Government of Malawi, through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), brought together national, district and sub district level stakeholders including government institutions, Non-Governmental Organisations, the academia, the media and Civil Protection Committees to pre-test the robustness of a newly developed Disaster Risk Management Manual currently in draft form.
The pretesting exercise was held from 23rd to 27th May, 2016 at Silver Sands Holiday Resort in Salima with financial support from the World Bank (through the Malawi Floods Emergency Recovery Project (MFERP)), United Nations Development Programme, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Cooperazione Internazionale.
Speaking during the workshop, the Director of Disaster Risk Reduction in the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, Mr. James Chiusiwa said, “The manual provides guidance in delivering training programmes in disaster risk management and the pre-testing exercise was necessary to solicit views for improving the modules before final production and dissemination”.
The first of its kind in the country, the manual has been developed as a reference material for use at all levels by different stakeholders to ensure consistency in the delivery of disaster risk management knowledge and skills in the country.