Tag: Sahel
How to Build Resilience in the Sahel
March 6, 2013
In drought-prone regions like the Sahel in west Africa, how do you build an effective, long-term response that breaks the cycle of crisis? A good article from the Guardian lays out both the challenges and solutions.
From The Guardian: Sahel's Chronic Hunger Crisis Demands Long-term Solutions
October 1, 2012
Catholic Relief Services is working in the Sahel region as recent drought, rising food prices and violence affect millions of people in the area. Though rain has returned and food prices are beginning to ease, The Guardian writes that those positive signs do not mean an end to the crisis. From The Guardian: Sahel’s Chronic [...]
Fighting the Sahel Food Crisis with Food Vouchers
September 20, 2012
By Helen Blakesley In one of the most remote places on Earth, a woman bends down to hitch a sack of millet onto her back. Fatime is 65 years old. She’s at the market in Minekrate, a village in the Wadi Fira region of Eastern Chad. She’s walked here today. The sun is unrelenting and [...]
CRS World Report: Sahel Food Crisis — A Refugee's Story
September 19, 2012
At 49 years old, Fadimata Harvalla never thought she’d be in such a predicament. Just 8 months ago, she had a nice home in Mali, ran her own business, enjoyed the company of her husband and their three children. Today, she’s a widow living in a refugee camp in Burkina Faso where a severe drought [...]
Sahel Food Crisis in National Catholic Reporter
July 9, 2012
National Catholic Reporter provides a good, brief overview of the food crisis facing the Sahel region of West Africa: Imagine being very hungry almost all the time. Imagine telling your children to wait until the end of the day to eat a very small meal. Imagine eating every other day. Imagine not eating at all. [...]
Caritas Video: Hunger in Niger
July 6, 2012
More than 18 million people in West Africa’s Sahel region don’t have enough food. A bad harvest last year and high food prices have caused a widespread food crisis across Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Chad, Senegal, parts of Nigeria and Gambia. Caritas has been warning since the start of the year that urgent action needed to [...]
Locusts Threatening Fragile Sahel Region
June 28, 2012
With the Sahel region already facing food shortages and a potential full-scale emergency, the region now faces further difficulties from increased locust activity. FEWS NET (the Famine Early Warning Systems Network) warns that anticipated locust breeding in Niger and Mali this month and in Chad and Mauritania in the coming weeks could cause large numbers of [...]
CRS in the HuffPost: Amid Crisis, a Warm Burkina Faso Welcome
June 26, 2012
Helen Blakesley, CRS’ regional information officer based in Dakar, Senegal, recently traveled to Burkina Faso to document the effects of the food crisis. She writes a blog post for the Huffington Post, part of a series on the Sahel by humanitarian organizations, in which she describes her surprise at the reception she received. What struck [...]
Interactive Map of the Sahel Region
June 19, 2012
The World Food Programme has an excellent interactive map of the countries affected by the current Sahel food crisis. Click on the image below to go to the interactive map, which is a good compliment to OCHA’s Snapshot of the Sahel Crisis. Source: World Food Programme
Snapshot of the Sahel Crisis
June 18, 2012
As the Sahel region continues to struggle with a growing food crisis, OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) provides a helpful snapshot of the realities the region faces. Click on the image below to download a PDF version. For more on the Sahel, Vatican Radio recently interviewed Bill Rastetter of CRS Niger on the deteriorating [...]