National Disaster Recovery Framework, 2017

The vision of the policy is to achieve a nation that is food secure and resilient to natural disasters, that can rapidly recover from drought and flood shocks, while fostering sustainable economic growth and ensuring equitable, inclusive, and participatory reconstruction that builds back better. The long-term goal of the policy is to sustainably improve the resilience of communities affected by the floods and drought, support prolonged food security of vulnerable populations, and restore the livelihoods of disaster-affected communities. The policy is to serve the following purposes; to guide government and other implementing stakeholders in prioritising the implementation of PDNA findings and guide recovery investment and resource allocations across short-term humanitarian needs and medium- to long-term reconstruction; to help articulate a vision for recovery; to define a national recovery strategy; to guide strategic decision-making processes at the national and district levels;to co-ordinate and prioritise multi-stakeholder interventions cross-sectoral and geospatially; to monitor outcomes across all recovery and reconstruction programmes; and to guide government and all stakeholders to better address longer-term disaster vulnerability through coherent programmes that bridge the gap between recovery and development. The guiding principles for disaster recovery are, policy alignment- all other national policies focused on resilience should be consulted and utilised to guide the recovery process, building back better and smarter- reconstruction activities should not increase the vulnerability of exposed people, focus on resilience, community participation, decentralised approach, multi-stakeholder engagement and coordination, integration of gender, among others. With regards to institutional framework and implementation, the policy shall be under the custody of the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, while a central oversight of the policy is to be provided by the National Disaster Preparedness and Relief Committee. A close coordination will be maintained with ministries, departments and agencies that are responsible for defining prioritised sector recovery frameworks and for overseeing the implementation of recovery interventions in their sectors. The policy prioritises drought disasters and frames a specific response for it; its strategic objectives to this respect include, to enhance drought resilience and preparedness by strengthening the capacity of institutions and drought-affected communities to reduce their risk and vulnerability, to improve food security, nutrition, and delivery of health services for the most vulnerable people in drought-affected communities, to increase agriculture productivity and sustainability through drought-resilient irrigation infrastructure, farming practices, and technologies, and to strengthen the resilience of water resource management and supply through non-structural and structural measures.