In East Africa, IFRC Disaster Law provided technical advice on the draft East African Community (EAC) Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Bill. IFRC Disaster Law's advice pertained specifically to legal preparedness for international disaster assistance. The Bill was finalised and passed by the EAC Assembly in 2016.
In 2020 and 2021, IFRC Disaster Law held engagements with the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and developed a roadmap for the implementation of the partnership between IFRC and IGAD on Disaster and Climate Resilience. This road map includes activities such as conducting a mapping analysis of IGAD member states’ Disaster Risk Management frameworks to inform the development of a policy framework or guidance to support IGAD member states in the development of robust national legislations that take into consideration innovative DRM funding processes like Forecast-based Financing.
IFRC Disaster Law has also provided training across the sub-region, including a sub-regional workshop in 2009 for National Societies and humanitarian partners, focusing on the IDRL Guidelines and associated international norms for disaster response. During the workshop, consultations were carried out on potential strategies for legislative advocacy on international disaster response law. Further sub-regional training for governments and National Societies from the Horn of Africa was held in 2012, in cooperation with UN OCHA.
As part of a partnership between IFRC and UNICEF, IFRC Disaster Law supported the development of the report “Gender responsive disaster risk management: An analysis of gender integration in national and regional disaster risk management frameworks in Eastern and Southern Africa”. The report explores the extent of integration of gender considerations, including gender-based violence (GBV) risk mitigation, prevention and response considerations, in national and regional DRM legal and policy frameworks in Ethiopia, Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia (including Puntland and Somaliland), South Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, the African Union Commission (AUC), the East African Community (EAC), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
IFRC Disaster Law has also conducted country-level research and activities in several countries in East Africa including Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.
