ORGANISATIONS PARTICIPATING IN CONSOLIDATED APPEALS DURING 2006:
AARREC
AASAA
ABS
Abt Associates
ACF/ACH/AAH
ACTED
ADRA
Africare
AGROSPHERE
AHA
ANERA
ARCI
ARM
AVSI
CADI
CAM
CARE
CARITAS
CCF
CCIJD
CEMIR Int’l
CENAP / CESVI
CHFI
CINS
CIRID
CISV
CL
CONCERN
COOPI
CORD
CPAR
CRS
CUAMM
CW
DCA
DRC
EMSF
ERM
EQUIP
FAO
GAA (DWH)
GH / GSLG
HDO
HI
HISAN - WEPA
Horn Relief
INTERSOS
IOM
IRC
IRD
IRIN
JVSF
MALAO
MCI
MDA
MDM
MENTOR
MERLIN
NA
NNA
NRC
OA / OCHA
OCPH
ODAG
OHCHR
PARACOM
PARC
PHG
PMRS
PRCS
PSI
PU
RFEP
SADO
SC-UK
SECADEV
SFCG
SNNC
SOCADIDO
Solidarités
SP
STF / UNAIDS
UNDP
UNDSS
UNESCO
UNFPA
UN-HABITAT
UNHCR
UNICEF
UNIFEM
UNMAS
UNODC
UNRWA
UPHB
VETAID
VIA
VT
WFP
WHO
WVI
WR
ZOARC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.Executive summary

Table I:

Requirements, Commitments, Contributions and Pledges per Appealing Organisation and per Sector

Table II:
List of New & Revised Projects – By Sector

2.The common humanitarian action plan

2.1The Context and its Humanitarian Consequences

Agriculture

Food security

Nutrition

Health

2.2Scenarios

2.3Strategic Priorities for Humanitarian Response

2.4Response plans

ANNEX I.

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Project summary sheets are in a separate volume entitled “Projects”

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WEST AFRICA - REVISION

1.Executive summary

The food security and nutritional crisis that affected a number of Sahelian countries in 2004-2005 highlighted once again the high level of vulnerability of the region’s populations, which stems from a combination of adverse events and structural factors, and impact the risk of infectious disease outbreaks as well as the population's psycho-social well-being, especially that of children and women. This vulnerability stems from a combination of economic and structural factors. Initiatives to address this situation in the long term are ongoing, but in view of the fragile outlook for the food security situation in certain areas of Sahelian countries during the 2006 lean season it will also be necessary to respond to short- and medium-term needs in an effective and well-coordinated manner.

In spite of good results of the 2005/2006 harvests, the situation in certain areas of the Sahel is of great concern. Joint assessment missions in early December revealed that as early as March 2006, or June 2006 at the latest, households will be at risk of having a major food access problem again.[1] The mission underlines that the favourable results of the 2005/2006 harvests should not obscure the very heavy carry-over of food and asset deficit from last year. With very limited food production, high livestock mortalities, and record high prices for millet and other cereals, 2004 had long-term consequences on household assets and savings, on levels of indebtedness, and on the health and nutritional status of the population.

The record high prices for cereals in 2005 induced a major negative income effect on already impoverished households, and will constitute a very heavy burden in terms of debt repayment in 2005/06. In Niger, a sack of millet borrowed in the late spring of 2005, for instance, required at least 2.5 to 3 sacks of millet as repayment by October of the same year. Considering the deep and widespread indebtedness accumulated in 2004, the reduction of the food stocks available to households at the beginning of the 2005/06 marketing year will be considerable.

An important aspect of the 2005 crisis was the very critical nutritional situation of young children. The crisis has been referred to as “an unprecedented nutrition crisis in children”. From September to November 2005 the United Nations Chidren’s Fund (UNICEF) conducted a series of rapid nutrition assessments in Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania as well as in-depth reviews of national surveys in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. The assessments and reviews show that in these countries there is a severe nutrition crisis in children that crosses borders; malnutrition is implicated in 52% of child deaths. In other words, half the child mortality burden in these countries is due to malnutrition in children (280,000 child deaths are attributable to malnutrition each year).

