Nairobi, 22nd June 2024
Nairobi City County with the support from Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) convened a consultative multisectoral meeting on contingency planning to chart way forward on the establishment of a robust framework that will enable the County address potential and emerging emergencies.
The meeting comprising of officers drawn from various County Departments of; Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nutrition and Wellness, Sub-County Administration, Trade, markets, Disaster Management and Coordination, Economic Planning, Climate Change, Donor Coordination and Stakeholder Engagement and Gender and Inclusivity and representative from, Kenya Meteorological Department and the Office of the Regional Commissioner, deliberated on the proposed Nairobi County Contingency plan.
The County Chief Officer for Disaster Management and Coordination Mr. Bramwel Simiyu, explained that Nairobi County lacks a compelling contingency plan. He pointed the importance of having a whole hazard approach for both man-made and natural disasters as well as taking risk management approach, responses and adaptation and post disaster response plan.
“Once operationalized, the contingency plan will bring order by channeling support to central place, avoid duplication of efforts and give a roadmap to know responsibilities of each player” Said Mr. Simiyu.
The Disaster Management Chief Officer also mentioned that the contingency plan will be cascaded up to ward level towards building community resilience.
The Contingency roadmap is expected to enable Nairobi County to respond effectively in the event of emergencies such as epidemics, drought and food insecurity, disasters involved with food nutrition, conflict and terror, seasonal floods and non-cyclic emergencies, thus ensuring continuity of essential Services.
Nairobi County Chief Officer, Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Ms. Gladwell Cheruiyot termed the Contingency plan a good move for the County as it will help the county deal with disasters the right way. She said that disasters should not be left only to Disaster Department alone to deal with.
“We need a collective responsibility to deal with disasters and emergencies. Relevant Sectors need to work together to avoid push and pull when dealing with disasters and potential emergencies.” She noted.
Speaking on the issue of food safety, Ms. Cheruiyot said there is need to concentrate on food traceability and carrying out baseline survey to advance in making food safe. She added that she was impressed that nutrition issues are brought on board in the contingency planning and that nutrition should be given the attention it deserves.
While emphasizing on the need for a robust contingency system, the County Director for Health, Wellness and Nutrition Ms. Easther Mogusu said that the plan will sustain the County all year long, hence the reason for a multisectoral roadmap for each sector to know and understand their roles in order for them to facilitate faster return to normalcy after an emergency.
Mr. Kefa Omanga, Director in charge of Donor Coordination and Stakeholder Engagement said that a strong nexus exists between preparedness for Disasters and sustainable development. He emphasized on the need to model the County’s Disaster contingency plan on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. While taking the participants through the roadmap for development of the County’s Contingency Plan he underscored the critical importance of understanding the factors of exposure, vulnerability and capacity. He noted while disasters are inevitable, the county is always not well prepared because it lacks a contingency plan.
“The plan, will guide the County to prepare for emerging Disaster Risks, reduce existing risk and emerge better whenever disasters happen. He said.
In addition, Mr. Kefa said the plan will help relevant sectors understand County’s risk environment and do risk analysis to determine where to put focus on.
Nairobi County Assistant Commissioner Ms. Michelle Tati highlighted key disasters addressed by the National Government Administration Officers such as floods, fire, disease outbreak, drought, evacuation from riparian land, violent extremism and climate change, citing challenges faced and areas of improvement.
During the meeting, several issues were discussed including; current contingency planning in County and National government, tools for assessing risks and designing inclusive contingency plans, communication and coordination mechanisms and steps to implementation -developing a roadmap for development of inclusive contingency plans.
The participants from the sectors represented agreed on the need to work together as sectors by involving relevant sectors in project planning and development in order to mitigate disasters before they occur, instead of involving other sectors only when disasters emerge.
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