These included National Determined Contributions, Integrated National Financing Frameworks, and Voluntary National Reviews.
• Support in the preparation of Africa-related inputs for the UNDRR side event at COP27.
• Assistance in organising a regional workshop/forum in Nairobi from 14 to 16 December 2022, in consultation with UNDRR Bonn and UNDRR ROA.

Genesis used a gap assessment methodology to evaluate the interrelationships and gaps across CRM-related policy documents for 45 SSA countries. From this initial assessment, 19 SSA countries were identified as the most suitable for applying the CRM approach.

We also co-facilitated the UNDRR's regional workshop in December 2022, providing technical assistance in developing the workshop concept note, CRM training materials contextualised to the SSA context, and drafting the post-workshop report.