MTR Oromia and SNNPR Bus Stop Report

MTR Oromia and SNNPR Bus Stop Report

Oromia and SNNPR regions made the bus stop together.

• Oromia: Oromia Regional DRM-ATF and Borena RESET Cluster posters wereposted.
• SNNPR: SNNPR regional DRM-ATF and South Omo and Wolaita RESET Clusters posters wereposted

Participants into 3 groups came to the posters where presentation of the posters were made for them and also questions and answers session were held. Below is the poster presentations and questions and answers by region.

The main focuses of the presentations were on the existing coordination gaps, needs and strengths and the opportunities that can be positively exploited. To this effect, the main points presented and discussions held are summarized in the following table.

1. SNNPR

1.1.SNNPR Regional

No / Points / Description
1. / Challenges / Regarding DRM-ATF : Few Agri-NGOs based in Hawassa; disinterest of the DRMFSCO to arrange meeting for 3 or 4 organizations;
No support from FAO to encourage establishment of DRM-ATF at zonal level or to bring those NGOs residing outside of Hawassa to Hawassa for meeting
Overburdening of officials of the DRMFSCO with different assignments and unwillingness to delegate senior staffs to chair task forces or TWG
Staff shortage and staff reshufflings at DRMFSCO
Tendency of organizing meetings at expensive hotels and lack of budget for that purpose
2 / Root causes of the challenges / DRM-ATF: the above challenges are also the causes hindering running the task force meetings
Low awareness and shared vision among development partners about functions and mechanism of coordination platforms (Coordination viewed as low priority)
3 / Priorities to address the challenges / Finalize recruitment process of the field monitor, continue communication with the responsible office on the planned formation and support technically on the functioning of the platform.
Provide training and awareness raising to improve coordination skills, knowledge and experience (focus on the challenges, opportunities, barriers and actions that facilitate coordination with practical evidence from other countries);
Secure funds that are tied to coordination
4 / Strengths and Opportunities / So far contacted responsible bureau heads, department heads, NGOs, UN-agencies based in Haawassa showed high interest in the establishment of the LRRD platform
The region is vulnerable to several natural disasters and the regional government lacks the capacity to address all these by its own. Effective coordination can contribute to narrow those gaps.
The existence an office having a clear mandates of coordination of DRM related issues (RDPFSCO) which is supported by a council chaired by the president office (disaster risk management council)
Existence of DRM policy

1.2.South Omo and Wolaita EU RESET Clusters

Points / description
(1)Challenges / The key challenges in cluster coordination includes limited understanding of partners on the importance of coordination for significant impact, poor engagements at coordination frameworks (task forces), unable to integrate cross cutting issues (such as gender, DRM, nutrition), the focus on organizational specific policies and the difficulty to measure resilience.
(2)Root causes of thechallenges / The major root causes for the coordination gaps are the difference in organizational capacity/experience, the differences on approaches among the different donors, the strict government rules and regulation on CSOs, the feeble coordination structures/frameworks and the limitation in data base related to resilience.
(3)Priorities to addressthechallenges / The coordination could be improved through continuous capacity building intervention at individual, organizational and systemic levels. Particularly, the EU FAO coordination project need to work towards on creating a common understanding on coordination, facilitating different experience/lesson sharing events and providing a common framework for coordination.
(4)Strengths and Opportunities / The cluster coordination can use the existing strengths and opportunities to address the root causes of the coordination gaps. There is a very strong internal coordination mechanism for EU RESET project implementing partners, encouraging relationship with local partners, the existence of EU FA coordination project and the proactive GO-CSOs forum in the cluster.

1.3.SNNPR Regional and ClustersQuestions and Answers

Qtn1: Clarification on what to mean existence of few NGOs as a challenge for ATF meetings

Ans: Across the region there are several NGOs involving in agriculture related activities, but only few of them have office at Hawassa level. Until 2016, although lack regularity we conduct the DRM-ATF meeting, however in 2017 most of the member NGOs had no agriculture component or others closed or shifted their offices to other areas (like GOAL-Ethiopia, PI, ACTION FAIME, etc.).

Qtn2: What mechanism exist to address agricultural related information?

• Although irregular, weparticipateonthe DRM-TWG meeting and wepresentagriculturalrelatedactivitiesforparticipants, whichiscompiled in the minute.
• Whentheresponsiblegovernment office unable to callforthe DRM-TWG meeting, UN-agencies and INGOsmaketheirown and share theirrespectivereports
• At present, thereis a green light fromdifferentgovernment office onthe establishment of coordinationfor a resilienceforum as wellas the establishment of LRRD platform. Withthis, weexpectthattheoverallsituation in theregionwill be improved.

Qtn3: Explain coordination mechanisms at cluster level.

Ans: South Omo - we have internal and external coordination. Externally we have zonal level EU-RESET coordination among member organizations of RESET cluster with relevant zonal sector offices and the external coordination is led by government. WolaitaRESET representative added that the zonal EU-RESET coordination promotes coordination for resilience.

