Southern Africa: SADC and Partners Deepen Collaboration On Regional Risk Preparedness

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9 February 2026
Southern African Development Community (Gaborone)
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The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat, in collaboration with the Resilience Initiative Africa (RIA) programme implemented by the German Government through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), had planned to convene the 4th INFORM Subnational Risk Model Workshop from 10-12 February 2026 in Maputo, Mozambique. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the workshop was postponed.

Despite this, the INFORM Subnational Risk Model Technical Team successfully proceeded with the pre-workshop mission from 6-9 February 2026 at the SADC Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre (SHOC) in Nacala District, Nampula Province, Mozambique.

The INFORM Subnational Risk Model, developed for the entire SADC region, provides detailed provincial, municipal, and community-level risk analysis, supporting evidence-based decision-making across development and humanitarian sectors.

The mission brought together key International Cooperation Partners, including UNDP, WFP, MapAction, African Union Commission, CIMA Foundation, Google, Kobo, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Malawi & Mozambique), with a shared goal of strengthening collaborative risk analysis and regional preparedness.

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The delegation was welcomed by Dr. Anderson Banda, Director of SHOC, who highlighted the Centre's mandate and its critical role in regional humanitarian coordination. Strategic partners and the SADC Climate Services Centre also shared insights into the current regional situation and avenues for coordinated support. Participants later toured the Situation Room to experience the technology used in disaster preparedness and response. The SADC region has successfully established three Situation Rooms, being one at the SHOC and the other two in Mozambique and the United Republic of Tanzania.

The mission aims to assess SHOC's readiness to host and manage the INFORM Subnational Risk Model as a sustainable regional platform for:

· Risk information management

· Multi-hazard early warning systems

· Capacity building and knowledge exchange

Against the backdrop of flooding in Mozambique and South Africa, and the Tropical Cyclone FYTIA, that made landfall in Madagascar, which is on alert for Tropical Cyclone Gezanithat is expected to make landfall over eastern Madagascar on the 10th February 2026. This mission, therefore, serves to reaffirm the commitment of SADC and its partners to strengthening preparedness, coordination, and resilience to hazard risks across the region.

Key focus areas going forward include enhancing the INFORM methodology with partners, enhancing impact-based forecasting, assessing regional preparedness, developing impact-based risk products through SHOC, and strengthening interoperability among situation rooms across Africa.

#DisasterRiskReduction #INFORM #SHOC #EarlyWarningSystems #ClimateAction

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