National Policy for Disaster Preparedness and Management

The National Policy for Disaster Preparedness and Management is a national cross-sectoral policy of Uganda. Its main goal is to establish institutions and mechanisms that will reduce the vulnerability of people, livestock, plants and wildlife to disasters in Uganda.
In the area of food security, the document aims to improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of available technical and scientific knowledge, disseminating knowledge of principles of nutrition by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient and sustainable development and utilization of natural resources; establish and maintain adequate grain stores for famine prone areas and other emergencies; provide relief food stuffs and non-food commodities to persons in need from the time of food shortage up to the next harvest season of the affected people; increase production and productivity for food security using improved production technologies; support for food-for-asset programmes aimed at preparing land, rehabilitating social infrastructure and other activities necessary for community stability; streamline the land tenure systems in Uganda; establish measures for household, community, regional and national food reserves and silos; ensure the implementation of food security and nutrition policy; and establish a National Data Base on famine.
For environmental protection, the policy targets to educate the communities on the nature and causes of environmental degradation; involve communities in environment protection; formulate strict laws against environmental degradation; develop programs for proper management of the environment; create community awareness and adoption of high yielding and drought resistant variety of crops and livestock; promote modern farming methods among the communities; and conduct environmental impact assessment.
The policy also seeks to reduce rural poverty. The document states that famine and drought situations have compounded poverty among the peasants, incapacitating the communities from participating in economic development and lowering their nutritional status.
Further, the Policy aims to establish disaster preparedness and management institutions at national and local government levels; equip disaster preparedness and management institutions and ensure that the country is prepared at all times to cope with and manage disasters; integrate disaster preparedness and management into development processes at all levels; promote research and technology in disaster risk reduction; generate and disseminate information on early warning for disasters and hazard trend analysis; promote public, private partnerships in disaster preparedness and management; and create timely, coordinated and effective emergency responses at national, district and lower level local governments. Moreover, the Policy contains specific sets of objectives for a variety of disaster types, including: drought, floods, landslides/mudslides, epidemics, crop and animal epidemics, pandemics, heavy storms, pest infestations, earthquakes, and fires.
According to the document, an effective disaster preparedness and management depends on multi-sectoral planning and programming. It is based on a rational assessment of disaster risk and on the analysis of the vulnerability of the communities. Planning for disaster has to be undertaken at all levels – from the national to the village level. For this reason, the Policy provides for community participation, public awareness, institutional capacity building, partnership and co-ordination, and implementation of international agreements.