Period covered by this final report: 22 December 2011 to 30 April 2013.
Appeal target: CHF 1,009,507
Appeal coverage: 76%
Appeal history:
A Preliminary Emergency Appeal was launched on 22 December 2011 for a total of CHF 2,131,749 to assist the Mauritanian Red Crescent (MRC) deliver assistance to 10,000 households (60,000 persons) with a start-up of CHF 200,000 allocated from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support this operation.
The food insecurity Emergency Appeal was launched on 25 April 2012 with a reduced budget of CHF 1,794,192 to deliver assistance to 7,000 households (42,000 persons).
Operation update no. 1 was issued on 28 May 2012.
The Emergency Appeal revision was issued on 26 November 2013. Due to lack of funding and in order to accommodate new needs with the arrival of Malian refugees, the appeal became a complex emergency. The budget was cut from CHF 1,794,192 to CHF 1,009,507 to assist 72,000 beneficiaries (12,000 households) consisting of: 42,000 food insecure beneficiaries, (7,000 households) in the Brakhna region and 21,000 Malian refugees (3,500 households) in M’Béra camp and 9,000 host-community beneficiaries (1.500 households) in the village of Bassikounou, commune of Fassala in the region of Hod Chargui, in the most south-eastern part of the country on the border with Mali.
Operation update no. 2 was issued on 20 February 2013 requesting a two month time-frame extension to complete the last activities in the community gardens and the distribution of goats to the families of children suffering from malnutrition.
Summary: The Mauritania appeal was the first out of the seven Sahel food insecurity appeals to be launched. The DREF allocation of CHF 200,000 allowed the Mauritanian Red Crescent (MRC) to respond in the early stages of the food crisis. The response was based on the twin-track approach aiming at saving lives and protecting livelihoods whilst building resilience to minimize the impact of future droughts. The emergency assistance consisted of: food and fodder distributions; health and nutrition promotion; screening and referral of children and women suffering from malnutrition; on water, sanitation and hygiene promotion.
The longer-term interventions concentrated on strengthening livelihoods with agricultural support during the main as well as off-season planting, restoring the soil with tree planting and water catchments, dune retention, rehabilitating wells and solar irrigation systems, income generation, cash for work and disaster risks reduction (DRR) activities in villages of Maghtaa Lehjar department, in the Brakna region. Notable progress was achieved in improving the lives of the beneficiaries and acute rates of malnutrition in the targeted communities have disappeared.
Since the start of the conflict in the north of Mali in early 2012, the Mauritanian Red Crescent has also been responding to the needs of the Malian refugees and of the hosting communities in the Hod El Chargui region situated in the south-eastern part of the country. A total of 120 volunteers: 60 volunteers were trained to focus on the refugee community and 60 on the host-community. They have conducted sensitisation campaigns through a participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation (PHAST) in the M’Béra refugee camp and among the hosting population. Waterborne and water related diseases have reduced due to these campaigns.
In addition, throughout the emergency operation, the MRC has been working bi-laterally on longer-term nutritional activities with the French Red Cross Society in the Gorgol region.