Sahel

West African governments are planning to “slash and burn” their way out of COVID-19 induced economic loss, reveals new analysis from Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) today. The organizations are calling for an urgent change of course as West African governments are preparing their annual budgets and participating in the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF, which are crucial discussions to focus the recovery on fighting inequality and poverty.

In reaction to the release of the EU-Sahel Strategy, Evelien van Roemburg, head of Oxfam EU office, said:   

As many as 12,000 people could die per day by the end of the year as a result of hunger linked to COVID-19, potentially more than could die from the disease, warned Oxfam in a new briefing published today. The global observed daily mortality rate for COVID-19 reached its highest recorded point in April 2020 at just over 10,000 deaths per day.

In reaction to the postponement of the Sahel donor conference, which was due to take place on 18 June, Oxfam together with Action Against Hunger, CARE International, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Save the Children, warned of a "hunger pandemic" in the Sahel on top of multiple crises, particularly as a result of COVID-19, conflict and the onset of the lean season.  24 million people (included children) are already in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

Over the last years armed groups have spread over the Sahel region causing a humanitarian and security crisis, and devastating lives. Humanitarian needs have exploded in Burkina Faso, with 2.2 million people in need of assistance. They are in desperate need of food, shelter, and healthcare, but most urgently they need water. You can help.

As the G5 leaders meet at the Sahel Summit in France on 13 January 2020 to discuss their military response to the Sahel conflict, Oxfam and partners warn of insufficient humanitarian aid and protection of civilians.

The crises the Sahel faces, whether they be of a humanitarian, environmental, or security nature, are all rooted in the inequality and profound sense of injustice that permeate Sahelian societies.

Africa's Sahel region currently faces the world’s fastest rise in food insecurity – with an increase of more than 13 million people over the last 11 years.

This report examines the functioning of the boutiques témoin network in Burkina Faso, a social protection measure which seeks to improve access to food.

This report deals with the issues, or rather, with the responses to the 2012 food crisis in the Sahel, from a gender perspective.