Renewed support needed for agricultural support in the Sahel 

By Jose Luis Fernandez,

Coordinator, FAO’s Regional Resilience, Emergency and Rehabilitation Office for West Africa/Sahel (REOWA)

On 3 February 2014, humanitarian partners launched the 2014-2016 Strategic Response Plan for the Sahel in FAO premises in Rome. The launch of the Plan was the culmination of a regional process in which hundreds of partners delivering humanitarian aid in the Sahel countries have come together to assess needs and formulate concerted plans and a unified funding request to UN Member States and donor organizations.

 

For 2014, the Plan includes response strategies to cover the most humanitarian needs of millions of people still affected by food insecurity and malnutrition in the region, including agricultural response. On 2 May 2014, only 13 percent of the required funds for the agricultural component of this appeal were received.

What are the immediate consequences of this lack of funds?

The lacks of adequate funding for emergency agricultural and livelihood support in the Sahel is preventing vulnerable communities who rely on small-scale agriculture to produce their own food. Millions of men and women farmers have to face the next main agricultural campaign (May-October 2014) with depleted or low stocks of food crop seeds, and will therefore cultivate reduced areas of land, or will not even be able to plant at all. Herds are extremely weakened by the lack of adequate food due to deficits in previous months fodder productions. As a consequence they are very vulnerable to diseases and to death.

 

Vulnerable families will rely entirely on markets in the coming months as the lean season, also known as the ‘hunger season’, has already begun. In absence of assistance, the most vulnerable households are forced to reduce quantity and quality of daily meals, reduce their investment in quality inputs, sell their productive assets and become indebted. These negative coping mechanisms threaten their ability to respond to shocks in the short, medium and long term. In particular vulnerable households will be confronted to possible droughts, floods or insecurity in the months to come with low level of adaptative capacities.

We can make a difference

In the past years, millions of vulnerable households have not benefited from adequate support. It is refraining communities from becoming resilient and protecting their livelihoods. Without a renewed commitment of donors and partners to support food production and protect livelihoods, a further deterioration of food security and nutrition can be expected throughout 2014, requiring long-lasting and costly food assistance. In the coming months, other opportunities shall be seized to support food production and protect livelihoods in the region with support to livestock, flood plain recession and off-season agriculture.

 

The food security challenge in the Sahel shall not be forgotten. The remaining needs of the region are enormous and donors and partners still have the opportunity in the coming months to support households affected by food insecurity with support to livestock, flood plain recession and off-season agriculture. Increasing support to the agricultural sector could help vulnerable households break the cycle of poverty and hunger, instead of keeping them dependent on food assistance.

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New Humanitarian Appeals Process for the Sahel

By the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

From 28-29 November, the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel (RHC) is convening governments, Humanitarian and Resident Coordinators, Cluster Coordinators, Regional Directors, NGOs, Donors, and Chairs of Regional Sector Working Groups in a workshop to plan the humanitarian response for the Sahel for next three years. Participants to the workshop will finalize the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) in the Sahel and outline the Strategic Response Plan (SRP) for 2014-2016. Objectives of the workshop are three-fold: (1) to reach a shared understanding of humanitarian needs in the region; (2) to identify shared strategic objectives and indicators for a 3-year regional response strategy for the Sahel; and (3) to agree on procedures and timelines for strategic response strategies.

 

The HNO and SRP processes replace the traditional humanitarian appeals process, known as the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP). The regional humanitarian Sahel Strategy for 2014-2016 will be launched at a high-level event in early February 2014.

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UN Regional Coordinator Robert Piper on his most striking memory of visiting the Sahel

The UN Regional Coordinator for the Sahel, Robert Piper, shares the image that struck him the most during his recent trip to the Sahel region.

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Why NOW is the moment to give additional funds to the Sahel

Families in Africa's Sahel region are still trying to bounce back from the 2012 drought and food crisis. However the region remains in crisis, with with more than 11 million people in needing help and the humanitarian response severely underfunded.

Director General of the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO), Claus Sørensen, and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, Robert Piper, explain why NOW is the moment to give additional humanitarian funds to the Sahel region.

 

 

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UNHCR urgently needs funding to continue assisting displaced Malians

By UNHCR

The UN refugee agency on Friday renewed an appeal for millions of dollars to help meet the needs of tens of thousands of Malian refugees and almost 300,000 internally displaced people.

 

"UNHCR needs US$144 million to cover the basic protection and assistance needs. So far we have received only 32 per cent of this amount," spokesman Adrian Edwards told journalists in Geneva. "The financial requirements and activities presented in the Special Appeal are not additional to the ones approved by our Executive Committee in 2012 but reflect a reprioritization of UNHCR's budget based on the latest developments in the region," he added.

The funding UNHCR is seeking is to allow for expansion and construction of transit centres, provision of supplementary and therapeutic food, shelters and other relief items, and delivery of basic services such as health care, water and sanitation and education.

There are currently more than 175,000 Malian refugees in surrounding countries. This includes 75,850 refugees in Mauritania, over 49,000 in Burkina Faso and some 50,000 in Niger. "The special appeal we are issuing today covers the needs of this population plus up to 45,500 additional refugees anticipated during 2013 – based on existing rates of arrival," Edwards said.

In addition to the refugee population there are more than 282,000 internally displaced people (IDP). Funding for them is also urgently needed. UNHCR leads efforts to coordinate activities of the protection and shelter clusters.

Displacement from Mali into neighbouring countries is continuing. More than 35,000 people have become refugees since the French military intervention in January (and, according to UN figures, there are an additional 60,000 IDPs).





