A new Food Assistance Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Vanuatu is currently being developed with assistance from World Food Program (WFP).
The SOP will provide instructions for emergency food assistance post-disaster in three key areas of decision making and triggers, definitions and designing a food distribution.
The SOP will help determine the steps to be taken to support people during times of disaster.
Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Antoine Ravo says the development of SOP will support in keeping tracks of cyclones and monitoring activities on ground during disasters.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Bio-security (MALFFB's) Food Security and Agriculture Cluster is coordinating the development of the SOP.
A two-day lessons learned workshop that focused on the experiences of tropical cyclone Cook and tropical cyclone Donna was organized at Tagabe earlier this month.
Funded by the Swiss-German DEZA III program, the workshop looked back at the two cyclones that hit Vanuatu.
The workshop was attended by MALFFB officials, development partners, Provincial SGs, Provincial Disaster Officers and Area of Secretaries, NGOs and private sector reps.
Minister of Agriculture Matai Seremaiah was part of the workshop and in his opening remarks, he asked participants to revisit the MALFFB Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
He also asked the participants to look at what worked well and what didn't work well based on real life experiences of the two cyclones.
The outcome of discussions was very rich and productive and should pave the way for a first proper revision of the SOP.
Ravo said after the Tropical Cyclone Pam, there was a dire need for a procedure in place that could determine people’s safety and needs during the disaster.
He also said that as the risk of climate change rises, Vanuatu is preparing for any disaster that could hit the country.
“With the risk of climate change, we are preparing for any disaster that could hit Vanuatu any time,” he said.
Photo: DARD (Facebook): Participants at workshop that focused on the experiences of TC Cook and TC Donna at Tagabe