The partners of the IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI), including Member States, IGAD, Development Partners, UN agencies, non-state actors (NSAs) and members of the private sector actors, committed to ending drought emergencies in the Horn of Africa, held the 3rd IDDRSI Platform General Assembly meeting on 27th March 2015 at the Hilton Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting was opened and chaired by H.E. Hon. Dr. Gebregziabeher Gebreyohannis Minister of State for Livestock, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The meeting was attended by Hon. Eng. Bahaeldin Mohamed Khamis Mohamed, Undersecretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Irrigation, Republic of Sudan; Hon. Ecweru Musa Francis, Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness, Republic of Uganda; and representatives of the Minister of Agriculture & Livestock, Republic of Djibouti; Minister of Devolution & Planning, Republic of Kenya; Minister of Environment, Federal Republic of Somalia; and Minister of Livestock & Fisheries Industries, Republic of South Sudan. Also in attendance was H.E. Amb. (Eng.) Mahboub Maalim, Executive Secretary of IGAD; Ms Kyung-Wah Kang, Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator (UN-OCHA); Mr Thoma Staal, Acting Assistant Administrator, USAID, representing the Global Alliance; H.E. Amb. Giuseppe Mistretta, Ambassador of Italy to Ethiopia and Chairman of the IGAD Partners Forum; Mr Naito Yasushi, Executive Advisor to the Director General of JICA, Africa Department; Dr Jimmy Smith, Director General, ILRI; Mr. Collin Bruce, Regional Director, World Bank; Dr Ralph-Matthias Mohs, Director, East Africa, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany; and H.E. Mr. Ali Bahreini, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Ethiopia.
The meeting‟s objective was to review the progress made since the 2 nd General Assembly meeting held in Kampala, Uganda on 26 March 2014, discuss the way forward and re-affirm the commitment to end drought emergencies in the IGAD region. The meeting was an opportunity for Member States, Development Partners and other stakeholders present to assess what is different in their thinking or action; and what has changed since the decision to end drought emergencies was made, taking stock of the evidence of their individual and collective responsibility to honour their pledges and resolutions; but also reminding themselves that the IDDRSI Strategy is a 15-year proposition that compels us to figure out how to make the process of the drought resilience initiative irreversible, through increased investments, linking humanitarian interventions with development assistance, with better coordination and deeper cooperation; as well as inclusive engagement of all groups and categories of actors and stakeholders, committed to the sustainable use of natural resources.
