By; ISAAC ODEH, Kaduna
The European Commission’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (KADSEMA) on Thursday, commenced project implementation review to strengthen coordination of disaster mitigation.
Muhammed Mukaddas, the Executive Secretary of the KADSEMA, said this in Kaduna during a roundtable meeting to review Disaster Reduction and Social Safety project in the state.
He said the projects were aimed at saving lives and protecting the health and livelihoods of vulnerable people from the impact of climate change related disasters.
According to him, the donors were in Kaduna to understand more on the operating environment, status of project implementation and the way forward.
He said the discussions centered around the state’s contingency planning, incident command system, SEMA’s crisis center; Inter agency collaboration and emergency response.
Mukaddas dwelt on the agency’s works, the recent flood responses, collaborative efforts with stakeholders, achievements and challenges thus far.
He expressed appreciation to the donors for the visit while commending their continued trust in the agency.
Earlier, Jocelyn Lance, the Regional Disaster Preparedness Expert of ECHO, said the visit was to asses the impact of the project in providing assistance to vulnerable communities.
“We are here to engage all stakeholders especially the project indicators, as this is a disaster reduction project and to understand the state of disasters in the state,” Lance said.
Mr Bart Witteveen, the Head of ECHO in Nigeria, said the organisation was in partnership with various actors involved in humanitarian support, based on the state’s needs assessment identified by partners.
The meeting was attended by representatives of United Nations Children and Education Fund, the Red Cross, Christian Aid, Cooperazione International and othe stakeholders.