1. Oromia
2. OromiaRegional DRM-ATF

Points / description
(1)Challenges / Frequent interruption of DRM-ATF meeting due to the commitment of Government authorities in different urgent issues, and low level of participation by all actors on regular meetings
There are issues of awareness and Turnover of Government Staffs
No constant delegation of representatives
Lesscoordination capacity for hosting/chairing even for coordination spaces that are currently existing. Themagnitude of these problems increase as one goes from the regional level to the zones and woredas, places where coordination efforts are needed the most, as most operations take place at woreda/kebele levels.
(2)Root causes of thechallenges / incentives framework and trust forcoordination
level of awareness on coordination such as its importance and capacities for coordination
Leadership and Commitment for coordination at hosting/chairing entities that have roles in leading coordination works
Knowledge management and/or institutional memoryis an issue for some organizations with poor practice of knowledge generation, documentation and dissemination on their programmes coupled with staffs turn over
(3)Priorities to addressthechallenges /

• Institutionalizing DRM-ATF within department/institutions
• Need more proactivemembership
• Provision of information, training on idea of DRM-ATF and its contribution to sustainable development framework both for emergency and development interventions.
• Allocating regular budgets for facilitation of coordination activities
• Accurate data collection in due time, proper documentation and dissemination of lessons learnt to relevant stakeholders
• Encourage a coordination initiative that brings humanitarian and development efforts by different actors, as for coordination for resilience to be successful there has to be a platform that can bring both actors together to link the development and humanitarian interventions

(4)Strengths and Opportunities / Needs of communities, their assets and the environment demanding relief/emergency response – immediate, recovery/rehabilitation – intermediate and development – long-term interventions
Existence of national DRM and Resilience policies/strategies that create a conducive environment for the promotion and implementation of coordination activities leading to resilience building
The project with its revised action plans and implementation timeframe and its focus on coordination for resilience taking into account Linking Relief Rehab Development (LRRD) approach
Theproject is hosted by food security section in the regional bureau that also implements and oversees PSNP4 programme, which is an opportunity to linking the project with government led flagship projects. The EU-FAO Coordination project covers 6 zones out of the 10 PSNP4 target zones in addition to its regional focus
Agriculture is among the most important aspect of resilience, being a multi-sectoral and complex issue, which is an anticipated development outcome for the communitys in the target zones
The regional LoA (financial resource) contributed by the project for the region and
FAO staff fully dedicated for the coordination efforts promoted by the project

2.2.Borena EU RESET Cluster

Points / description
(1)Challenges / Continued drought, Insecurity and logistic problem, poor infrastructures, overlap of activities with that government
(2)Root causes of thechallenges / Climatechange, HH foodinsecurity,
Limitedactorscapacity, governementlimited coordination roles, duplication of resources and unharmonizedapproaches
(3)Priorities to addressthechallenges / Flexible programme design and early response, Strengthen CBOs, customary institutions and DRR committee, integrate with other NGOs, strengthening Taskforce meeting at all levels
(4)Strengths and Opportunities / Decentrilization, existence of manyNGOsworkingonseveralthematicareas, implementation of NNP II (NationalNutritionProgram II) , Skilled labor in allgovernementoffices, existence of customaryinstitutions , harmonizedworkingmodalities,

2.3.Oromia Regional and EU RESET Questions and Answers

Q1: what are the key learnings?

Ans:

• A regional experiencesharingforumwiththefocus of coordinationforresiliencecreatedanopportunityfor regional participants to review and learnabouttheexistingcoordinationspaces. Lots of experienceswereexchanged.
• Regional visiting tour participantslearntfromexperiences of EU RESET led coordinationforresilience and sawpracticalworksfacilitatedby the coordinationspaces
• EU fundedprogramcreatedanopportunityforsomeorganizations to come together and complementeachotherwiththeirexpertise and experiences
• Engagingstakeholders in theplanning and approval/endorsementprocess of the regional plan contributed to theawarenessraising and ownershipimproving of stakeholders
• Mostexistingcoordinationstructuresare donor/implementerinitiated and run coordinationspaceslackingownershipbyrelevantstakeholdersthatcouldplay roles insustainingthem.

Q2: Roles of customary institutions and CBOs in coordination?

Ans: customary institutions and CBOs are local structures that bring together people in their localities. They have years of context know-how and learnt lessons with regard to their areas, so they play crucial roles in bridging relationships between community members and the coordination platforms and also individual development organizations coming to that area. In addition, it is better to use them as entry points since they are already existing structures.

Conclusion (both regions)

Thevisiting groups have emphasized that the coordination is not an easy task since it is working in people mind, the importance of regional workshop/experience sharing lessons in coordination for resilience and that the EU FAO coordination project will be an opportunity for improving coordination.

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Thegroup leads have recapped common issues from the different bus stops in their presentations as follows:

Group I – What are common challenges

Less awareness and understanding on coordination

Linked functionality of ATF

Lack of commitment in taking the lead

Inconsistency of coordination meeting (ATF)

Group II – Common priorities in Coordination

The group has observed that internal coordination among RESET implementing partners is strong.

Capacity building on coordination

Experience sharing between regions and zones

Institutionalizing ATF at lowest structure (Zone) in case of SNNPR

Sustainable funding for coordination forum

Importance of having coordination guideline

Sustainable knowledge management system

Leadership and commitment

Group III – What are common learnings in terms of coordination?

Coordination is a must

The project brought awareness on coordination

Joint visit during experience sharing forum

Coordination for resilience needed at all level

Coordination needs commitment