Project Overview
The increase in extreme events leading to disasters in Uganda and the implications on people’s lives and livelihoods has highlighted a need for national and local disaster preparedness and early action.
The Elgon region of Eastern Uganda continues to face recurrent floods and mudslides annually that lead to the destruction of infrastructure and loss of lives, assets, and crops, thus causing extreme vulnerability to the communities.
Building on ongoing government efforts, existing local structures, and previous experiences of other actors in the country, Oxfam, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Caritas Tororo, and the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) entered into a partnership and secured funding from ECHO to deliver a Disaster Preparedness Project entitled: Strengthening Community-led Actions on Disaster Preparedness and Response.
The project will roll out interventions in five highly vulnerable or exposed districts of Bududa, Butaleja, Mbale, Namisindwa, and Sironko in the Mount Elgon region in Eastern Uganda.
Interventions
The planned interventions will build effective linkages between early warning and early action and support gender-sensitive district contingency planning in the targeted districts. To enable timely response, local actors will be provided with access to emergency relief stocks via a regional warehouse to be established in Mbale. They will be supported to deliver timely responses through the Action’s Crisis Modifier. Project delivery will promote locally led preparedness and response actions by District Disaster Management Committees (DDMCs) and District Emergency Coordination Centers (DECOCs) to increase the agency, ownership, and long-term resilience of affected communities, facilitating a shift towards sustainability beyond donor funding.
Project Objective/ Goal:
- Disaster prone communities in Mt. Elgon sub-region have increased resilience to hazards.
Specific Objective:
- Disaster prone communities will be served by stronger, more timely, higher quality Disaster Preparedness and Response actors.
- The target population's vulnerability to disasters reduced in addition to strengthening the quality and coordination of the LHAs.
What the project seeks to achieve (Outcomes)
- Local actors have an increased capacity to identify, prepare for and respond to risks relating to multiple hazards.
- Institutional linkages, effective coordination, information sharing and advocacy for disaster risk financing strengthened.
- Effective locally driven responses are implemented through the activation of a cost-effective crisis modifier.
How will we know we have achieved (Outcome indicators)
- 30% reduction in the number of affected people (experienced, expected or modelled)
- 5 of District Contingency Plans (DPCs) elaborated/ updated according to OPM methodology officially validated, budgeted integrated into the district development
- 5 districts that have the capacity to coordinate disaster preparedness mechanisms in the Mt Elgon region by the end of the action
- 70% of beneficiaries reporting that humanitarian assistance is delivered in a safe, accessible, accountable, and participatory manner
- 50% of the population aware of the key preparedness measures set out in the disaster preparedness plan.
SUMMARY
Intervention areas: Bududa, Namisindwa, Sironko, Butalejja and Mbale districts (2 sub-counties per district)
Project timeframe/Implementation Period:2 years
Start: 1st September 2022
End: 31st August 2024
Project Reach:
- 141,256 people directly
- 71,251- female
- 70,005- male
Total Project Funding: 1, 700,000 million Euros
Partners:
- Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
- Caritas Tororo
- Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS)
Donor: ECHO
Key stakeholders:
- Existing community structures
- District Disaster Management Committees (DDMCs)/ Sub County Disaster Management Committees (SCDMCs)
- The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and local Leaders
- Consortium partners and other development partners