HIGHLIGHTS
The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Regional Vulnerability Assessment Committee (RVAC) Dissemination Forum took place 6-8 June in Pretoria, during which, Members States presented the preliminary results of their national vulnerability assessments. According to the SADC press release, 41.4 million people in the SADC region will be food insecure from June 2016 until March 2017, of which, 21.7 million require emergency assistance. Several countries are pending assessments, including Angola, DRC, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania.
The SADC Secretariat has established a Regional El Niño Response Team in Botswana to support the coordination of the region response. The Team comprises the SADC Secretariat and UN Agencies (FAO, OCHA, WFP and UNICEF). SADC is expected to make a regional drought declaration and issue an appeal by the end of June.