La revitalisation de l’éducation de base

Le renouveau du système éducatif tchadien est en marche. Le gouvernement du Tchad a commencé la revitalisation du système d’éducation en 2012, dans le cadre de la Stratégie Intérimaire pour l’Education et l’Alphabétisation (SIPEA 2013-2016), qui met l’accent sur l’offre équitable d’une éducation de qualité aux enfants.

La volonté nationale de développer l’éducation et d’envoyer les enfants à l’école est bien présente, et cela malgré un contexte socioéconomique et géopolitique qui est un des plus difficiles du continent. Aujourd’hui, le Tchad connait une situation démographique qui nécessite une attention particulière avec un tiers de sa population en âge d’être scolarisé. Le pays connait une croissance démographique proche de 3,5% qui devrait l’amener à voir cette population à scolariser augmenter d’au moins 50% dans les dix prochaines années.

Face à ces défis, l’engagement fort de l’État s’est d’abord traduit à travers le niveau de ressources allouées au secteur de l’éducation et au cycle primaire en particulier. Jusqu’en 2013, 25% des dépenses courantes de l’Etat étaient réalisées pour l’éducation, et 43% du budget de l’éducation était alloué à l’enseignement primaire.

Cette détermination se retrouve aussi chez les parents d’élèves qui investissent eux-mêmes pour que leurs enfants bénéficient d’une éducation, qu’elle soit formelle ou informelle. En effet, d’après la dernière étude RESEN, le nombre d’enseignants communautaires pris en charge par les associations de parents d’élèves représente plus des trois quarts des enseignants du cycle primaire. Mais cette situation exemplaire de la part de la communauté reste fragile car elle est directement liée à une situation économique ellemême précaire. Par ailleurs, cette situation n’est pas satisfaisante car le corps enseignant a aussi besoin d’une professionnalisation que les associations de parents d’élèves ne peuvent lui offrir.

Cette volonté commune s’est traduite par des progrès importants qui ont été réalisés ces dernières années. En effet, les partenaires du secteur de l’éducation, représentés par l’UNICEF, sont aux côtés du gouvernement et des communautés pour développer les secteurs sociaux de base. Ainsi en 2012 avec l’élaboration de la SIPEA, l’UNICEF, en partenariat avec le Gouvernement et le Groupe Local des Partenaires de l’Éducation et notamment l’UNESCO, a mobilisé des fonds importants auprès du Partenariat Mondial pour l’Éducation (Global Partnership for Education, GPE) et du programme Eduquer un Enfant (Educate a Child, EAC) de la Fondation Education Avant Tout (Education Above All, EAA) pour appuyer la mise en œuvre de la SIPEA avec le Projet de Revitalisation de l’Education de Base du Tchad (PREBAT).

Ce projet, qui s’achèvera en même temps que la SIPEA fin 2016, a déjà permis la construction d’environ 1000 nouvelles salles de classes, l’achat et la distribution de presque deux millions de manuels scolaires et de guides pour les enseignants, l’appui pour la formation des enseignants à travers un programme de formation qualifiante diplômante qui a déjà bénéficié à 1100 enseignants. L’UNICEF a également soutenu la réalisation du modèle des écoles amies des enfants (lire page 9) dans certaines régions ciblées. Les réalisations sont multiples mais les défis sont nombreux, notamment celui de la scolarisation des enfants en âge d’aller à l’école, les filles particulièrement. Au final, le projet PREBAT aura bénéficié à plus d’un million d’enfants.

L’éducation est un droit fondamental et inaliénable des enfants pour lequel le Tchad s’est engagé, avec l’UNICEF à ses côtés. L’éducation est un des piliers fondamentaux pour réussir la vision nationale de développement socioéconomique et culturelle du pays, et c’est ensemble que nous pourrons réussir à la bâtir. La revitalisation de l’éducation de base ■ Par Jean Mathieu Laroche

Snapshot 21-27 October 2015

Afghanistan and Pakistan: A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck on 26 October, with its epicentre in Jurm, in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province. At least 82 people are reported dead in Afghanistan, with 300 wounded, and around 4,000 houses damaged in Badakhshan, Baghlan, Kunduz, Nangarhar, Parwan, and Takhar provinces. Landslides have impacted infrastructure and hindered access. Electricity and telecommunication have been severely affected, with remote rural areas reportedly cut off. In Pakistan 230 people have died, 1,629 are reported injured, and 2,536 houses damaged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. In India, four people have been reported dead and several buildings damaged.

South Sudan: 30,000 people are estimated to be experiencing Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) food security outcomes in Unity state’s Leer, Guit, Koch and Mayendit counties. The people who fled to the bush during the intensification of violence between April and June are most affected. 3.9 million people are estimated to be experiencing Crisis (IPC Phase 3), Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and Catastrophe food security outcomes across South Sudan. This is likely to aggravate high needs for health and nutritional support.

Updated: 27/10/2015. Next update: 03/11/2015.

Global Emergency Overview Web Interface

Highlights

• As of 21 September, OCHA reported that 68,000 people have fled their homes since July (IDPs, Chadian returnees and refugees from Nigeria and from Niger): amongst them 47,000 are IDPs.

• Successive attacks on 22, 23 and 29 September, followed by a request by the Chadian Army to leave the area, have caused the internal displacement of several thousand people. The population of 23 villages on the islands that surround Litri is believed to have fled to a locality 18 kilomenters west of Ngouboua. Other village attacks followed by population movements were reported in Kallam and in Bikaram on 23 and 28 September respectively.

• By the end of August, 101,555 children with severe acute malnutrition, or 66% of the revised annual target, were admitted to treatment in UNICEF-supported facilities throughout the Sahel belt.

• Prepositioning of suppliesin the lake island of Tchoukoutalia enabled UNICEF partners to distribute WASH kits to 6,700 people in midSeptember despite access difficulties.

• Sanitation remains one of big gaps in the emergency response due to lack of funding. 74 latrines have been constructed by UNICEF partners, 45 in the Bagasola IDP sites of Dar Al Naim, Kafia and Kousseri, and 29 latrines in the sites around the town of Bol for the community-led total sanitation in Yakoua, Kaya, Tchika and Ngorerom. More than a thousand latrines are still needed.

• UNICEF Chad’s 2015 revised Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) of $62.2 million was still 83% unfunded as of end of September. Of the $10.6 million received so far this year, 56% was for the response to the Sahel nutritional needs and 29% for the response to the emergency needs linked to the Nigeria crisis in the Lake Chad region.

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Wednesday 10/28/2015 - 20:30 GMT |

by Aderogba OBISESAN

The Nigerian army on Wednesday said it had freed more than 330 people, mostly women and children, from Boko Haram's Sambisa forest stronghold in the volatile northeast.

"The (army) unit ... rescued 338 persons that were held captive by the terrorists," the army said of the Tuesday operation, adding that 192 of the survivors were children and 138 women.

It was not clear if any of the around 200 schoolgirls seized by the Islamists last year in northeastern Chibok were among those rescued.

The raid targeted "suspected Boko Haram terrorist camps at Bulajilin and Manawashe villages" on the edge of the Sambisa forest, the army said.

It said troops also killed 30 suspected jihadists and seized a cache of arms and ammunition in the area.

Pictures released by the army following the operation showed mostly women with some of them carrying babies.

The freed hostages have been moved to a camp for displaced persons in Mubi in nearby Adamawa state, the army said.

The army also said four Boko Haram suspects on a suicide bombing mission to Gubula town in Adamawa state were ambushed and killed by government troops.

Some weapons, unexploded ordnances, mortar bombs and some cash were recovered from the suspects, it said.

There was no independent confirmation of the army claims.

Boko Haram is believed to be holding the abducted Chibok girls in its Sambisa forest stronghold.

Their audacious kidnapping on April 14 2014 sparked international anger, with strong condemnation of then president Goodluck Jonathan for his slow response to the girls' plight.

• Army claims successes against Islamists -

The Nigerian military has in recent months claimed a string of successes against Boko Haram in its quest to end the hardline Islamist group's six-year insurgency.

In early August, the army said it had freed 178 people, including more than 100 children, following an operation near Aulari town, about 70 kilometres (44 miles) south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.

The air force said in a statement on Tuesday it had launched strikes on the group's vehicle and fuel depots "in a renewed drive to further degrade" its assets.

Air force chief Sadique Abubakar was quoted as saying the strikes were helping "pave the way for the final onslaught" by ground forces.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in May on a pledge to crush Boko Haram, has given his military commanders until the end of December to defeat the rebels.

Boko Haram violence has killed at least 17,000 people and forced more than 2.5 million to flee their homes since 2009.

But the hardline sect has stepped up its bomb and suicide attacks on so-called "soft" civilian targets such as markets, mosques, churches and bus stations in recent months.

Nearly 170 people have been killed this month and more than 1,420 since Buhari came to power, according to an AFP tally.

Boko Haram has also carried out deadly cross-border attacks in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

On Wednesday local officials in Niger said 13 people were killed in an attack on a village in the southeast allegedly carried out by Boko Haram militants.

"They burned cars, houses, stores," the private radio station Anfani reported.

A multi-national force from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin is set to deploy to fight the insurgents.

Boko Haram, which wants to carve out a hardline Islamic state in Nigeria's northeast, has threatened to move south to spread its insurgency in the country.

Nigeria's secret police said at the weekend they had arrested and charged 45 suspects over an alleged Boko Haram plot to attack the country's financial hub, Lagos.

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© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

Source: Reuters - Tue, 27 Oct 2015 14:54 GMT

By Tiemoko Diallo

BAMAKO, Oct 27 (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers are lifting a security zone they imposed around the town of Kidal in northern Mali because fears of an attack have diminished after rival clans signed a peace deal earlier this month, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Read the full article on Reuters - AlertNet

• The security situation remains volatile in the North-East of Nigeria, with Boko Haram stepping up attacks both within Nigeria and across the border in Cameroon.

• During the weekend of 23 October several suicide bombings took place in Maiduguri and Yola areas in Nigeria. 28 people were killed in an attack in a mosque, another bomb killed 6 and injured 17 in Maiduguri, while a bomb blast during a mosque inauguration in Jambutu, Yola, killed 30 and injured over 100. Attempted attack was foiled in the capital city, Abuja. The border city of Kerawa, Kilofata district in Cameroon, was briefly taken over by Boko Haram, leaving scores of civilians dead before being taken back by the Cameroonian army.

• The Federal Government of Nigeria remains determined to return the IDPs back to their communes of origin. Kaga is destined to be the first Borno location were IDPs will be returned to by February 2016, followed by Bama, Gwoza and Askira Uba.

• Massive unmet needs exist among the 2.1 million displaced persons in North-East Nigeria, as well as among refugees and host communities in Cameroon, requiring immediate humanitarian assistance.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The region is amongst the most vulnerable in the world to climate change, and investments to build adaptive capacity are critical to secure the future of its 112 million inhabitants.

• Niger Basin countries respond by collaborating on the development of an ambitious Climate Resilience Investment Plan.

• The Plan outlines 246 priority actions that specifically contribute to building climate resilience, based on existing national and regional planning documents.

The waters of the Niger River are a prized asset for nine countries in West and Central Africa. A source of drinking water, irrigation, fish, hydropower generation, and transport – the majority of the Niger Basin’s 112 million population (estimated at 65 to 70%; World Bank, 2012) depends on this river.

With impacts of climate change becoming increasingly apparent across the African continent, the Niger River Basin has not been spared. Climate change-induced challenges in the Niger Basin are stark. By worsening the basin’s naturally high rainfall variability and exacerbating extreme events such as flood and drought, climate change is creating major hardship for those eking out a living through rain-fed agriculture, pastoralism or other natural-resource based livelihoods. As competition over natural resources increases with a changing climate, so does the possibility of conflict. Climate-induced risks are further magnified by the high existing vulnerabilities of the basin’s population; many of them exhibit elevated levels of poverty as well as compromised social and economic indicators.

Countries in the basin are taking a historic step to collaboratively address these climate threats that compound their already tremendous development challenges. At the Meeting of the Niger Basin Council of Water Ministers 2015 in Cotonou, Benin on September 30, and at the Ministerial Roundtable of Ministers of Finance and Economic Development of the Niger Basin Riparian Countries in Lima, Peru on October 7, 2015, the riparian countries adopted an ambitious Niger Basin Climate Resilience Investment Plan (CRIP) and pledged to advocate for technical support and financing to implement its resilience-focused priority actions. The Plan was prepared by the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) and its nine Member States: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. It builds on a history of strong riparian cooperation in the Niger Basin and represents an important opportunity to take a coordinated approach in building regional climate resilience.

Climate change is affecting when, where, how much, and what quality of water is available. Weak monitoring and information systems in the Niger Basin means people are unable to prepare and respond adequately, leaving them vulnerable to weather-related events. The absence of proper infrastructure undermines people’s ability to store water for times of scarcity. Limited governance capacity increases the overall challenge of managing the river’s variability in a way that responds to people’s needs. All these factors contribute to threatening food and energy security, economic development, the health of the ecosystems, and overall stability in the Niger Basin.

Countries in the Niger Basin recognize the need to integrate adaptation considerations into mainstream development efforts. They acknowledge that impacts of climate change are not confined to national borders, and neither are their rivers and groundwater stocks. The shared nature of water resources presents an opportunity for countries to take a coordinated basin-approach to derive more impactful resilience-building outcomes. Moreover, coordination among countries helps avoid maladaptation, or the spillover of negative impacts from a resilience-building intervention undertaken in one part of the basin – such as inundation of rural communities in an upstream area due to the storing of floodwaters in a reservoir intended to avoid flooding in downstream urban settlements.

The importance, and urgency, of taking a cooperative approach led the Niger Basin countries to develop the CRIP, which aims to build climate resilience in the basin through regional and national water resources investments in reliable information systems, strengthened institutions, and sustainable infrastructure. Such a basin-approach to addressing development and resilience needs is considered a best practice, but rarely implemented in the developing world due to the urgency of development needs as well as resource and capacity constraints.

The Climate Resilience Investment Plan consists of a careful selection of resilience-building investments from key existing planning documents including the 2007 Sustainable Development Action Plan, National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and other national and regional programs for adapting to climate change. The selected investments bolster resilience through a wide variety of ways, for instance –

• Providing climate insurance for farmers in Burkina Faso

• Adapting farming calendars and crop types to a new climate context in Benin

• Adapting the national gender policy to respond to climate considerations in Cameroon

• Adopting anti-erosion and anti-silting measures to protect cultivable lands in Mali

• Restoring fallow land and promoting agroforestry in Niger

• Rehabilitating water storage structures in Nigeria

Each investment included in the Plan was examined and vetted by the Member States through a comprehensive consultative process with multi-sectoral participation, strategically coupled with exercises to build local capacity. “The Niger Basin CRIP is the result of an inclusive consultative process that involved all the stakeholders in the basin, including the users of the Basin’s natural resources,” said Nouradine Zakaria Toure, President of the Regional Coordination of Users of Natural Resources of the nine Niger Basin countries. The preparation of the Plan, including consultative processes, was facilitated by the NBA and supported by the African Development Bank, along with a close collaboration between the World Bank’s Water and Energy Global Practices, as well as its Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA) program.

Recognizing the massive resource needs for building climate resilience as outlined in the Climate Resilience Investment Plan, the countries of the Niger Basin intend to endorse the Plan at the Heads of State Summit in November 2015 and to present it to the international community at the Conference of Parties for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP21) in December 2015 as a next step to mobilizing the required financial resources.

The cumulative $3.1 billion for the 246 investments in the Niger Basin outlined in the Plan might appear to be insufficient compared to the $14-15 billion estimated annual adaptation funding needs for Sub-Saharan Africa outlined in a recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, but a coordinated approach among the riparian countries in the Niger Basin promises high value for money, and a strong history of cooperation heralds the significant impact this approach could bring for the 112 million people who live in the basin. “We are convinced that the Niger Basin CRIP is an instrument that will lead to an improvement in the livelihoods of the population and that will help fight against poverty in the Niger Basin,” underlined Toure.

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

• Mixed production prospects for 2015 crops

• Prices of cereals increased seasonally in first semester of 2015 but remained generally at low levels

• Food security situation has sharply deteriorated in 2015 due to massive refugee influx and internal displacement

HIGHLIGHTS

• The West Africa 2015 growing season developed under an evolving El Nino event that will peak in late 2015. This region tends to have seasonal rainfall deficits in the more marginal areas during El Nino seasons.

• Accordingly, the first stages of the season (until mid July) were marked by pronounced rainfall deficits leading to delays in the start of the growing season and poor conditions for early crop development. This affected a wide region extending from Senegal, across Burkina and northern Nigeria, to Chad and eastern Niger.

• However, from mid July onwards, Atlantic sea surface temperatures became warmer than average off the West African coast and colder than average in the Gulf of Guinea. This enhanced rainfall in the Sahel; as a result, persistent wetter than average conditions from late July to September wiped out seasonal rainfall deficits and led to a full recovery in crop and pasture conditions. Near average crop production is now the expected seasonal outcome, though concerns remain in marginal areas of Chad and eastern Niger.

• These beneficial outcomes for the Sahel were however countered by much drier than average conditions along the Gulf of Guinea coast, from Liberia to southern Nigeria with Ghana particularly affected. This has hit the second cropping cycle in bimodal areas – seasonal rainfall forecasts for the next 3 months are pessimistic for this region and crop production is likely to be hit.

• Mostly near-average conditions have been observed across West Africa during this past week.
  
• Heavy rain continues for portions of southern Ethiopia and Somalia, raising flooding concerns in East Africa.
  

1) Poorly distributed rainfall has resulted in drought, which has severely impacted ground conditions and already led to livestock death across parts of north-central and eastern Ethiopia.

2) Below-average rainfall since August has led to a strengthening of moisture deficits throughout several provinces in southern South Sudan and northern Uganda. Dry conditions now stretch into Lake Victoria regions of western Kenya.

3) Persistent Below-average rainfall since August over several bimodal areas of Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria has led to a strengthening of moisture deficits and a degradation of ground conditions resulting in drought.

4) Heavy rains over the last 2 weeks have led to swelling rivers in Somalia and Southern Ethiopia. The Shabelle River, and more nominally, the Jubba River are forecasted to be near or above flood stage. Flood risk is high for the middle and lower reaches of the Shabelle and moderate for the lower portions of the Jubba River. Additional forecasted rain threatens to exasperate the situation, continuing the threat for river and flash flooding.

5) Erratic and poorly distributed rainfall over the past month has led to moisture deficits to begin the season in the Sugar cane growing region of South Africa. Vegetation indices reveal already degrading conditions on the ground.

10/28/2015 - 16:55 GMT

Thirteen people were killed and three injured in an attack on a village in south-east Niger allegedly carried out by Boko Haram extremists, local officials said Wednesday.

"Thirteen people were executed and three others suffered gunshot wounds in an attack by Boko Haram Tuesday evening in Ala village," Malam Ligari, a local official in the Diffa region, which has been repeatedly attacked by the jihadists, told AFP.

"This was a fast operation," conducted between "8:00 and 10:00 pm (19:00 and 21:00 GMT)," Ligari said, adding that the assailants came on foot after crossing the Yobe river -- which forms a natural border between Niger and Nigeria in the area -- by canoe.

"Boko Haram militants came in number. They burned cars, houses, stores," the private radio station Anfani reported.

Since February, the Diffa region has suffered several attacks blamed on the Nigeria-based Islamist radicals, including one in June in which 38 people were killed, including 10 children.

On Tuesday, Niger's parliament voted to extend for another three months the state of emergency declared in February in the region.

"The biggest problem we have is controlling the border with Nigeria," Niger's Interior Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou told deputies.

Cameroon, Chad and Niger have formed a military alliance with Nigeria and Benin to battle the extremists, who this year declared allegiance to the Islamic State.

The Islamists' grip on the region has suffered as a result of offensives launched by local armies.

But the group maintains strongholds in remote parts of north-east Nigeria, the Mandara mountains on the Nigeria-Cameroon border and the islands of Lake Chad.

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28/10/2015 - 16:28 GMT

Treize civils ont été tués et trois blessés par balles mardi soir par des membres du groupe islamiste Boko Haram dans un village près de Diffa, dans le sud-est du Niger à la frontière avec le Nigeria, ont indiqué les autorités locales.

"Treize personnes ont été exécutées et trois autres blessées par balles lors d'une attaque de Boko Haram mardi soir dans le village de Ala", a affirmé à l'AFP Malam Ligari, le président du Conseil régional de Diffa.

"C'était une opération rapide" menée entre 20H00 et 22H00 (19H00 et 21H00 GMT). Les éléments de Boko Haram "sont venus à pied dans le village" après avoir "traversé en pirogue la rivière Komadougou Yobé", frontière naturelle entre le Niger et le Nigeria, a-t-il expliqué.

"Les combattants de Boko Haram sont venus en nombre. Ils ont brûlé voitures, maisons, magasins", a souligné la radio privée Anfani.

Depuis février, Boko Haram ne cesse de perpétrer des attaques meurtrières dans la zone de Diffa, frontalière du nord-est du Nigeria, fief des insurgés islamistes alors que l'armée peine à contenir ses incursions.

"Le problème le plus important auquel nous avons affaire, c'est le contrôle de la zone frontière côté Nigeria", a déclaré, Hassoumi Massaoudou, le ministre nigérien de l'Intérieur, devant les députés.

Mardi, le Parlement avait voté une loi autorisant le gouvernement à "reconduire pour trois mois" l'Etat d'urgence décrété en février dans la zone.

"La menace persiste et elle a évoluée vers la pose de mines, le harcèlement des troupes et les attaques-suicides avec utilisation de femmes" kamikazes, s'est indigné le député Maïdadji Issa à la télévision.

En mars et avril, les armées du Niger et du Tchad ont chassé les insurgés islamistes de plusieurs de leurs fiefs coté nigérian, dont ceux de Malam Fatori, Guïdam et Damassak, tous très proches du Niger. Les deux armées se sont "récemment retirées" de toutes ces localités, "pour des raisons stratégiques" a justifié à l'AFP une source sécuritaire.

"Nous avions espéré que l'armée du Nigeria revienne occuper ces positions dans un délai maximum de 70 jours (...) mais on est resté longtemps sans qu'elle ne revienne", a regretté le ministre Massaoudou.

Après le retrait des deux armées, les combattants de Boko Haram se sont réinstallés dans leurs anciens bastions, a confié à l'AFP une source humanitaire, selon laquelle "Boko Haram est juste de l'autre côté de la Komadougou Yobé".

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LES POINTS MARQUANTS

• Une des régions le plus exposée du monde au changement climatique, le bassin du Niger nécessite des investissements dans le renforcement des capacités d’adaptation pour préserver l'avenir de ses 112 millions d'habitants.
  
• Les pays du bassin du Niger répondent à cette situation en élaborant conjointement un plan d'investissement ambitieux pour la résilience climatique.
  
• Ce plan d'investissement expose 246 actions prioritaires, issues de documents de planification nationaux et régionaux, pour renforcer la résilience climatique.
  

WASHINGTON, le 27 octobre 2015 – Les eaux du Niger constituent une ressource précieuse pour neuf pays d'Afrique occidentale et centrale. Eau potable, irrigation, pêche, production d'hydroélectricité et transport : la majorité des 112 millions de personnes vivant dans le bassin du Niger (entre 65 et 70 % selon une estimation réalisée par la Banque mondiale en 2012) dépendent du fleuve.

Avec des effets de plus en plus ressentis sur l'ensemble du continent africain, le changement climatique n'a pas épargné le bassin du Niger. Il constitue un défi majeur dans cette région. En aggravant une variabilité des précipitations déjà naturellement élevée dans le bassin et en exacerbant les phénomènes extrêmes tels que les inondations et les sécheresses, le changement climatique frappe durement les populations qui vivent des cultures pluviales, du pastoralisme et d'autres moyens de subsistance dépendants des ressources naturelles. À mesure qu'il accroît la concurrence pour l'accès à ces dernières, le changement climatique augmente également les risques de conflit. Les risques climatiques sont amplifiés par la vulnérabilité déjà élevée de la population du bassin, marquée par une forte pauvreté et des indicateurs sociaux et économiques alarmants.

Les pays du bassin ont engagé une collaboration historique pour lutter contre ces menaces climatiques qui ne font qu'aggraver les immenses problèmes de développement auxquels ils sont déjà confrontés. Lors de la réunion du conseil des ministres de l'Autorité du bassin du Niger qui s'est tenue le 30 septembre 2015 à Cotonou, au Bénin, et de la table ronde qui a réuni les ministres des Finances et du Développement économique des pays du bassin le 7 octobre 2015 à Lima, au Pérou, ces pays ont adopté un ambitieux plan d'investissement pour la résilience climatique (abrégé en Plan d'investissement climatique, PIC) et se sont engagés à défendre un programme d'appui technique et financier pour mettre en œuvre ses actions prioritaires axées sur la résilience. Le PIC a été élaboré par l'Autorité du bassin du Niger (ABN) et ses neuf États membres : Bénin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinée, Mali, Niger, Nigeria et Tchad. Il s'appuie sur la coopération historiquement solide entre les pays du bassin et offre une réelle chance d'adopter une approche coordonnée pour renforcer la résilience climatique de la région.

Le changement climatique affecte l’accès à l’eau ainsi que sa quantité et sa qualité. Du fait de la mauvaise qualité des systèmes de surveillance et d'information dans le bassin du Niger, les populations sont incapables de se préparer et de réagir de manière appropriée aux événements climatiques extrêmes, ce qui les rend très vulnérables. Le manque d'infrastructures adéquates empêche les populations de stocker l'eau en prévision des pénuries. En raison des capacités de gouvernance limitées, il est difficile de gérer la variabilité du fleuve d'une manière qui réponde aux besoins des populations. Tous ces facteurs menacent la sécurité alimentaire et énergétique, le développement économique, la santé des écosystèmes et la stabilité dans le bassin du Niger.

Les pays du bassin sont conscients de la nécessité d'intégrer les problématiques d'adaptation au changement climatique aux principaux efforts de développement. Ils savent aussi que, comme leurs cours d'eau et leurs réserves d'eau souterraine, les effets du changement climatique ne sont pas confinés aux frontières nationales. La nature commune des ressources en eau offre l'opportunité d'adopter une approche coordonnée à l'échelle du bassin afin d'obtenir des résultats qui auront un impact accru sur le renforcement de la résilience. De plus, la coordination entre les pays contribue à éviter les risques de mauvaise adaptation, ou les retombées négatives d'une intervention entreprise dans une partie du bassin sur une autre, par exemple l'inondation des communautés rurales situées en amont du fleuve en raison du stockage des eaux de crue dans un réservoir conçu pour éviter l'inondation des zones urbaines en aval.

L'importance et l'urgence d'adopter une approche coopérative a conduit les pays du bassin du Niger à élaborer le PIC, qui a pour but de renforcer la résilience climatique dans la région via des investissements hydriques régionaux et nationaux dans des systèmes d'information fiables, des institutions renforcées et des infrastructures durables. Bien qu'elle soit considérée comme une bonne pratique, cette approche est rarement mise en œuvre dans les pays en développement en raison de l'urgence des problèmes de développement ainsi que des contraintes en matière de ressources et de capacités.

Le PIC consiste en une sélection rigoureuse d'investissements axés sur le renforcement de la résilience qui sont issus des principaux documents de planification existants, notamment le Plan d'action pour le développement durable de 2007, le Programme d'action national aux fins de l'adaptation (PANA) et les Plans d'adaptation nationaux (PAN), ainsi que d'autres programmes nationaux et régionaux portant sur l'adaptation au changement climatique. Les investissements retenus appuient la résilience de différentes manières, dont voici quelques exemples :

• Fournir une assurance climatique aux agriculteurs au Burkina Faso
  
• Adapter les calendriers agricoles et les types de cultures au nouveau contexte climatique au Bénin
  
• Adapter la politique nationale en matière d'égalité hommes-femmes de manière à ce qu'elle réponde aux enjeux climatiques au Cameroun
  
• Adopter des mesures de lutte contre l'érosion et l'ensablement afin de protéger les terres cultivables au Mali
  
• Restaurer les terres en jachère et promouvoir l'agroforesterie au Niger
  
• Réhabiliter les infrastructures de stockage d'eau au Nigéria
  

Chaque investissement du plan a fait l'objet d'un examen et d'une approbation par les États membres selon un processus de consultation approfondi, avec une participation multisectorielle, associé de manière stratégique à un renforcement des capacités au niveau local. « Le plan d'investissement pour le renforcement de la résilience du bassin du Niger est le fruit d'un processus consultatif inclusif qui a impliqué l'ensemble des parties prenantes, y compris les personnes qui exploitent les ressources naturelles du bassin », déclare Nouradine Zakaria Toure, président de la Coordination régionale des usagers des ressources naturelles dans les neuf pays du bassin du Niger. La préparation du plan d'investissement (y compris les processus consultatifs) a été effectuée par l'ABN, avec l'appui de la Banque africaine de développement ainsi qu'une étroite collaboration entre les pôles Eau et Énergie de la Banque mondiale et l'intervention de son Programme pour la coopération dans les eaux internationales en Afrique (CIWA).

Conscients de la quantité énorme de ressources nécessaires pour renforcer la résilience climatique, comme le montre le PIC, les pays du bassin du Niger entendent approuver ce plan lors du sommet des chefs d'État qui se tiendra en novembre 2015, puis le présenter à la communauté internationale dans le cadre de la conférence des Parties (COP21) de la Convention-cadre des Nations Unies sur les changements climatiques (CCNUCC) en décembre 2015 afin d'amorcer le processus de mobilisation des ressources financières requises.

Le montant total de 3,1 milliards de dollars pour les 246 investissements dans le bassin du Niger qui figurent dans le PIC pourrait s'avérer insuffisant par rapport à l'estimation d'un récent rapport du PNUE, selon lequel l'adaptation en Afrique subsaharienne nécessiterait un financement annuel de 14 à 15 milliards de dollars. Néanmoins, l'approche coordonnée adoptée par les pays riverains du bassin du Niger promet d'offrir une excellente rentabilité, et la coopération historiquement forte dans la région laisse augurer des retombées considérables que cette approche pourrait avoir pour les 112 millions de personnes qui vivent dans le bassin. « Nous sommes convaincus que le PIC améliorera les conditions de vie des populations et contribuera à lutter contre la pauvreté dans le bassin du Niger », souligne Toure.

In 2011–12, Somalia experienced the worst famine of the twenty-first century. Since then, research on the famine has focused almost exclusively on the external response, the reasons for the delay in the international response, and the implications for international humanitarian action in the context of the “global war on terror.” This paper focuses on the internal, Somali response to the famine. How did Somali communities and households cope with the famine of 2011 in the absence of any state-led response—and a significant delay in the international response? What can be learned from these practices to improve our understanding of famine, and of mitigation, response and building resilience to future crises?

The factor that seemed to best determine whether and how well people survived the famine was their social connectedness—the extent of the social networks of affected populations and the ability of these networks to mobilize resources. The nature of reciprocity, the resources available within people’s networks, and the collective risks and hazards faced within networks, all determined people’s individual and household outcomes in the famine. These networks are related to the social structures and social hierarchies within Somali society.

HIGHLIGHTS

Population of concern

A total of 34,401 people of concern

Funding

USD 20,595,209 requested

Since 2013, CAR has been suffering a devastating humanitarian crisis forcing more than 1 million people to flee their homes. More than half of the population – 2,7 million people – are in need of aid. 20% are displaced within or outside the country. About 399,000 people are still internally displaced (IDPs) including over 44,400 in Bangui still living in 32 makeshift camps and other sites. The crisis has forced around 205,000 people to flee to Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo since December 2013, bringing the number of Central African refugees in neighboring countries to about 454,000 people

CAMEROON

EIGHT PEOPLE KILLED AMIDST CLASHES BETWEEN BOKO HARAM AND THE CAMEROON ARMY

On 21 October, eight civilians were killed and nine injured in Doulo village, located in Cameroon's Far North region, during fighting between Boko Haram militants and security forces. In the region affected by violence resources are urgently needed to address protection issues, and further support is required in terms of access to health and psychological support.

BOKO HARAM BRIEFLY SEIZES CONTROL OF A TOWN ON THE BORDER WITH NIGERIA

On 23 October, Boko Haram insurgents briefly seized control of Kerawa, a town located in the Kolofata district in the far north of Cameroon, on the border with Nigeria. The assailants withdrew when the army arrived, according to Cameroonian security sources.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR)

UN RELIEF CHIEF RELEASES US$ 12 MILLION FROM CERF FUNDING

During a visit from 20 to 23 October, UN Relief Chief O’Brien released US$12 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support life-saving assistance for people affected by the conflict in the Central African Republic, where more than 62,000 people have been displaced since new violence broke out in September. Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) Stephen O’Brien visited the Saint Sauveur IDP site and PK5 neighbourhood in Bangui, as well as the Dekoa area, where more than 10,000 people have recently been displaced. ERC O’Brien called for greater protection of civilians and sustained commitment to the CAR.

REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

FOUR PEOPLE KILLED AND SEVERAL INJURED IN PRE-ELECTORAL PROTESTS

On 20 October, four people were killed and several injured in the capital Brazzaville, in protests ahead of the constitutional referendum.

LOW VOTER TURNOUT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL ELECTIONS

On 25 October, elections were held for a constitutional reform that would allow President Sassou-Nguesso to run again for president in 2016. Media reports indicated very low voter turnout at the polls. On 27 October, reports indicate that more than 92 per cent of voters, according to the results of the electoral commission, approved the change to the constitution.

COTE D’IVOIRE

ALASSANE OUATTARA RE-ELECTED, NO INCIDENTS REPORTED Côte d’Ivoire's President Alassane Ouattara has won a second five-year term with nearly 84 per cent of the vote, electoral commission officials said on 28 October. On 25 October presidential elections were held without major incidents. One person had been killed in pre-electoral violence after the Constitutional Court released a list of ten candidates cleared to run in the election on 10 September. The voting is seen as crucial to turning the page on the 2010-2011 political crisis and a civil war that killed over 3,000 and displaced hundreds of thousands.

NIGERIA

AT LEAST 58 KILLED AND OVER 100 INJURED IN SUICIDE BOMBINGS

On 23 October, at least 55 people were killed, and more than 100 injured, in a suicide bombing at mosques in Maiduguri and Yola in the north-east of the country. On 24 October, another suicide attack in Maiduguri killed three people and injured several others, according to media reports.

EVD REGIONAL

3 NEW CASES IN GUINEA, ALL KNOWN CONTACTS

Three new confirmed cases of Ebola were reported on 24 October in the village of Kindoyah, in the sub-prefecture of Kaliah, in Forecariah prefecture. All are known and followed contacts. Zero cases were reported in Sierra Leone and Liberia.