Food insecurity is one of the major challenges in the Horn of Africa (HoA). It is becoming structural through time as most of the poor are concentrated in the arid and semi-arid ecosystems and, as a result of population growth, have been forced to cultivate increasingly marginal land more intensively. This coupled with low level of diversification into non-farm economic activities leads to unsustainable exploitation of the fragile ecosystem which exacerbates environmental degradation and low agricultural productivity. This calls for establishment of Integrated Climate-Response System (ICRS) to build resilience as opposed to different standalone programmes. The ICRS for resilience building will overhaul resilience building interventions and programs and this helps boost overall risk-management capacity by reducing fragmentation of programmes and institutions. It should also be able to deliver a range of programmes in accordance with country needs and link with early warning and emergency systems. It aims additionally to foster participatory planning and social accountability throughout the system in order to strengthen the voices of all stakeholders towards more responsive programming. It also paves the way for countries in the region to collaborate on joint actions and investments on institutional capacity building and resilience building measures that benefit communities in similar eco-systems across borders.
