Attachments
The IFRC West Coast office directly supports the six National Societies of the West Coast of Africa, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The office also provides technical assistance to the IFRC country office in Sierra Leone. The office also supports the National Sub-regional network of the "West Coast Group" currently chaired by the President of the Nigerian Red Cross.
The 2019 plan focuses on the IFRC objective of strengthening the West Coast National Societies and West Coast Group. The region faces common hazards and vulnerabilities. The highest among these are flooding, drought, land slides, coastal erosion and forest fires, all currently accentuated by climate change, population growth and depletion of resources; epidemics, poor sanitiation and poverty. The National Societies as well share common challenges and opportunities.
Four out of the six countries in the cluster are among the fastest growing economies in Africa, and yet have high poverty rates, severe health challenges and are beginning to feel the impact of climate change. The National Societies have little if any sustainable core financing, are not staffed adequately to meet their objectives, have weak internal and external communications and institutional systems and procedures. Through this plan, the IFRC looks to adopt a holistic approach to both support National Societies in their programmatic objectives, as well as their capacity building objectives, taking advantage in particular of potential domestic funding. It also looks to growing the peer to peer and knowledge sharing among the West Coast Group Societies, as well as their cross border activities. The plan also focuses on ensuring a harmonized IFRC approach towards the Lake Chad Region as well as coordinated "West Africa Approach".
The IFRC West Coast’s Operational Plan 2019 has been developed based on the inputs received from each of the National Societies in the Cluster, and the results and action points adopted by the West Coast Group. The contents are part of a coherent and coordinated global approach of IFRC support to National Societies world-wide. The plan is aligned to the IFRC’s Strategy 2020, the Africa Region Road Map, the Africa Regional Operational Plan and Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.