In 2011 and 2012, the Sahel experienced for the third time in seven years a severe food and nutrition crisis. Irregular rains, limited crops, high food prices and a drop in migrant worker’s remittances due to the conflicts in Libya, Nigeria and Mali have put people’s resilience to the test. The failed rains of 2011 and 2012 left many farmers and pastoralists without their main income and source of food: crops have withered and livestock have died. The conflict in Mali in 2012 further compounded the situation in displacing more than 440,000 people in Mali and neighboring countries, adding additional pressure to already vulnerable host communities. In August 2012, the UN was estimating that some 18.7 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance in nine countries, with more than one million children at risk of starvation and another three million facing malnutrition in the Sahel.
CARE responded with a significant humanitarian response, reaching more than 700,000 people in Chad, Mali and Niger with food assistance, CFW, WASH, nutrition and livelihoods interventions. Due to different contexts and capacities, responses varied largely among the three country offices in terms of timeliness, scale and impact.
In order to assess the performance of its response in the Sahel and capture successes, challenges and lessons so that improvements can be made in its operational procedures, structures and policies, CARE adopted the following three-step learning process:
1) Conduct country office (CO) level After Action Reviews (AARs) and Rapid Accountability Reviews (RARs) (Aug. – Nov. 2012)
2) Commission an external evaluation of the emergency response in the three COs (Feb.- March 2013)
3) Hold a 2-day Sahel reflections workshop (March 12-13, 2013).
This report documents the two-day Sahel reflections workshop that was held in Dakar, Senegal, in March 12-13, 2013. Twenty-four (24) participants from the West Africa Regional Management Unit (WARMU), CARE Chad, Mali and Niger Country Offices (COs) and CARE Members (Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Norway, USA) participated in discussions related to resilience, bridging the humanitarian/development gap, regional coordination/interdependent model, gender, advocacy and monitoring and evaluation (M&E).