According to UNICEF, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad all registered acute malnutrition rates for 6-59 months old above the 15% critical emergency threshold defined by the World Health Organization (WHO); Mali and Mauritania have acute malnutrition rates above 10% defined by WHO as a threshold for a ‘serious situation.’ The aggregated prevalence of acute malnutrition for all five countries is 15.2%. The above-cited facts demonstrate that the highly publicised nutrition crisis in Niger is only one representative sample of a region-wide nutrition crisis in children that requires an urgent and effective regional response.

During the Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) that led to the formulation of a Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP) for West Africa for 2006 it was agreed that since the level of food and nutrition assistance needed in the Sahel during 2006 could not be estimated prior to assessments in October and November 2005, an action plan and projects related to the food and nutritional needs in these countries should only be finalised upon completion of analysis after the harvest.

In mid-January the revision process began and in February and March the four Country Teams in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger as well as Regional Offices of the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF and WHO have reviewed the situation in consultation with concerned Governments and are hereby appealing for funds to cover humanitarian activities in the Sahel during the remainder of 2006.

This document is a revision of the geographical cluster covering the Sahelian countries included in the West Africa Consolidated Appeal for 2006. The new projects’ funding requirement of US$ 91,942,594[2] therefore needs to be added to the (slightly revised) requirements of the original appeal, currently at $152,060,937. The revised total requirements for the West Africa Consolidated Appeal Revision for 2006 will thus amount to $244,003,531 (or 152,060,937+ 91,942,594).

ABOUT THIS APPEAL REVISION

When developing the revision at hand, humanitarian actors have taken into consideration the difficulties encountered in trying to establish a consensus on the humanitarian situation in the Sahel in 2005 which ultimately impacted the quality of the response, its timing and the way in which targeting was decided upon. To avoid a similar situation in 2006 it was felt that the largest possible range of experience and expertise should be drawn upon and a wide consultation take place to allow for a better dialogue and less discrepancies in readings of the situation.

In line with the above, in November 2005 humanitarian, development, governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) met in Dakar for a two-day conference on the Sahel[3]. The meeting took place within the framework of an ongoing regional consultative process involving all stakeholders and provided a platform where a diversity of views were expressed and a rich dialogue established among key stakeholders by revisiting past and current initiatives in the Sahel; delineating new ideas to be tested against a variety of national perspectives; and by generating a joint action plan for the Sahel that may contribute to the development of pragmatic policies and practical responses to reduce poverty, strengthen coping capacities in times of food crises, address acute humanitarian needs and improve overall human security in the Sahel.

In Ouagadougou in March, the Comité Inter-Etat de Lutte contre la Secheresse (CILSS) co-organised with OCHA and UNDP a follow-up meeting which allowed for national, regional, governmental and non-governmental actors to discuss the appeal and ways of strengthening complementarity between emergency response and initiatives undertaken within the framework of more long-term capacity building.

It should also be noted that the choice of countries for inclusion in this appeal revision is not based on the criteria of deficit in food production, but rather on the malnutrition problems faced during the lean season. The high levels of malnutrition registered in 2005 were caused by a complexity of factors that went beyond food production, such as access to food, potable water, sanitation / health facilities, diseases, weaning practices, and others. Another important element was the degree of indebtedness of food insecure households. Moreover, pastoralists have been hard hit by the crisis during the 2005 lean season. High cereal prices and falling animal prices in the most affected areas have led to some households having to liquidate assets in the face of these harsh terms of trade, and countries covered in this revision addendum include those which pastoralists have faced a severe situation in 2005, needing assistance throughout the 2006 lean season.

