The National Disaster Management Agency is the Principal Institution for disaster Management established by Government, with the responsibility for the coordination and implementation of National Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRR/M), including disaster prevention, mitigation, adaptation, preparedness, response and rehabilitation.
Historically, Swaziland’s response to disaster has been largely ad-hoc and reactive to disaster events focusing mainly on meeting basic needs and subsequent rehabilitation requirements. There have been no permanent institutions of the Government of Swaziland established to deal with disaster management until the establishment of the National Disaster Management Agency
(NDMA) in 2015. Prior to this, the National Disaster Task Force (NDTF) focused on disaster relief and emergency response.
The NDTF was established in 1992 as an ad hoc committee in response to an increase in the frequency of drought, to coordinate responses to the affected communities and manage funding from external donors. The NDTF constituted of officials from relevant ministries responsible for implementing drought response interventions. The main focus of the NDTF was on response through general food distribution and borehole drilling. The NDTF was not mandated to concentrate on prevention, preparedness, recovery and building resilience. Neither did it consider other disasters induced by different common hazards in the country influenced by climate change and variability. The UN system, in particular the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) were instrumental in the establishment of the NDTF and contributed significantly to the response efforts.
The frequency of drought and mounting severity experienced in the country created the need to employ innovative and different approaches in dealing with disasters subsequently the NDMA was established as a unit in the office of the Deputy Prime Minister with a key mandate to manage disaster risks. A disaster policy put in place as an operational guideline for the Task Force. Logistics required a legislative instrument to be put in place to effect this hence the enactment of the Disaster Management Act in 2006..
An adaptive, resilient and disaster safe Kingdom of Eswatini.
To prevent and substantially reduce the impact of disasters by promoting an integrated and coordinated system of disaster management focused on decreasing vulnerability and increasing preparedness and mitigation capacity.
The National Disaster Management Agency shall be the Principal Institution for disaster Management at the national level of government. The objective is to promote an integrated and coordinated system of disaster management focused on decreasing vulnerability and increasing preparedness and mitigation capacity.
NDMA's culture is reflected in six core values that are enablers to the strategic goals. The desired culture is that of excellence demonstrated in the manner we perform our responsibilities to attain strategic goals. These shared values which govern how employees behave and perform their duties.
The goal for Disaster Risk Management is to prevent and minimize the impact of disasters on vulnerable communities and groups, develop response systems and standards, issue timely alerts on any disasters, and help protect the country's critical infrastructure.