Minister Adama Coulibaly recommends pre-arranged disaster risk financing to ensure budgetary stability
Côte d’Ivoire hosted a high-level regional dialogue on Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) in Africa on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, at the Azalaï Hotel in Abidjan, under the theme: “Strengthening the linkage between sovereign and community resilience. Scaling up risk transfer mechanisms in Africa.”
The Ivorian Minister of Economy, Finance and Budget, Adama Coulibaly, officially opened the high-level consultations, notably in the presence of Mohamed Beavogui, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ACBF; Bernard Hien, Regional Director for West and Central Africa of IFAD; Olivia Hantz, Country Director and Representative of the World Food Programme in Abidjan; and Jean Chrystostome, Chief Executive Officer of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group.
In his address, the Minister stated that in light of the growing scale of disasters in Africa, pre-arranged financing has become a major turning point.
“This is a matter of governance and efficiency: anticipating risks, organizing the necessary financial instruments in advance, and preparing operational response mechanisms so that resources can be mobilized quickly, transparently and in a targeted manner. In other words, preparing before the crisis in order to act in the very first hours, reduce losses, protect livelihoods and stabilize budgets. Pre-arranged financing is therefore not only about insurance; it is a comprehensive architecture that combines knowledge,” the Minister explained.
To strengthen the financing mechanisms of the African Risk Capacity (ARC), Minister Adama Coulibaly called on financial partners to provide robust support to the institution. “Supporting ARC means investing in budgetary stability, the protection of livelihoods, and the sustainable resilience of the African continent,” he said.
According to the Minister, this meeting should go beyond dialogue and lead to a shared direction and concrete commitments. He stressed the need for a clear and realistic assessment of the state of pre-arranged financing in Africa.
He also noted that Côte d’Ivoire, as the host country of the ARC headquarters, reaffirms its commitment to supporting this momentum and contributing to African resilience based on anticipation, solidarity and responsibility.
For his part, Jean Chrystostome, Chief Executive Officer of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group, the initiating body of the dialogue in partnership with IFAD and the World Food Programme, stated that since its creation, ARC has demonstrated that in the face of climate shocks, financing mechanisms can deliver tangible results.
It should be noted that this high-level dialogue brings together ministers, senior institutional officials and technical experts to review the state of pre-arranged financing, gather perspectives from governments and partners, and agree on practical commitments to scale up risk transfer mechanisms and strengthen the link between sovereign and community resilience.