Led by the Executive Secretary, Mr. Nabil Ben Khatra and including Mrs. Khaoula Jaoui, Climate Department Coordinator, Mr. Steve Muhanji, Project Coordinator and Mrs. Hela Ghzel, Junior Environmentalist, a Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) delegation started this morning the first supervision mission of the DRESS-EA project ("Strengthening Drought Resilience of Small Farmers and Pastoralists in the IGAD Region" - Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda).
As part of the first phase of this mission, the delegation announced the start-up of the Regional Steering Committee, took part in working sessions with partners and made courtesy visits.
Mr. Nabil Ben Khatra took this mission to hold several high-level meetings. Indeed, he first met with the Minister of Agriculture, Water, Fisheries, Livestock and Fishing Resources of Djibouti, Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Awaleh, before having a talk with Mr. Ibrahim Elmi, Secretary General at the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, Fisheries, Livestock and Fishing Resources of Djibouti, Dr. Chris Kiptoo, Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Environment and Forests of Kenya , Mr. Dawalbeit Abdelrahman Mansour, Under Secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electricity of Sudan and Dr. Alfred Okot Okidi, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Water and Environment Uganda . Mr. Ben Khatra finally met with the Minister of Housing, Urban Planning and Environment of Djibouti, Mr. Abdoukader Moussa Helem. These meetings made it possible to highlight the OSS role as an Accredited Entity to access Climate Funds and to open up the prospects for cooperation and partnership.
Officially launched on July 27, 2021, DRESS-EA is a 4-year project, funded by the Adaptation Fund (AF) and implemented with the participation of the Global Water Partnership in East Africa (GWPEA) and the Global Water Partnership in South Africa - Non-Profit Institution (GWPSA-NPC).
It is also worth reminding that the OSS is the project implementing entity while the GWP (Global Water Partnership) is the regional implementing entity that supports and executes a number of activities together with the national implementing entity.
The Djibouti mission will be followed by three missions in Sudan (September 30 - October 4), Kenya (October 7 - 10) and Uganda (October 12 - 16).