Table I: Requirements, Commitments, Contributions and Pledges per Appealing
Organisation and per Sector
Table II List of New & Revised Projects – By Sector

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WEST AFRICA - REVISION

2.The common humanitarian action plan

2.1The Context and its Humanitarian Consequences

Agriculture

In October/November 2005, a joint CILSS/Government Crop Assessment Missions in the nine CILSS member countries provisionally estimated aggregate cereal production in the Sahel at some 15 million metric tonnes (MTs), about 34% above last year’s desert locust and drought-affected output and some 31% above the average for the last five years.[4] According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), this together with good harvest prospects in most coastal countries including Nigeria, Benin, and Côte d’Ivoire, point to a satisfactory food supply situation in the region during marketing year 2005/06.

However, the severe food crisis that struck the region in 2004/05 has had serious income and livelihoods effects and resulted in depletion of household assets, high levels of indebtedness and nutritional deterioration for large segments of the population notably in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. In addition, the food stocks of traders, households, village, cereal banks and the national emergency reserves have reached very low levels.

One of the lessons learned from the crisis in 2005 is also that food vulnerability in the Sahel is not so much about availability of food but rather about access to food. As underlined by Famine Early Waning System (FEWS) Net, it is an aggravating factor that, in spite of the positive results of the harvest, the exceptional rise in prices in 2005 will take more than one good harvest to bring back to normal levels and food prices remain slightly above their five year average.

As such, the good perspectives for the availability of food do not exclude the existence of localised areas or social groups vulnerable to food insecurity and close monitoring of critical areas and of markets will be necessary in 2006.[5]

Table: Cereal production and deficit in 2005/06 for the Sahel (in 1000 tonnes) Source: FAO and WFP[6]

Marketing
Year / 2005 Cereal production[7] / 2005/06
Country / Total / As % of / Cereal import / Anticipated / Deficit
Average of / Requirements[8] / Commercial
Previous / Imports
5 years
Burkina Faso / Nov./Oct. / 4,028 / 136 / 241 / 229 / 12
Cape Verde / Nov./Oct. / 4 / 27 / 107 / 84 / 23
Chad / Nov./Oct. / 1,917 / 157 / 104 / 51 / 53
Gambia / Nov./Oct. / 247 / 137 / 147 / 137 / 10
Guinea-Bissau / Nov./Oct. / 180 / 142 / 82 / 72 / 10
Mali / Nov./Oct. / 2,846 / 113 / 272 / 242 / 30
Mauritania / Nov./Oct. / 171 / 146 / 318 / 277 / 41
Niger / Nov./Oct. / 3,717 / 126 / 323 / 291 / 32
Senegal / Nov./Oct. / 1,488 / 149 / 1,021 / 1,010 / 11
Total Sahel / 14,598 / 132 / 2,615 / 2,393 / 222

By country, the agricultural situation can be described as follows according to the FAO:

In Burkina Faso, favourable weather conditions since May resulted in a record cereal crop this year. The pest situation has been on the whole calm and pasture conditions are good. A recent CILSS/Government mission provisionally estimated this year’s cereal production at 4 million MTs, an increase of 40% over the drought and desert locust-affected crop of 2004. This, in addition to favourable crop prospects in neighbouring countries, should result in improved household access to food in 2005/06. However, this year’s severe food crisis resulted in depletion of household assets including high livestock mortalities and indebtedness, notably in the northern part of the country. Income generating and asset reconstitution initiatives are recommended to support livelihoods in the affected communities.

In Mali, the food supply position in 2006 is anticipated to improve reflecting a good cereal harvest in the country and across the region. A joint FAO/Government mission has estimated aggregate production by at 3.1 million MTs, some 14% above the five years average. Output of millet, the most important cereal crop, is estimated to have increased by some 30% to 1.1 million MTs. However, production would have been much higher if fertiliser use had not been reduced this year due to its high price and limited availability, notably on rice in Office du Niger, San and Tombouctou.

Like several other Sahelian countries, Mali faced a severe food crisis characterised by unusually high food prices in 2005. The crisis that was triggered by cereal and pasture shortages across the sub-region resulted in depletion of household assets including livestock and high level of indebtedness, particularly among pastoral and agro-pastoral groups. In spite of the good harvest at national level, income generating and asset reconstitution activities are recommended to support livelihoods in the affected communities.

