BEIJING, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) — Partnerships between China and African countries strengthen community resilience and build capacity for sustainable development over the long term, a humanitarian official has said.
“We see this engagement as constructive and look forward to further strengthening and expanding this cooperation into more areas,” said Asha Mohammed, permanent representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to the African Union and International Organizations.
Mohammed, who also heads the IFRC Delegation for Ethiopia and Djibouti, made the remarks in a recent interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of a seminar on resilient community building for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies under the China-Africa Cooperation Framework in Beijing.
The two-week seminar in September, supported by the IFRC, was hosted by the Training Center of the Red Cross Society of China.
Twenty-six representatives from national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies from 19 African countries, along with representatives of the IFRC, attended lectures, field visits and interactive discussions during the seminar, exchanging experience and learning about China’s practices in disaster risk reduction, community resilience and sustainable development.
“This training will allow participants to learn from China’s experience as well as from one another,” Mohammed said. “Participants will be able to use what they learn to develop solutions that respond to the needs of communities in their own countries.”
In African countries, natural disasters are becoming more frequent and severe as a result of climate change. Crises are also becoming increasingly protracted, leaving communities with less time and fewer resources to recover between shocks. At the same time, people still need access to quality health care, education and livelihoods.
Therefore, Mohammed said, humanitarian response cannot be separated from longer-term development. “We need approaches that address the two together.”
“Against this backdrop, training on community resilience is both timely and practical, helping participants explore how humanitarian response and development can be brought together to address Africa’s challenges in a more sustainable way,” she said.
Achieving durable development results is another key challenge. Communities may make significant progress, but a new disaster can quickly undermine those gains.
Early warning systems are an important part of preparedness, but warnings alone are not enough, Mohammed said, adding that the critical question is whether communities have the resources, capacity and leadership to turn early warnings into early action and reduce the impact of disasters.
“It means enabling communities not only to anticipate and prepare for shocks, but also to act on warnings, sustain development gains and recover more quickly when disasters occur,” she said. “In that sense, the focus of the training on resilient communities is particularly timely and practical.”
China has been actively engaged in capacity-building activities at the African Union level, including those focused on food security and community health systems, and has shared its valuable experiences, Mohammed said.
The cooperation goes beyond addressing immediate humanitarian needs to strengthening the capacity of African institutions and communities to sustain these efforts over the long term, she said.
“The training is a good example of that approach. By sharing knowledge and building local capacity, China’s partnership can help strengthen Africa’s own capacity for independent and sustainable development, which is aligned with the durable solution approach of the IFRC,” Mohammed said. ■