Facing Food Security Challenges: Strengthening the Resilience of Communities in the Sahel
Resilience-building investments enable populations in the Sahel to better withstand climatic and socio-economic shocks. The World Food Programme (WFP) plays a key role in providing emergency aid during food crises but also in working to strengthen the adaptive capacity of populations in the long term.
Ones Karuho, Head of the Resilience and Food Systems Department for the WFP in West Africa, joined the WFP in 2022 after working for several years with agencies specialized in the development of agricultural systems. In this interview, he explains how communities are becoming more resilient in the face of multiple challenges in the Sahel.
What is a resilience program? What role do these programs play in the context of the Sahel?
The WFP has long responded to emergency situations. But at some point, we realized that we needed to go further and strengthen the resilience of the Sahelian populations so that they can withstand shocks and stressors.
Every year, they experience periods of famine, and it’s predictable. Rather than only planning a response to these crises, we decided to reinforce their resilience, going beyond short-term assistance to affected families and individuals so that they can not only absorb shocks but also adapt by resorting to other methods.
For example, herders move from one place to another in search of greener pastures, but they could develop a fodder value chain and water points for animals to stay in one place or minimize the distance of their transhumance. This reduces their carbon footprint while keeping their children in school and increasing productivity.
Resilience also involves transforming the capacity to cope with climate shocks. The WFP works with Sahel communities to rehabilitate degraded lands. In the Sahara, desertification is advancing southward. We must rehabilitate degraded lands while protecting fertile ones that are threatened by desertification.
In the context of risk management (famine, drought, flooding, etc.), resilience refers to the ability of a system or community to deal with disruptions while maintaining its essential functions.
It includes three main components:
– Absorption capacity (helping populations absorb immediate shocks)
– Adaptation capacity (helping them modify existing practices to better cope with shocks)
– Transformation capacity (helping them sustainably and proactively transform agri-food systems, by radically changing the way food is produced and consumed and the way resources are managed, etc.)
Do resilience programs bring hope to the Sahel?
There are positive signs. Take, for example, countries like Niger and Burkina Faso. In 2023, many families did not need humanitarian aid because their resilience had been strengthened. When we conducted a survey in communities where we had implemented resilience programs for over three years, 80% of these villages did not need humanitarian aid. They were in a better situation than areas where we had not implemented resilience programs. This has reduced the need for humanitarian aid.
In Mali, I visited a community where the WFP had worked with other partners to rehabilitate water points, allowing animals to drink. At the same time, a milk collection center was created where herders could sell their milk. This collection center was linked to our school feeding program.
Thus, it is possible to strengthen livelihoods in the Sahel while building the resilience of communities. I believe we can now scale up because we are seeing results.
What would you advise partners and actors in the region to expand resilience projects that have a positive impact?
The way to scale up these programs is through partnerships not only with other humanitarian or development agencies but also with governments and international financial institutions.
These programs are traditionally expensive. Therefore, it is very important to be able to call on international financial institutions like the World Bank or the African Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank. These institutions offer different products that allow investment in resilience. They have already started working in the Sahel with governments, the WFP, and other partners to scale up resilience-building programs because they have seen that one dollar spent on resilience-building activities saves between three and six dollars in humanitarian aid.
Another way to scale up is to develop partnerships with governments in terms of resilience-oriented policies, to promote public investment in key assets such as water and micro-irrigation systems, to continue rehabilitating land, but also to incentivize the adoption of climate-smart practices.
What do you mean by “smart agriculture”?
Smart agriculture means that small farmers and herders adapt some of their practices that negatively affect the climate. This involves techniques such as no-till farming (which means not turning the soil before planting), minimum tillage to avoid disturbing the soil, and the use of organic fertilizers or manure. This helps maximize yields and limit the impact on the climate while continuing to improve the living conditions of farmers. In the rice ecosystems, practices such as alternative wetting and drying and the combination of rice and fish farming reduce the emission of methane gas from paddy farms
Smart agriculture is a modern approach to agricultural production that uses digital technologies and innovations to optimize agricultural practices. It aims to improve productivity, manage resources more efficiently and sustainably, and address challenges such as climate change, population growth, and food security. For example, sustainable resource management (water, energy, etc.), the use of digital technologies (drones, etc.), and data analysis for decision-making (planting, yields, etc.).
What can be done to continue working on resilience in fragile regions of the Sahel plagued by insecurity?
First, it is very important to contain the violence and not let the conflict spread to other regions. The way to achieve this is to offer alternatives to young people. If they have access to skills and funding, young people can develop an activity that allows them to support themselves. Otherwise, they will simply join armed groups. Encouraging young people to engage in agriculture or livestock farming using modern methods such as mechanization or irrigation systems would help contribute to peace.
Today, we are in a situation where there are active conflicts. Populations are moving to safety. The communities that host these displaced populations must be supported. Indeed, the influx of internally displaced persons has a negative impact on natural resources and local food systems.
Where possible, it is necessary to enter areas in the process of pacification and engage with communities to help them regain access to their resources, particularly land and water.
In a fragile context, the rules are disrupted. We must therefore adapt our approaches and be flexible in terms of funding and partnerships.
Pictures: Aude Rossignol / Alliance Sahel
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