» 2 million targeted for RCRP-2

Government says the Regional Climate Resilience Program (RCRP-2) will benefit about two million people across the country. The majority of those supported will be community members, including smallholder farmers, according to the Department of Economic Planning and Development. “Beneficiaries will primarily benefit from reduced exposure to water-related climate shocks, including flooding, due to protective and resilient infrastructure and improved disaster risk management and social protection system,” explains the Department’s Director of Planning, Adwell Zembele. The goal will, among other means, be achieved through enhancing the capabilities of various institutions such as the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services (DCCMS), the Department of Water Resources (DWR), Department of Water Supply, Environmental Affairs Department, Department of Forestry, Department of Land Resources and the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) to effectively respond to disasters at the national, district, and community level. The main objective of RCRP-2 is to improve resilience to water-related climate shocks in Malawi and in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, and in the case of an eligible crisis or emergency (one declared as a disaster by the state president), to respond promptly and effectively to it. The program development objective will be achieved by strengthening participating countries' and regional organisations’ capacity to manage disaster risk, including improved national and regional Early Warning Systems (EWS) and improving access to climate financing for climate adaptation investment. “It will also mainstream climate resilience in water infrastructure planning, mainly in water institutions, increase infrastructure resilience, including improving Operation and Management (O&M) systems, with a focus on large storage and flood risk management infrastructure; and improve community-level awareness and response capacity, including establishing and strengthening adaptive social protection systems,” he said. The achievement of the program development objective will be measured by different indicators, including people in selected basins with reduced vulnerability to climate shocks - floods, droughts and/or cyclones. “The others are land area with increased flood protection and catchment conservation, and people having access to early action and social protection systems supported through the project. “People benefiting from restored infrastructure damaged by Tropical Cyclone Freddy and/or other eligible emergencies and regional collaboration strengthened on water-related climate challenges,” stated Zembele. The Programme has five components, including a Contingent Emergency Response (CERC) that integrates regional and national dimensions, promoting policy harmonisation, knowledge generation, capacity development, and coordination across RCRP implementing countries. The other components are risk management and climate financing, infrastructure investments and sustainable asset management for climate resilience, local authority performance improvement support, which includes expanding the social registry in urban areas to enhance the resilience of beneficiaries to floods, cyclones and droughts in Blantyre and Zomba cities and designing and piloting an urban climate smart public works programme.