- Summary
The 2012 Sahel food and nutrition crisis severely affected Burkina Faso. According to a WFP/Government assessment, the crisis affected more than 2.8 million people, mainly due to poor harvests caused by sparse and erratic rainfall.
On 1 March 2012, the Government declared a national emergency based on the agricultural deficits in 2011 and 2012. An eight-month consolidated appeal for Burkina Faso was launched in May 2012.
Despite regular rainfall since July 2012, households‟ food security remains fragile. Vulnerable communities‟ assets are exhausted, highlighting the need to continue supporting food-insecure people and helping to restore their livelihoods. The severe depletion of very poor and poor households‟ assets has seriously harmed their food security situation beyond the next harvest into 2013, leaving them vulnerable to further shocks.
The situation is complicated by the influx of Malian refugees into Burkina Faso due to political violence in northern Mali in early 2012. According to UNHCR, 35,859 Malian refugees were registered in Burkina Faso as of 31 October 2012. Most are in the Sahel region in Oudalan and Soum provinces, which were already seriously affected by the drought. Multi-sectoral assistance for 50,000 people is urgently needed for 2013.
This Consolidated Appeal will contribute to the Government‟s efforts to provide humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable communities, ensuring greater links with development programmes so as to build medium- to long-term resilience to recurrent shocks.
The humanitarian community in Burkina Faso has identified four strategic objectives for the 2013 CAP:
Provide humanitarian aid to communities suffering from or threatened by food insecurity, while capitalizing on emergency response opportunities to develop the self-reliance and resilience capacity of affected people and rebuild livelihoods to implement time-critical early recovery activities.
Provide humanitarian aid to children under age 5 with moderate or severe acute malnutrition.
Prevent and control outbreaks, and reduce morbidity and mortality rates.
Provide multi-sectoral assistance to refugees from Mali and/or potential displacements and support to host communities.
The Consolidated Appeal for Burkina Faso seeks US$135.5 million for 52 projects. 1