Lilongwe, Malawi 28 June 2022 – In a ceremony presided over by His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Malawi, Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the African Risk Capacity Group, in the presence of Representatives of Partners organisations (Ambassador of Germany to Malawi), and of the UN system (WFP and UNDP country directors), delivered a symbolic US$14.2 million insurance payout cheque to the Malawi Government.

Lusaka, Zambia 15 June 2022 – Representatives from the African Risk Capacity Group and the African Development Bank presented a symbolic US$5.3 million cheque to the Zambian Government, to aid in the country’s recovery from the extreme drought event during the 2021/2022 agriculture season.

H.E. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal and Chairman of the African Union (AU), showcased the tangible impact of ARC in member states and called for increased support for the organisation's resource mobilisation campaign at the opening ceremony of the AU Extraordinary Humanitarian Summit and Pledging Conference in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. Watch the call to action here. 

Today, the ARC Group was honoured to have been invited through UN-ASG and DG Ibrahima Cheikh Diong to participate in a High-Level Ministerial Roundtable at the Dakar-held UNECA’s 54th Annual Meeting of African Ministers of Finance and Economy. 

The panel on “Accelerating the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals in Africa” was a great opportunity for us:

1)to make the case about the urgency of building a strong culture of disaster risk management and financing for Africa;

The African Risk Capacity Group (ARC Group), The OOASWAHO || West African Health Organization (WAHO) and Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) led by Ibrahima Cheikh DIONG (UN-ASG-DG), Professor Stanley Okolo (DG) and Dr Amadou Alpha SALL

To wrap up our official visit to Ethiopia (African Union, UN, ARC’s partners, and Member States), we held a very productive meeting today with H.E. Vera Songwe, UN-Under Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa(ECA) and her team! 

Both UN-USG Vera Songwe and UN-ASG and DG of ARC Group Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, renewed their strong commitments to seeing the MOU between the two institutions yield tangible results for our Member States and the vulnerable communities affected by the climate-related disasters. 

We held a very constructive meeting today in Addis with H.E. Hanna Tetteh, Special Envoy of the UN-SG for the Horn of Africa.

We are grateful to her Excellency for sharing her insights on the geopolitical, policy, and political dynamics of the Horn of Africa and their impact on disaster risk management and financing for the region. 

Profoundly strategic exchanges today in Addis with H.E Amb. Bankole Adeoye, AU’s Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security and his team.

We were thrilled by the Ambassador’s renewed support to the ARC mechanism and his commitment to supporting our advocacy and outreach efforts by showcasing the impact of ARC across our member states and beyond.

As part of his first official visit to the African Union, UN-ASG and DG of the ARC Group, Ibrahima Cheikh Diong met with H.E. Amb. Minata Samate Cessouma, AU Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development.

The constructive meeting centered around, amongst other things, the need for ARC’s member states to support our advocacy and fundraising efforts, an update on the move of our HQ from Johannesburg to Abidjan following the signing of our Host Agreement with the Government of Côte d’Ivoire, the strategic directions of our organisation to better serve our member states, the impact of ARC in Côte d’Ivoire through the already disbursed USD 2.8 M payouts, how best to leverage the African Heads of States to champion the work of ARC as the AU mandated institution, the need for an expedited prod