Seychelles’ vulnerability assessment committee initiates formulation of three-year strategy   |11 February 2022

Souvenir photograph of delegates and DRMD staff

Thirteen officials from various public sector organisations were recently appointed as members of the newly established Seychelles Vulnerability Assessment Committee (Sez Vac) for a three-year term by the Minister for Internal Affairs, Errol Fonseka, who is responsible for the Disaster Risk Management portfolio nationally.

Section 14 of the Disaster Risk Management Act (2014), the law that governs the functions and operations of the Disaster Risk Management Division (DRMD), makes provision for the establishment of the committee.

The committee that is being chaired by the director general of the DRMD, Robert Ernesta, has as its general functions the task of making specific recommendations on the processes and development strategies to reduce vulnerabilities, of informing government of poverty reduction strategies and safety net programming relevant to disaster risk reduction, of identifying various hazards and of assessing risks that could give rise to food and nutrition vulnerability nationally.

With the establishment of Sez Vac, decision makers are expected to be provided with the relevant information that will enable effective policy and planning responses in order to build sustainability and resilience to disasters.

The committee met for the first time during a two-day workshop held on February 1 and 2, 2022 at the Coral Strand Hotel.

The workshop, organised by the DRMD in partnership with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (RVAA) programme, was aimed at carving out the strategy for the committee that is expected to lead to the development of the committee’s terms of reference and strategic plan for next three years.

Two consultants working with the SADC RVAA programme – George Chiduwa and Colin Mitchell – led the workshop and guided the delegates in identifying current challenges in food and nutrition security in Seychelles and helped them to brainstorm on the possible remedies that will be the backbone of the Sez Vac strategy, not only for food and nutrition security, but also for building resilience to disastrous events.

Some of the issues that the delegates identified in relation to food and nutrition security in Seychelles were; the country’s heavy reliance on imported goods, inadequacy of local food production, outdated national food security and nutrition policies and lack of expertise in value adding activities.

Other than having sessions by the two foreign consultants, the first day of the workshop also consisted of various presentations from local players in the arena of food and nutrition in Seychelles.

A presentation was delivered by Veronique Philoe from the DRMD which highlighted vulnerability assessment in the current Seychelles context.

For his part, Nelson Charles from the department of Agriculture made a presentation on food security and food production in the farming industry and Ministry of Health nutritionist Stephanie Denousse spoke about the nutrition situation in Seychelles.

After the very enlightening presentations, the delegates sought clarifications and provided their own feedback on the national food and nutrition situation. Day two concluded with the SADC RVAA consultants guiding the process of strategic positioning for VAA in Seychelles and of the establishment of baseline for intended Sez Vac activities.

Contributed