Malian refugee children take shelter from a dust storm in Burkina Faso's
Goudebou refugee camp. The needs for displaced Malians
remain great.
© UNHCR/B.Sokol



"According to our staff on the ground, many recent arrivals are in worse condition than the refugees who arrived last year, requiring immediate relief and attention. The humanitarian situation is also being aggravated by prevailing food insecurity as a result of ongoing drought and a series of crop failures affecting the entire Sahel region," Edwards said.

In Mauritania – which hosts the largest number of Malian refugees – at the end of last year there were more than 54,000 Malians. The military intervention in northern Mali prompted a new influx of refugees, with an average of 500 new arrivals per day during January and February – amounting to more than 21,000 people. People are continuing to arrive, but in smaller numbers.

The new influx requires an expanded response in life-saving sectors, including in food and non-food items, water, sanitation, nutrition, health, education, shelter and environmental areas.

Several measures have been taken to treat and prevent malnutrition at the Mbera refugee camp, including distribution of nutritional supplements to infants, organization of awareness sessions for mothers, increased access to health facilities, launch of a measles vaccination campaign and installation of better water and sanitation infrastructure. This has led to a reduction in acute malnutrition rates of refugee children (under five years) from 20 per cent to 13 per cent. Additional funding is required to improve prevention and response mechanisms.

In Niger, the latest wave of refugees (some 2,700) in the remote north in late March and early April is mainly composed of women and children, escaping the military operations in Kidal and Menaka on foot or donkey. Reception conditions are precarious, mainly owing to a lack of water and health facilities.

UNHCR and the World Food Programme have already provided them with food and emergency non-food items while also redeploying staff and resources to this isolated area. "A recent inter-agency survey to assess the feeding programmes shows positive results, but continued efforts are required to counter prevailing malnutrition in the four refugee camps of Niger," UNHCR's Edwards noted.

In Burkina Faso, the majority of the new arrivals have been settled in Goudebou camp, where a recent nutrition survey organized by UNHCR, WFP and the national health authorities showed an alarmingly high global acute malnutrition rate of 24.5 per cent. UNHCR and its partners have completed screening of all children under five years of age and have started treatment of malnutrition cases.

Preparation is under way for blanket feeding programmes, including fortified cereals and micro-nutrient powder for children under five years and supplements or fortified blended food to all pregnant and lactating women.

One of the main protection priorities in Burkina Faso and Niger is to relocate refugees away from the formal and informal sites that are too close to the border or to military installations.

 

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Mali: Conditions remain hard, the needs acute

Photo gallery by ICRC

Northern Mali has been the scene of armed violence for almost 16 months. Conditions remain hard, and the needs acute. To continue to help the hundreds of thousands of people suffering the effects of the conflict, the ICRC has launched an appeal for an additional CHF 40 million.

 

 

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Mali: ICRC appeals for funds to boost aid effort

by International Committee of the Red Cross

Now that northern Mali has been in the grip of armed violence for almost 16 months, the living conditions of people affected by the conflict are very worrying and humanitarian needs substantial.

 

To continue to provide appropriate assistance for hundreds of thousands of people caught up in the conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is asking donors for 40 million Swiss francs (around 33 million euros) in additional support.

 

"Communities have been hard hit. They need food, water and health care," said Régis Savioz, the ICRC's deputy director of operations, at a press conference in Bamako. "They need to regain a certain ability to fend for themselves so that they will ultimately be able to forgo outside help."

 

At the end of a visit that included a journey to Gao and Mopti, in the north of the country, Mr Savioz expressed the view that the unstable situation and the violence in northern cities are making living conditions even more difficult. "No significant return of refugees or other displaced people has so far been observed," he said.

 

The additional funding, bringing the ICRC's budget for Mali and Niger to around 75 million Swiss francs (around 61 million euros), will enable the organization to press ahead with the activities it has long been carrying out in the two countries. The operation in Mali and Niger will become the ICRC's second biggest in the world in budgetary terms.

Goundam, Tombouctou region, Mali.
Mali Red Cross volunteers distribute food to displaced people.
© ICRC / I. Sangaré

 

"Every donation will enable us to increase our aid wherever necessary; priority will be given to those who need it most," said Mr Savioz. "To be able to better understand and respond to the needs, we intend to step up our work in Mali, especially in the Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu areas. The time to take action is right now."

 

Mr Savioz also emphasized the importance of the efforts made by the Mali Red Cross to bring aid to needy people. "The Mali Red Cross plays an essential role in Mali, where it is a key partner of the ICRC," he declared. "Without the Mali Red Cross and the cooperation of its thousands of volunteers, to whom I would like to pay tribute, we would quite simply be unable to carry out our aid activities."

 

Around 420,000 people will be given food aid throughout the year and some 186,000 farmers will be provided with seed. In addition, the vaccination and treatment of two million animals and the distribution of 510 tonnes of animal feed will enable 35,000 herding families to maintain their livelihood.

 

The ICRC will continue to provide support for the regional referral hospital in Gao and for community health-care centres. It will also continue to help supply fuel for electrical power stations in the main cities in the north of the country to ensure that water is available to inhabitants.

 

ICRC delegates will carry on visiting people detained in connection with the conflict. Following an agreement signed this very day with the Malian government, the ICRC expects to step up its activities for detainees and to have access to all places of detention in the country.

To view new footage on northern Mali: www.icrcvideonewsroom.org
For more visit www.icrc.org