Hunger in the Sahel: a permanent emergency?
Ensuring the next drought will not cause another humanitarian crisis:
This briefing note addresses the need for the fight against hunger and malnutrition in the Sahel to be fought before, during and after crises. It calls for contingency planning to be systematically included into long-term policies and programmes and considers Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) as a very realistic approach to help reduce both the risk of a disaster occurring and its effects if it does occur.
The paper calls to be better prepared in order to react more effectively to these recurring crises by tackling the root causes of this vulnerability and strengthening the resilience and increasing the revenues of affected communities. It urges for development policies and programmes, starting with agricultural and food policies, to take the risks of failed harvests into account, while responding to the specific needs of the most vulnerable communities, in particular women and children.