In Mauritania, cereal production is expected to increase in 2005 after several years of poor harvests, which have gradually eroded the rural population’s coping strategies and led to a very difficult food situation this year. A recent CILSS/Government Crop Assessment Mission provisionally estimated 2005 cereal production at 203,000 MTs, some 77% above last year’s desert locust ravaged crop and about 43% more than the average of the previous five years.

However, Mauritania is a food–deficit country whose domestic cereal production covers about half of the country’s utilisation needs in a normal year and food prices are strongly influenced by the exchange rate of the Ouguiya. Moreover, several consecutive years of crop failure and the very high food prices observed across the Sahel this year have had severe negative impact on household incomes and assets for large sections of the population. Therefore, vulnerable groups need to be continuously monitored and assisted as necessary, particularly during next lean season.

In Niger, the cereal availability is anticipated to improve in marketing year 2005/06. Favourable conditions this year resulted in an increase in cereal harvest of some 36% compared to 2004 according to official sources. A joint FAO/WFP/CILSS/FEWS Food Security Assessment Mission that visited the country from 14 October to 4 November observed that pastures were abundant countrywide, reflecting ample rains in the pastoral zones. The good crop, together with the good harvest prospects in neighbouring countries which usually export cereals to Niger, notably Nigeria, Benin, Mali and Burkina Faso, presages a globally satisfactory food supply availability and reasonable prices during marketing year 2005/06. Consumer prices of millet have dropped by over 50% compared to the highest levels reached in July/August.

It should be noted that the average price of cereals is higher than the last five years average, which show the tension on the markets. The most vulnerable populations will have more and more difficulties to access cereals as we enter the lean season.

However, the severe food crisis that hit the country in 2004/05 has uprooted large segments of the rural population, had serious income, livelihoods and nutritional effects and resulted in depletion of household assets, including loss of animals, and high levels of indebtedness.

Food security

In the Sahel there is a close connection between food insecurity stemming from structural causes and food insecurity with contingent causes. As pointed out by the Vulnerability and Mapping Unit (VAM) of the WFP’s Regional Office in Dakar structural food insecurity is primarily a result of massive poverty.

The populations in the Sahel most vulnerable to contingent food insecurity are the rural populations living in zones where agricultural and/or livestock production is uncertain due to low levels of average rainfalls and its strong variability and where alternative sources of revenue are limited.

As we enter the lean season, the outlook for the Sahel remains precarious. Many of the households in Niger, Mali, and Mauritania were forced to take on debts in 2005 to feed their families during the 2005 lean season. Even though the 2005/06 harvests was good, many of these households will have to sell a significant portion of their harvest to repay these debts. In these countries, the 2006 lean season, now starting much earlier than in normal years, will be very difficult. Even if no major shock occurs, households will have to use their usual coping strategies when their cereal stocks will be exhausted, including the search for labour, sale of animals, loans and requests for kinship support. However, because these coping mechanisms have already been stretched to the limit in 2005, their reliability and sustainability will be decreased in 2006, resulting in more migration of household members in search for labour, more sales of animals and more debts.

In Niger, according to the Ministry of Agricultural Development, 1.8 million people would "risk food insecurity" here in 2006. The WFP-led emergency food insecurity survey (EFSA) confirms the Ministry of Agricultural Development's prevision with 1.2 million people seriously food insecure, 2 million people moderately food insecure and 1.9 million people at risk of losing their livelihoods. It is partly explained by insufficient production in some agro pastoral zones that were affected by the 2005 crisis, due to the migration of men out of their village of origin in search for jobs or selling their livestock on markets to buy food. Households are led to reimburse loans taken to buy cereals. These debts are to be reimbursed after the harvest, which explains why large quantities of cereals are sold while prices are relatively low on the market. Prices of cereals are much higher during the lean season, as their availability is scarce for the households' consumption.

The national early warning system estimated in January 2006: