Call for expression of interest for Working Sessions participants at the 9th Africa Regional Platform for DRR 2024 (registration is closed)
Registration is now closed, applicants who have already applied will be advised if successful within two weeks from the close of applications
The AfRP-9 and the 8th High Level Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction is organized by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in collaboration with the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The AfRP-9 will focus on the following three critical issues or most important to the risk reduction and resilience building agenda today:
Applying Risk Information for Transformative Governance
Investing to Reduce Risk: Changing the way money is spent
Reducing Loss and Damage: Saving lives and protecting investments
Working Sessions are multi-stakeholder, composed of representatives from Governments, stakeholder groups, civil society organizations, the private sector, regional inter-governmental organizations, and UN partners, among others.
The outcomes of the Working Sessions will feed into the Windhoek Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction and contribute to accelerating the implementation of the Sendai Framework and the Programme of Action for its implementation in Africa.
Objectives
Provide space for interactive discussion and increase knowledge of participants on a specific DRR topic;
Deliberate recent/current disaster events in Africa and provide solutions for resilient recovery and reducing risk of future events;
Provide outcomes by the end of the session which will feed into the Windhoek Declaration.
Approach
The Working Sessions will offer an interactive space that will run up to 90 minutes and provide facilitated opportunities on specific topics relevant to the Sendai Framework and AfRP plenary themes. Sessions should focus on group discussions, brainstorming solutions, and recommendations. Sessions should be topical and relevant to current disaster-related events in Africa and promote support discussions on ways to reduce current disaster risks across the continent.
Working Sessions are not to be used as a stakeholder consultation session or to focus solely on promoting the achievements or presenting programme initiatives of specific organizations, individuals or countries.
Selection Process
Proposals to host Working Sessions will be reviewed by the AfRP-9 Secretariat. As there are limited slots for Working Sessions, applicants may be requested to merge their events to enable maximum content coverage.
The following criteria will be used in the selection process:
Degree of Inclusivity: Does the initiative, project, or theme promote inclusivity in DRR?
Solutions-oriented initiatives: Does the presentation focus on potential solutions rather than just describing the problem?
Engagement Potential: Is the session likely to engage, captivate, and motivate the audience resulting in recommendations for the Windhoek Declaration?
Relevance to the Sendai Framework: Is the proposed idea directly relevant to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction?
Reporting
Following the Working Session, facilitators must submit a summary to the AfRP Secretariat of no more than 300 words of the event with a list of attendees (disaggregated by gender).
For inquiries please contact: undrr-africa@un.org