The SADC El Niño Logistics and Coordination Team convened a workshop of Senior Officials from SADC Member States to facilitate the development of a Coordinated Regional Transportation Plan for Humanitarian Relief Cargo in the region.
The workshop was held on 28th and 29th July 2016 at the Birchwood Hotel, Boksburg, in Johannesburg, South Africa as a follow up to the Declaration of a Regional Drought Disaster for the 2015/16 season and the Launch of a Regional Appeal for Humanitarian and Recovery Support by the Chairperson of SADC, H.E. Lt. General Dr. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, and President of the Republic of Botswana on Tuesday, 26th July 2016.
The SADC Regional Humanitarian Appeal estimates that 40 million people, in the region’s rural population are food insecure and out of this figure, 23 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian support. The region’s cereal situation indicates an estimated cereal shortfall of 9.3 million metric tonnes which will have to be sourced from within and outside the region.
With this background, the workshop discussed potential logistical issues that needed to be addressed to ensure that humanitarian relief cargo is transported in a costeffective and timely manner.
The workshop was hosted by the Republic of South Africa, chaired by the Government of Botswana through the Ministry of Transport and Communication as current SADC Chair, and was organised with support from the World Food Programme (WFP).
Senior Officials from Ministries responsible for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, Agriculture and Food Security, Transport, and Home Affairs from 8 of the 15 SADC Member States namely; Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia,
South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe attended the workshop. Also in attendance were stakeholders involved in the funding, procurement, transport and logistics, and coordination of humanitarian relief cargo from humanitarian organisations, UN Agencies, development and donor communities, Public and Private Transport logistics companies and Association, Transport Corridors in the region, Transporters Associations, and Ports in the region.
In his address to the workshop, SADC Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration Dr. Thembinkosi Mhlongo called for a coordinated plan to ensure that humanitarian relief cargo was delivered timely since the majority of countries that have declared national disasters are landlocked and will be importing significant volumes of cereals at the same time, through the same ports.
The workshop noted the need for adequate communication and coordination through the entire transportation phases of the humanitarian relief cargo, and made the following key observations and decisions: