by Kulsoom Rizvi

14-year-old Maimouna is from the small village of Ngoumi in the northern region of Cameroon. She’s at that age where most fathers begin searching husbands for their daughters.

Maimouna’s father already had one picked out for her. With limited access to food, he needed an extra hand in feeding his fifteen other children.

But when Maimouna started to bring her monthly take-home ration of 10 kg rice from school through Counterpart International’s Food for Education Program, her father had a change of heart.

Counterpart’s Food for Education program in Northern Cameroon (FFE), funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, works with local schools and organizations to help lift families out of poverty and improve education among children through capacity building initiatives, especially among girls’ in 150 communities.

So far, girls’ attendance rate in all 150 communities went from 6 per cent in 2012-2013 school year to 13 per cent in 2013-2014 school year.

In one of these communities, only 150 girls were going to school. Bibemi is a remote village in Cameroon that faces widespread poverty and limited access to primary education. By the 2013-2014 school year, EP Tam primary school in Bibemi saw a 250 per cent increase in enrollment with now 500 girls attending school.

Community-led campaigns and schools gardens

Maimouna is just one of the almost 14,300 girls and 57,200 family members in Cameroon who receives take-home rations when she attends school regularly. Girls who keep at least a 90 percent attendance rate are offered 10kg of rice per month. Take-home rations are an additional source of income for families and particularly useful during the lean season when food is expensive and scarce.

Counterpart’s local partner RECAMEF (National Network for the Education of the Girl Child) initiated door to door campaigns, mass media campaigns and focus group discussions to inform religious and traditional local leaders on how significant girls are to the development of their family, village and country.

“Beyond the economic benefit of sending girls to schools in order to receive the ration, we have begun to see changes in parents’ perceptions of education especially traditional rulers and religious leaders. We also noticed that the Student Mother Association leaders (SMA) take leadership and accountability roles in the distribution of take-home ration,” Desire Yameogo, Country Director said.

School gardening is a cornerstone strategy to ensure the sustainability of girls staying in school. Counterpart helped build the capacity of more than 1,000 Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and SMA members in setting up and running 146 school farms. Members received trainings on crop production, storage and harvest management to help them in running the school gardens. Crops include groundnut, maize, cowpea and rice.

26.03.2014 | Berlin/Juba: Minister Gerd Müller is scheduled to take off at 7:30 a.m. today on his third trip to Africa. The main focus of his visit to Mali and South Sudan will be the plight of the refugees and the food situ­a­tion.

In South Sudan, which has been independent of Sudan since 2011, the long-standing power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his deposed deputy, Riek Machar, came to a violent head in the middle of December last year. It is reported that thousands of people were killed, and that nearly a million of the eight million people living in South Sudan have fled the violence. Hundreds of thousands have found shelter in refugee camps. Aid organisations are warning that the situ­a­tion could worsen further when the rainy season sets in, which is due to start soon. The cease-fire agreed in January this year has been broken repeatedly.

Minister Müller said, "The people living in the world's youngest coun­try are suffering because a long-standing conflict is being carried out with armed force. Even though we have had to suspend our long-term de­vel­op­ment projects in South Sudan because of the violence there, we are not leaving the refugees to fend for themselves. The aim of our de­vel­op­ment co­op­er­a­tion is to give these people, who are in desperate need, some hope for the future."

South Sudan is one of the world's poorest coun­tries. A large part of the country's arable land is currently being left uncultivated, or is being farmed using only the simplest of methods. That is why one of the priority areas of Germany's de­vel­op­ment co­op­er­a­tion is rural de­vel­op­ment and food security.

Minister Müller and his delegation will meet the UN Secretary-General's special envoy, Hilde Johnson, and visit a refugee camp. They are also scheduled to have talks with local, German and in­ter­national non-governmental organisations, and to meet with German police officers and soldiers serving as part of a UN mission in the region. There are also plans for talks with President Salva Kiir and the ministers responsible for ag­ri­cul­ture and water resources.

On Thursday, Minister Müller is expected to travel on to Mali. The main focus of his visit there will be on food security and on how Germany can help strengthen local administration, for example at municipal level, in order to help bring long-lasting stability to the coun­try. Müller will also visit an institute for applied ag­ri­cul­tur­al research and education, where he will ceremonially open the first 'green centre', which is to show the entire value chain involved in ag­ri­cul­tur­al production.

Minister Müller said, "In Mali, we are seeking to provide better prospects for the future in the field of ag­ri­cul­ture. These improved prospects will be key to providing a peaceful future for the coun­try. That is why today's opening of the first of ten green centres planned for Mali marks an im­por­tant step in this direction."

Mali is one of the poorest coun­tries in the world. After the end of the conflict in 2012, a new gov­ern­ment under President Keita worked to achieve stability, peace and democracy, with the in­ter­national com­mu­ni­ty providing strong support.

Despite Mali's position in the Sahel region, the coun­try still has great potential for successful irrigated ag­ri­cul­ture along the Niger River and in southern districts. In the long term, irrigated ag­ri­cul­ture would enable Mali to feed its entire popu­la­tion. Germany's support in this field is helping seventy thousand smallholders with farms within the inland delta of the Niger to produce some 130,000 tonnes of rice. This amount would feed 400,000 people in the region. And Germany's contribution to improving Mali's water supply means that half a million people now have access to drinking water.

Besides visiting various projects, Minister Müller will also meet German troops serving with the UN and EU missions there. While in Mali, he is also scheduled to meet for talks with Prime Minister Oumar Tatam Ly and the ministers responsible for ag­ri­cul­ture and territorial administration.

Minister Müller will be accompanied on his trip by the president of the German NGO Welthungerhilfe, Bärbel Dieckmann; the director of the German branch of the charity One, Beate Wedekind; the chairman of the Association of German De­vel­op­ment NGOs VENRO, Bernd Bornhorst; and the German Chancellor's G8 Personal Representative for Africa, Günter Nooke.

This visit will be Minister Müller's third trip to Africa, following his first official visit to the African Union's head office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and a trip to the Central African Republic.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank, on 26th March 2014, approved a US$ 205 million Urban Water Sector Reform and Port-Harcourt Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Nigeria.

The Board registered its appreciation for the project’s alignment with the Bank’s mandate and strategy and also noted its integrated design, highlighting the pro-poor focus, capacity building for effective maintenance and support to sector reforms.

This project aims to provide residents of Port-Harcourt City in Rivers State with sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation and to strengthen the Federal government’s capacity to reform and scale up Water Supply and Sanitation service delivery across the country.

Commenting on the Board’s approval, Mohamed El Azizi, Director of the Bank’s Water and Sanitation Department, stated that the project is a timely response to a confirmed need in the Water sector, following discussions between the Federal Government, Rivers State Government and AfDB, which started in 2012.

He said: “The AfDB is proud to be collaborating with the Nigerian authorities on this project and we are bringing to the table a combination of our comprehensive approach to sustainable service provision; capacity to mobilize the significant funding needed to make a tangible difference; our experience from operations in Nigeria and other Regional Member Countries; and collaborative partnering with stakeholders in defining and implementing the project”.

The Urban Water Sector Reform and Port-Harcourt Water Supply and Sanitation Project addresses the rehabilitation and extension of the run down water supply system, as well as providing public sanitation and a pilot sewerage scheme. It also looks at the financial and commercial viability of the services provided through private sector, as well as environmental protection. It has a strong social focus, in order to ensure that the investment benefits all potential consumer groups, particularly low income households.

Currently, citizens of Port-Harcourt and Obio/Akpor LGAs do not benefit from the existing water utility, as the infrastructure is generally run down. As in many cities across the country, most residents obtain water from vendors or private boreholes and wells, often paying high prices for water of unsafe quality. The successful implementation of this project will mean that Port-Harcourt citizens will benefit from increased quantity, quality and service hours of water supplied. This is expected to improve their health and productivity and residents will also gain better health from improved environmental and sanitary conditions.

The total project cost amounts to approximately US$ 346 million, of which the AfDB is financing US$ 205 million. Significant water sector reforms undertaken in Rivers State over the past few years have provided a sound basis for an investment project at this time. Upon receipt of a funding request from the Federal Ministry of Finance, the African Development Bank, in close collaboration with the Federal Government, worked tirelessly to bring this project to fruition.

NEWS

July 2013

During her visit to Malawi, Lynne Featherstone announced £20 million UK food assistance to help over one million people.

August 2013

Officers from Police Scotland headed up part of the DFID supported Malawi Police Improvement Programme (MPIP), enabling police in Malawi to better address public order issues after riots in 2011. November 2013

The UK suspended all funding through Malawi government systems in the light of a corruption scandal. Support to programmes still continues through NGOs, charities, and international institutions. We continue to watch the government response to the crisis closely and are supporting the investigations and forensic audit.

January 2014

DFID is working with international organisations to support the forthcoming elections in May 2014.

Bako a son téléphone qui sonne. Une fois de plus, un appel de la commune de Maïné-Soroa pour l'informer de l'arrivée d'une nouvelle famille ayant fui le Nigeria. Le téléphone de Bako sonne souvent. De son vrai nom Abderrahmane Ahmed, Bako est le secrétaire général du Comité d’Action Communautaire (CAC) de la commune de Maïné-Soroa, dans la région de Diffa. Au Niger, les groupements communautaires sont anciens, ils ont été institutionnalisés sous le Président Seyni Kountche (1974 – 1983). Les CAC en sont une nouvelle forme mise en place par Issoufou Mahamadou, l’actuel Président du pays.

Los principales alimentos básicos que se producen y consumen en la mayor parte de Centroamérica y el Caribe son maíz, arroz y frijol. Este último constituye una fuente importante de proteína para los hogares pobres. En Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras y Nicaragua, los favoritos son el maíz blanco, que se consume principalmente en forma de tortillas, y el frijol rojo o negro, mientras que en Costa Rica y Panamá el arroz es el que domina en producción y consumo. En Haití, los alimentos básicos son el arroz, frijol negro, y maíz.

En Centroamérica, normalmente hay dos estaciones de cultivo: la Primera (de abril a septiembre) durante la cual se produce principalmente el maíz, y la Postrera (de agosto a diciembre) durante la cual domina la producción de frijol. La temporada de Apante (de noviembre a marzo) es una tercera temporada de cultivo, durante la cual se produce frijol en el centro-sur de Nicaragua, en el norte de Guatemala y en el norte de Honduras. En Haití, existen varias temporadas de cultivo. El maíz se produce durante la temporada de Primavera (de abril a septiembre). El frijol negro se produce en más de dos temporadas en las áreas húmedas y montañosas de Haití. La primera temporada se lleva a cabo de marzo a mayo y la segunda de julio a octubre. El frijol también se produce en las áreas con irrigación y montañosas húmedas del país durante la tercera temporada (en otoño) de diciembre a enero.

El maíz blanco y el frijol son comúnmente objeto de comercio entre Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, y Costa Rica en Centroamérica. El mercado de San Salvador en El Salvador se considera el mercado regional más importante para estos alimentos básicos y se encuentra bien integrado con el resto de la región. Debido a los altos niveles de intercambio comercial, mantiene relaciones tanto con los mercados regionales como con los internacionales. Otros centros comerciales importantes son Ciudad de Guatemala (Guatemala), San Pedro Sula y Tegucigalpa (Honduras), Chontales y Managua (Nicaragua), San José (Costa Rica), y Ciudad de Panamá (Panamá). La República Dominicana es la fuente principal para la importación de maíz, frijol y tubérculos de Haití. Haití depende en gran medida de los Estados Unidos para la importación de arroz, que representa cerca del 80 por ciento de sus necesidades de consumo.

Highlights

• GUATEMALA: WFP estimates that 160,000 people are affected by food insecurity. The HCT may apply for CERF funding.

• BRAZIL: Drought is affecting the state of Sao Paulo. Reservoirs are at less than 15% of capacity.

• The CARIBBEAN: 30 countries participated in a simulation exercise in the event of a tsunami in the region.

Destacados

• GUATEMALA: El PMA estima que 160,000 personas están afectadas por la inseguridad alimentaria. Se evalúa una solicitud al CERF.

• BRASIL: La sequía afecta al estado de Sao Paulo. Los niveles de los embalses han bajado hasta 15% del promedio.

• EL CARIBE: 30 países participaron en un ejercicio de simulación en preparación para un posible Tsunami en la región.

March 27, 2014
Feed the Future | Newsletter

Korka Diaw, who chairs a women’s rice production and processing group in Senegal’s River Valley, is an ambitious and organized leader – and she means business.

Diaw’s group, Malal Yero Gueye, began as a tontine – or traditional women’s savings group – in 1991. The group decided in 1999 to try its hand at cultivating rice, and borrowed 1.5 hectares of land from the local mayor’s office to do so.

Today, Malal Yero has 26 members – 18 of whom are women – and at least 40 workers that the group employs seasonally. Over the years, under Diaw’s leadership, Malal Yero has acquired 100 hectares of land, and its processing center is still the only one of its kind in the area, with a daily production capacity of up to 16 tons. In addition to processing their own rice, the women of Malal Yero strategically began offering milling services to other customers and supporting their community by buying rice from other growers to process themselves.

As of last year, Malal Yero’s land was yielding an average of five to six tons of rice per hectare. Like much of the potentially fertile River Valley region, the group’s land was poorly developed, and more than half of it was not being used for rice cultivation. That is quickly changing thanks to Diaw’s continued leadership and a $182,000 Feed the Future grant from the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) awarded to Malal Yero to help the group reach its full potential in agriculture.

Over the next four years, Malal Yero will use this grant money to rehabilitate existing rice fields; construct a 400 ton storage warehouse so there is enough rice to eat throughout the year; purchase a tractor, motor pump and agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizer; and provide training to members in technical, financial and organizational management.

With Diaw at the helm, Malal Yero has already exceeded expectations since being awarded the grant in June 2013. While the average new USADF grantee tends to disburse funds slowly, making three or four purchases in its first year, Malal Yero has wasted no time investing the funds in the business, making 11 purchases within its first six months as a grantee for new equipment, warehouse construction, training, marketing and other needs. The group already has contracts with the World Food Program, among others, and is taking advantage of market segmentation, selling four distinct rice variations. At a current revenue of nearly $153,000, Malal Yero is well on its way to surpassing its first year revenue target of $212,000.

“Last year, we were sitting in a hut,” says Diaw. “Today, we are in a functional office. We can purchase more paddy rice and our rice mill is fully occupied.”

Diaw and her group are an example of how investing in women can be one of the most effective ways to combat hunger and poverty in agricultural communities around the world. With her continued vision and support from Feed the Future, Malal Yero is solidifying its place in the community as one of the River Valley’s most successful agricultural enterprises.

Under Feed the Future, USADF makes targeted investments through direct grants to Africans to expand economic activities in rural communities and build the capacity of smallholders employed in the agriculture sector, laying the groundwork for better nutrition and food security among increasing numbers of men, women and children across Africa.

Persisten pronósticos de baja precipitación para la temporada de Primera

Mensajes clave

• A pesar de que la temporada anual de escasez de alimentos inició dos meses antes de lo normal este año, la mayoría de los hogares más pobres logrará llenar sus requerimientos alimentarios mínimos hasta este mes, clasificándose en inseguridad alimentaria aguda Mínima (Fase 1, CIF).

• De abril a junio, menos ingresos relacionados con café y una temprana dependencia de la compra significarán mayores dificultades para llenar los requerimientos alimentarios mínimos para los jornaleros en occidente, ubicándolos con una situación alimentaria en Estrés (Fase 2, CIF). Igualmente, existen bolsones de poblaciones en oriente con esta clasificación.

• Se mantienen altas posibilidades del desarrollo de condiciones cercanas a El Niño durante el segundo trimestre del año. Los pronósticos climáticos, sin embargo, ya muestran irregularidades y acumulados de lluvia debajo del promedio para el período mayo a julio, poniendo en riesgo los cultivos de granos básicos durante la temporada de Primera.

Food insecurity expected to rise significantly in Wadi Fira and Barh El-Ghazel

Summary

Below-average and poorly distributed rains during the 2013 rainy season caused significant agricultural production deficits in the Wadi Fira and Barh El-Ghazel Regions. In addition to reducing food stocks and agricultural income levels, these rainfall conditions also caused below-average pastoral conditions. An atypically fast increase in cereals prices starting in February, combined with below-average household food stocks and unfavorable livestock-to-cereal terms of trade for pastoralists will limit household food access in the coming months. Currently, the majority of households are still able to cover their food needs. However, food consumption gaps are likely between April and the end of the lean season in September, driving Crisis (IPC Phase 3) food insecurity. Appropriate and well-targeted assistance to poor agropastoral households is needed to prevent these expected food consumption gaps.

Boko Haram conflict continues to lead to population displacements in the northeast

Key Messages

Boko Haram related conflict in the northeast escalates, disrupting markets and livelihoods, and is increasing population displacements. Limited humanitarian assistance, trade and market activities and income earning opportunities, exacerbated by below average crop production have reduced food access by poor households in Borno and Yobe states where households face Crisis (IPC Phase 3) acute food insecurity and in Adamawa state Stressed (IPC Phase 2) acute food insecurity.

Poor households in Niger state are experiencing significantly high market prices for key staples. As households begin to deplete their own production stocks earlier than normal in April, high market prices will contribute to restricting access as poor households in the area minimize their essential non-food expenditures and face Stressed (IPC Phase 3) acute food insecurity.

Dry season harvests have began in most areas and will peak in April, increasing income and food access. These harvests are expected to be generally above-average. Coupled with the ongoing land preparation activities across the country, most poor household incomes remain at least average, helping them maintain regular food access.

La sécurité alimentaire se détériore et devient sévère dans le Barh El-Ghazel et Wadi Fira

Messages clés

• Les ménages pauvres et très pauvres dans les régions de Wadi Fira et Barh El-Ghazel (BEG) sud ont épuisé leur stock céréalier en février, soit deux mois plutôt qu’en année normale. Actuellement, ils ne sont pas capables de satisfaire leurs besoins alimentaires et non alimentaires minimaux et sont en Crise (Phase 3 de l’IPC).

• Les nouvelles récoltes de cultures de contre saison (berbéré et maraîchage) et irriguées (riz, blé et maïs) améliorent le niveau actuel de stock des ménages du Salamat, Guera, Batha, Chari Baguirmi, Lac et Kanem. La vente précoce des céréales de l’Office National de Sécurité Alimentaire (ONASA) à prix modéré qui d’habitude commence en période de soudure au lieu de mars, permet aussi aux ménages pauvres d'accéder normalement aux denrées alimentaires.

• Les prix des céréales sont élevés dans la plupart des marchés de la zone sahélienne comparés à la moyenne quinquennale. Par exemple, on observe une hausse de 32 pourcent, 31 pourcent et 24 pourcent sur le prix du mil respectivement à Abéché, à Moussoro et à Sarh. Cette hausse a commencé à réduire l’accessibilité aux denrées alimentaires par les ménages et causant la décapitalisation de petits ruminants.

Le nombre de zones en Stress continue d’augmenter

Messages clés

• La proportion des ménages dont les stocks alimentaires sont précocement épuisés dépassent la moyenne, particulièrement dans les régions de Tillabéri, Diffa, Tahoua et Zinder. Pour les ménages pauvres, il y a une dépendance sur les marchés pour les besoins alimentaires plus long et importante cette année.

• Les ménages pauvres et très pauvres des zones pastorale et agropastorale des régions notées ci-dessus sont en Stress (IPC Phase 2) suite à une insuffisance de leurs revenus pour acheter les céréales et faire face aux dépenses non-alimentaires. Le nombre de ces zones en Stress continue à augmenter á l’approche de la période de soudure.

• Ces ménages font recours aux marchés suffisamment approvisionnés, mais affichant des prix hauts par rapport à la moyenne. Bien que les revenus saisonniers sont globalement au niveau moyen, la hausse de prix des denrées alimentaires continue à rendre l’achat difficile.

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Christopher Davis, Development specialist, Burkina Faso

Scents of onions, tomatoes and damp earth permeated the morning air as we spoke with representatives of women’s associations in the Dî Perimeter, one of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s principal investments in Burkina Faso. My colleagues and I were visiting the construction site to listen to community members who received their newly irrigated land last spring.

Located only a few miles from the country’s border with Mali and near the convergence of the Sourou and Mouhoun rivers, the village of Dî and its namesake 5,535-acre perimeter provide the region’s farmers with irrigation all year. In the past, most of these farmers could cultivate only during the rainy season. The women told us they were grateful to finally have the opportunity to farm land of their own.

“Before the MCC project, women [in this area] didn’t have the right to cultivate on their own land unless they were widows,” said Sayibata Ki, president of Association Benkadi No. 3. “We took care of the kids at home, prepared meals and had little work to do outside of market days. Now we can go out to farm our fields and make our own decisions about which part of our harvest we keep or sell.”

MCC's five-year, $481 million compact with Burkina Faso contains four projects: agriculture, roads, rural land governance, and education. In addition to the irrigation of the Dî Perimeter, the compact’s $141.9 million Agriculture Development Project is working with the Burkinabe to improve water management, diversified agriculture and access to rural finance.

An estimated 4,500 farmers and their families in Dî are expected to be working in the perimeter by the time the compact ends in July, and the trip gave us an opportunity to talk personally with some of them following their first growing season. Preliminary reports indicate that farmers harvested more than 1,800 acres of corn, soybeans and other legumes on the land on which construction had already been completed.

The project included a strong focus on ensuring benefits reach local women, who are often not recognized as landholders and are therefore last in line to receive land security. More than 130 agricultural associations are receiving land in the Dî Perimeter, composed entirely of women and youth from neighboring communities. Each cooperative member receives a plot of about one-tenth of an acre; last year, more than 2,000 individuals formed organizations to be eligible to receive the land.

Cooperative members are receiving kits containing tools, seeds and fertilizers. MCC is also funding trainings on how to plant and apply fertilizers to maximize yields, efficient irrigation methods and ways to increase soil fertility.

Most of the cooperative members are learning these techniques for the first time.

“We were taught how to make compost in our courtyards with things we can easily find around our village,” Ki said. “I give my children a bit of money to go and search for the supplies and then I use the compost on my land. It is much cheaper than buying fertilizer.”

The association members dug canals to deliver water directly to their parcels and learned that they would manage water resources that feed their canals.

“Mastering the irrigation schedule and working well together was very difficult in the beginning,” said Elisabethe Tiama, a member of the Hérakaura cooperative. “[MCA-Burkina Faso contractors] helped us to get organized and we were able to set a five-day watering calendar based on the rotation of the village markets. They also showed us the best ways to grow our corn and onions.”

All of the farmers we spoke with said they were pleased with their yields and looking forward to harvesting the lucrative dry-season cash crops they planted a couple of months ago. I was most impressed with the initiative and ingenuity some of these entrepreneurs exhibited, quickly solving problems and adapting to a more formal and communal irrigation schedule.

By April 2014, these businesswomen will be joined by their neighbors from throughout the region as the full 5,535 acres are delivered to beneficiaries. Additional plots of land will be distributed via a lottery before then.

Ki can’t wait.

“My husband and I both put our names into the land lottery,” she said. “We are ready for more farmland!”

Highlights

• In February 2013 a phitosanitary emergency is declared in consequence to the coffee leaf rust affecting the entire Central American Region. The International Coffee Organization (ICO) considers the current coffee leaf rust one of the worst epidemic events in up to today.

• 65,000 households of small coffee producers and 95,000 households of daily labourers are affected in the 2013/2014 harvesting cycle according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food).

• The Secretariat for Food and Nutrition Security (SESAN) registered approximately 160,000 households affected by the impacts of the coffee leaf rust.

• Climatic factors (erratic rain fall and prolonged dry spell in previous years) add to concerning situation, as they affect the production and the stocks of staple grains of vulnerable families.

• WFP has calculated that currently at least 61,000 households are suffering from severe and moderate food insecurity and are in need of assistance (exact figures to be confirmed).

• According to the Emergency Food Security Assessment (EFSA, September 2013), the most affected departments are: Chiquimula, San Marcos, Alta Verapaz, Jalapa, Jutiapa, El Quiché, Huehuetenango,
  Zacapa, Baja Verapaz and Sololá.

• The present emergency is happening in a context with an extremely worrying nutritional situation –in Guatemala 49.8% of children under 5 years of age chronic malnutrition and 29.1% of pregnant women were anemic in the 2008.

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

• Favourable production prospects for the 2014 maize crop; harvest expected to exceed the previous year’s above‑average level if good weather persists

• Prices of maize remain high, but some decrease observed in February

• Approximately 1.9 million people are estimated to be food insecure, but conditions anticipated to improve with the start of the 2014 harvest in April

By Denis McClean

NAIROBI, March 31 - UNISDR today welcomed the outcome of East Africa’s Second Drought Resilience Summit as an important contribution to next month’s Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and preparing for a future in which climate change will amplify existing stress on water availability in Africa.

Sharon Rusu, head of UNISDR’s Africa office, said: “Although precise reporting is difficult there can be little doubt that drought has severely affected lives and livelihoods in the Horn of Africa. It is very encouraging to see such high-level support from Heads of State to find innovative ways of addressing drought and there will be keen interest in this at the Regional Platform in Abuja, Nigeria, 13-16 May 2014. Today’s publication of the latest assessment on Climate Change from the IPCC confirms that climate change will interact with other risks to exacerbate vulnerability of agricultural systems in Africa with consequences for food security.”

Organized by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Second IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) General Assembly and Ministerial Meeting took place last week in Kampala, Uganda, and was focused on “investing differently” to end drought emergencies.

Initiated after the humanitarian crisis triggered by the 2008-2011 droughts, IDDRSI has spurred significant progress both at regional and national levels in the following IGAD member States: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. Country programming papers have been developed and institutional structures are being put in place.

Last week’s meetings were attended by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and current chair of IGAD. Hailemariam Desalegn, President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, Prime Minister of Somalia, Abdiwelli Mohamed, and Vice President of Sudan, Hassabo Mohamed Abdelrahman, and high level representation from all member states.

They urged fast tracking of “institutionalization” of disaster risk reduction and management processes and calling for all investments in drought resilience to be informed by adequate risk information. UNISDR supported governments of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda to establish national disaster loss databases.

Both Ethiopia and Kenya have integrated their country programming on drought resilience into their long-term development plans. Uganda has made the DRR Office the main focal point for implementation of resilience programmes under the Prime Minister.

A Resilience Analysis Unit has been established at IGAD Secretariat to enable joint analyses at country level. UNISDR will work with the newly launched IGAD-Info country-level database to ensure linkages with disaster loss databases in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda amidst recognition that “all investments in dry lands should be streamlined and coordinated, informed by adequate risk information.”

The IPCC Working Group Two report issued this week “Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability” states: “Africa as a whole is one of the most vulnerable continents due to its high exposure and low adaptive capacity.”

HIGHLIGHTS

· 254,000 IDPs in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, according to NEMA rapid assessment in March.

· New displacements in north-eastern states after surge in attacks.

· NIMET predicts shorter length of seasonal and below normal rainfall for most regions.

· More than 500,000 under-five children expected to suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in 2014.

· 6,149 suspected cholera cases with 67 deaths (CFR 1.1%) reported in 2014, from 36 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in twelve States of Nigeria.