Africa-Press – Malawi. NON-STATE ACTORS’ COMMUNIQUE ON THE NEED TO URGENTLY FINALIZE AND ENACT THE DRM BILL The Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC) and partners, convened a
Stakeholders Meeting on the need to finalize and enact the Disaster Risk Management Bill on 24th November 2022. The meeting brought together stakeholders from various sectors which include
Academia, Civil Society, Media, the Private Sector, and community representatives. The engagement took place at a time the DRM Bill is yet to be tabled in Parliament despite the process dating back to 2015.
As stakeholders in climate change and disaster risk management sector; We recognize the need for multi-stakeholder involvement in the formulation and implementation of various climate change and disaster risk management policy frameworks in Malawi with a particular focus on the implementation of the National Climate Change Management Policy, and the National Disaster Risk Management Policy.
We acknowledge the importance of the development and implementation of resilience policies in facilitating the effective coordination, financing, and implementation of multi-sectoral programs to avert the impacts of climate change in Malawi.
Malawi’s resilience framework calls upon all sectors and stakeholders to pursue a proactive and integrated way of reducing the impacts of climate change hazards through sustainable, innovative, and realistic strategies with strong partnerships and networks.
We commend the interest and the commitment of the Government of Malawi in participatory formulation and implementation of the resilience policies and also the support of the development
partners through the provision of technical and financial support in developing policies and their implementation. We reiterate our unwavering commitment in the hunt for solutions that seek to reduce the impacts
of climate change and enthuse national resilience thereby mitigate impacts of disasters. We understand that there is an interplay of constraining technical, financial, and political factors
and that there are some capacities and incapacities among us as stakeholders but we resolve to come together and tap into each other’s strengths and efforts to enhance national resilience and
safeguard human dignity and a sustainable future. We are concerned with resistance by the Government of Malawi to have the DRM Bill tabled in parliament as evidenced by the back-and-forth engagements between the Department of Disaster
Management Affairs and the Ministry of Justice. We also lament that the Government of Malawi is losing a lot of resources in disaster related expenses; a situation which can easily be abated by the provisions of the DRM Bill once enacted.
We, therefore, present the following demands in relation to the finalization and enactment of the DRM Bill into law, as well as general disaster risk management.
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