Sahel: Beyond Any Drought
AfricaFocus Bulletin
Sep 3, 2007 (070903)
[ a 2-page briefing appears at iied.org ]
Editor's Note
"People blame locusts, drought and high food prices for the crisis
that affected more than 3 million people in Niger in 2005, But
these were just triggers. The real cause of the problem was that
people there are chronically vulnerable. Two years later, they
still are." - Vanessa Rubin, CARE International UK
In Beyond Any Drought, a new report by the International Institute
for Environment and Development, commissioned by the Sahel Working
Group, the authors conclude that both agencies and governments have
focused too much on short-term emergency assistance and failed to
address more fundamental issues. "Poor farmers and herders buy up
60% of their food from the market, but prices fluctuate widely,
even in times of plenty," Rubin notes. People in debt who have sold
their assets are chronically vulnerable to new crises, the report
stresses. The Sahel Working Group, composed of ten international
development NGOs working in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, says
both more aid and better coordinated aid, building on local
resources, are needed.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a press release from CARE
International UK and excerpts from the report.
The full report and a two-page briefing paper are available at
iied.org
Full report "Beyond Any Drought" (PDF 1.15MB):
iied.org
Two-page briefing by Vanessa Rubin:
iied.org
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