The IGAD region covers an area of approximately 5.2 million km². It has a population of about 240 million people and is endowed with a considerable range of natural resources, providing huge potential for wealth and progress. Despite this great potential, the region is challenged by harsh ecological circumstances and climate variability. Seventy percent of its area is categorised as arid and semi-arid land (ASAL), which receives less than 600mm in annual rainfall and is characterised by recurrent droughts, advancing desertification, land degradation and other climate change-related phenomena. These conditions have been linked to diminished productivity, persistent food insecurity, extreme poverty and chronic vulnerability, which have severely affected the pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities inhabiting the region. 

To this end, IGAD embarked on the implementation of the IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) in 2011. This is a comprehensive, holistic undertaking which is being executed in a concerted, coordinated manner throughout the region, and which is aimed at building the resilience of drought-prone communities by addressing their vulnerabilities and challenges including food insecurity, poverty and environmental degradation. 

The Resilience Focus Magazine covers thematic issues that are at the core of the response mounted by IGAD Member States and Development partners to support the implementation of IDDRSI. This edition, which comes at the end of the first five years of the Initiative, addresses all the seven pillars. The publication includes the following 12 articles:

1. Resilience over the decades: the IGAD Resilience Outlook Report (IROR) at a glance
2. A regional approach to pastoral resilience: the case of the Regional Pastoral Livelihoods Resilience Project (RPLRP)
3. Cross-border pastoral resource sharing - Reciprocal grazing agreements
4. Technical support and coordination to strengthen resilience programming for Karamoja, Uganda
5. Information is power: the urgent need for improved information provision on critical policy and practice issues in remote dryland communities in Kenya
6. The role of savings and loans associations in drought resilience
7. Innovative REACT app uses mobile technology to build resilience
8. High-frequency mobile monitoring for resilience learning and responsive programing
9. di-Monitoring: a tool for regional drought resilience strategies
10. The Greater Horn of Africa Climate Risk and Food Security Atlas
11. The Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis (RIMA-II) model and its application within the IGAD region
12. Short Communications: technical support to enhance livestock and meat trade from IGAD region