The ICDO organized the 4th African Meeting of Directors General of Civil Protection held in Algiers from 29-30 September 2019.

The themes of this meeting were:

- organizational issues

- coordination with other bodies involved in the protection of the population (firefighters ...)

- territorial coverage (rates and figures)

- crisis management centers: state of play

- training (infrastructures, staffing, problems)

- material and equipment: state of play

- regulatory texts relating to forecasting, prevention etc.

- regulatory texts for emergency and emergency plans (ORSEC ...)

- manpower, human resources, nature (military, paramilitary, civilians ...)

The following recommendations emerged from the discussions: 

• ADOPTION of the ICDO 2020-2025 program and the creation of a follow-up committee for this program. This committee shall consist of four countries and they shall meet at the end of each year at the ICDO headquarters to present their report. Each year, African countries will choose four new countries among their peers;
• COMMITMENT to raise awareness among our governments to continue the crucial support and strengthening of the role and capabilities of civil protection;
• STRENGTHENING of the national training programs, including training of trainers, with the participation of international experts as part of ICDO's annual mobile training program;
• APPEAL to the African governments to develop or create training schools for civil protection, with the support of the ICDO;
• APPEAL to the ICDO to further develop the technical assistance programs, and thank the Organization for the extraordinary work done in recent years ;
• APPEAL to the ICDO to make Africa a top priority for humanitarian projects;
• APPEAL to the ICDO to support African countries to update their risk mapping through the International Monitoring and Coordination Centre (IMCC), and use it in case of disasters as a technological tool;

In addition to the recommendations, the issue of challenges to climate change-related disasters has been raised. The ICDO has decided to set up an expert committee to update risk maps and contingency plans taking into account the new parameters, particularly for forest fires and floods.

The committee will set up a public awareness program and a working group to create a regional mutual aid plan in the ICDO Member States in the event of a disaster, coordinated by the International Monitoring and Coordination Centre.