By Seleoe Nonyane
The Disaster Management Authority (DMA) through the Lesotho Vulnerability Assessment Committee (LVAC) has now launched the LVAC Dashboard, yesterday.
The existence of the dashboard comes as an answer to a long-standing concern of lack of Information Management System (IMS) owned by LVAC which was established in 2002.
The LVAC is a consortium of government ministries, United Nations agencies and non- governmental organizations. Stakeholders contribute financial, personnel, vehicles and technical skills to annual vulnerability Assessments and Analysis (VAA).
LVAC is chaired by the DMA under the Prime Minister’ Office which coordinates disaster risk reduction in the country.
LVAC is mandated to generate information on livelihoods, in particular their vulnerability to food and nutrition insecurity and other socio-economic factors.
The LVAC Dashboard is intended to serve as the database of all Vulnerability data and information in the country. It aims to meticulously collate information and place it only a keyboard clicks away for all groups of potential users
The dashboard will also have website accessible to all public for their information requirements. The establishment of the dashboard has been attained through both financial and technical support from WFP Country Office in Lesotho.
While handing over the dashboard, the World Food Program (WFO) Country Director and Representative, Aurore Rusiga congratulated the LVAC for this great achievement.
“Let me express my gratitude to the LVAC team that contributed to achieving this key milestone and worked tirelessly with the consultants to make this happen.
“Secondly, my encouragement goes to you all: to the LVAC members, this is the first step. The next challenge will be a broad adoption of the tool. This adoption will be determined by how accurate, up-to-date, complete and reliable the dashboard information will be,” she said.
She strongly urged different users, stakeholders and development to all support this initiative and provide feedback as encouraged.
The LVAC which is mandated by law under the Coordination of the DMA embarked on the annual Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis exercise for the current year (2022/23) whereby data collection commenced on 6th June 2022.
