The Nairobi City County government has won funding from the United Kingdom for the development of disaster management policies.
The sponsorship is from the Research and Innovation Programme of the Global Challenges Research Fund.
The Nairobi Risk Hub, which is a project spearheaded by the Nairobi County Department of Disaster Management, will benefit from the money.
The Director Governor Press Service Jacob Elkana told Kenyans.co.ke that the Hub is a five-year project that will commence in March and will provide considerable support for the development of risk management policy and underlying data over three years.
Dr Mark Pelling, the Professor in Geography at King’s College London, who are the sponsors of the project, stated this will be an opportunity for Nairobi to develop policies, training, and development of risk and vulnerability assessment and management decision-support tools.
“It is with great pleasure that I can confirm to you that the Nairobi Risk Hub has won funding from the UK Research and Innovation programme Global Challenges Research Fund,” announced Pelling.
He added that the planned programme will build on the ongoing collaboration with Ann Mwenda, County Chief Officer Disaster Management Coordination and Brian Kisali, the Deputy Director Fire Rescue and Disaster Management of the Nairobi City County Government through the Urban Africa Risk Knowledge programme.
In March, Pelling will hold the first substantial activity with NCCG Disaster Management and Coordination Sector.
The three-day meeting will be held in Mombasa to review the Nairobi County Disaster Management Act 2015 and help develop a Nairobi Disaster Management Plan and Policy.
“This will be a closed meeting with invitees from the World Bank, UN agencies and across the NCC and Kenyan Government. We would be honoured if His Excellency Governor of Nairobi Mike Sonko would come and grace the occasion,” he concluded.
