On Tuesday (15th July, 2025) we participated in a dialogue meeting on disaster risk reduction (DRR) organized by University of East Anglia postgraduate researcher, John Chirwa who is carrying out an academic research on the Role of Communication in DRM in Malawi.

During the meeting held at Capital Hotel, Lilongwe with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, we stressed the need for mainstreaming and ensuring a holistic approach in the implementation of various disaster risk management (DRM) programmes.

Our Deputy Director of Disaster Response Fyawupi Mwafongo emphasized that DRM should be part and parcel of every sector’s normal programming, planning and budgeting for a disaster-resilient nation.

We are optimistic that John’s research, which is focusing on participatory communication, will unearth ideas that will shape the programming and channeling of DRR and early warning information to the most vulnerable communities and assist in building their resilience to climate shocks.