The African Union Commission has devised a continental plan to achieve the goals and targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. Yet progress has been variable and risk-creation – particularly in urban areas – continues to set many states and societies on pathways of increased disaster risk.

This report is an assessment of progress at the regional level and in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal against the ‘African Union Programme of Action for the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 in Africa’ (AU PoA). It was produced with the African Union Commission and the United Nations Development Programme under the Sahel Resilience Project.

Substantial progress has been made across all four priorities of the Sendai Framework: understanding disaster risk; strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk; investing in disaster risk reduction (DRR); and enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to ‘build back better’. This report documents the progress, and discusses the work required to strengthen these efforts. The findings are informed by more than 600 secondary literature documents, 84 interviews and eight senior expert consultations, and provides more than 200 tailored recommendations, which are intended to support the African Union Commission, its member states, national disaster management authorities, and regional- and country-level disaster risk reduction stakeholders to enhance DRR outcomes at a national and regional level, and to move closer towards achieving the Priority Activities within the AU PoA.

Report by the Overseas Development Institute