IPC in East and Central Africa

The East and Central Africa is the place where IPC was originally developed. The region was identified for the IPC roll out based on:

• its strong humanitarian imperative;
• its existing conducive national capacity and institutional frameworks

Since its inception in 2004 in Somalia, the IPC has been implemented in 12 countries of Eastern and Central Africa.  Initial funding for five countries (DRC, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Tanzania) from ECHO, DFID and CIDA covered the IPC roll‐out in 2007‐ 2008.

The second IPC roll-out was implemented between 2009 and 2011, funded by ECHO and coordinated by the IPC Regional Steering Committee of the Food Security and Nutrition Working Group (FSNWG) for East and Central Africa.

The regional Food Security and Nutrition Working Group (FSNWG) which was established in 2005, is a platform for sharing information on Food Security and Nutrition, building a consensual situation analysis, and bringing together a broad number of stakeholders for advocacy and response. Established by a group of international NGOs and UN Agencies, it has been co-chaired by the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) since December 2011, marking an important step towards institutionalizing Food Security coordination in the region.

FSNWG hosts a Regional IPC Steering Committee since 2007. Its main objectives are:

• Technical Support, Training and Quality Control  
• Regional Awareness and Advocacy
• Regional Coordination 
• Regional Analysis 
• Contribute to technical developments with the GSU 
• Fund raising

During this second roll-out, the IPC was consolidated in the initial 5 countries, and was also discussed in  Ethiopia and integrated in Sudan and Central Africa Republic (CAR).

Further, awareness on the IPC has been raised in Rwanda since 2008/09 while it was implemented in Djibouti in 2011 through ECHO funding. Following creation of an IPC National Steering Committee, trainings on IPC Analysis started in the country directly with the Version 2.0.

Currently participating countries in Eastern and Central Africa follow within three IPC stages of implementation, specifically:

• Stage 1, Awareness-raising and consultations: Rwanda;
• Stage 2, Initial in-country training and analysis: Ethiopia;
• Stage 3, Ongoing training and analysis: Burundi, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda.