LCN was represented by Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resource Commission Coordinator Mr Thato Konstabole

The forum which attracted about 170 participants from 23 countries recommended that the reinforcement of states' duty to address urgent humanitarian needs and to protect, as well as to be accountable to affected communities. The meeting also called for the strengthening of the role of regional organizations and empowerment of the affected communities by strengthening their resilience to withstand shocks.

The forum proposed that states should harness the comparative advantage of the private sector for humanitarian innovation and building a coherent approach to risk management, accelerating investment by development and climate change communities and to allow the international humanitarian community to adopt exit strategies.

The forum further recommended that states should make finance fit for purpose, pushing urban risk up everyone's agenda, building the resilience of communities caught in the protracted crises and strengthen the resilience of the pastoralists.

Meeting suggested the promotion of the role of youth in humanitarian affairs, to reduce the impact of counter terrorism legislation on humanitarian action and to ratifying and implementing the conventions protecting the people in conflict and other situations, notably the Kampala Convention.

It was recommended that protection should be on the forefront of humanitarian response in conflicts and also to enhance access of the affected people to humanitarian assistance and protection including to ensure humanitarian principles are respected and understood.

The forum highlighted that it is important that the participants start fostering some of the recommendations in their respective countries, institutions and communities and not to wait WHS in Turkey 2016.

The summit was structured along the following four thematic areas i) Humanitarian Effectiveness ii) Transformation through innovation iii) Reducing Vulnerability and Managing Risk iv) Serving the needs of the people in conflict that were drawn and identified as relevant from preliminary consultations which were conducted in member countries and with stakeholders before the summit.

The regional consultative forum organized by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian following a call by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) be held in May 2016 in Istanbul Turkey. The purpose is to set a forward-looking agenda with the aim of ensuring that the humanitarian system is 'fit for purpose' in responding to emerging challenges. The Istanbul Summit will provide an opportunity to take stock of achievements, share lessons and good practices on humanitarian action, and build a more inclusive and diverse humanitarian system committed to the humanitarian principles

The participants were mainly the SADC and EAC representing member states, civil society organizations, affected communities, United Nations agencies, the private sector and academia as well as observers from other nations that will host similar activity in their regions. Team Lesotho was made up of the office of the Prime Minister, Disaster Management Authority (DMA), Quthing Community Representative and Lesotho Council of NGOs.

The event was attended by participants from 23 countries