Adapting to climate change and addressing drought – learning from the Red Cross Red Crescent experiences in the Horn of Africa

The paper presented here is intended to share lessons learnt from the operations that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and its National Societies undertook from 2008 to 2010 in the Horn of Africa, related to the adaptation to climate change and addressing drought. It acknowledges that to avoid further suffering from drought, not only in Africa (in the Horn and the Sahel region) but also other parts of the world, we need to change the way we invest. The IFRC advocates that for a national drought policy to be effective in its implementation, the policy itself will need to be developed with an integrated approach, a strong linkage to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in a country.