To achieve peace and prosperity in the Sahel needs long term international solidarity
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UNCCD Library
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“The Sahel Region is a priority for the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the world’s poorest countries. During the last three years we have scaled up our support by 50 percent and we will go even further in the next three with expected investments of over $7 billion in the Sahel
I have recently travelled across the Sahel region from Mali to Burkina Faso to Niger and finally to Mauritania where I addressed the Sahel Alliance General Assembly and the G5 Sahel Leaders’ Summit. During my travels, I met mothers, fathers, engineers, economists, entrepreneurs and community groups. Before arriving in the Sahel, I was at the Munich Security Conference with diplomatic and military leaders.
These people share a common concern: the increasing violence and deteriorating security situation in the Sahel region, and its severe impact on communities, societies and economies.
An estimated 15,000 lives have so far been lost due to the conflict and the region is grappling with huge crisis of forced displacement. At the end of 2019, there were an estimated 1,000,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 165,000 refugees in the region. In the last month, these numbers have increased by 150,000 IDPs in Burkina Faso alone.
The violence destroys jobs, property, health facilities and schools. Nearly 3,800 schools are closed in Burkina Faso and Mali alone and over ten thousand teachers cannot attend work, interrupting schooling for over 500,000 children.
The conflict also strains government budgets. To respond to the increased security threats, governments in the Sahel have been forced to significantly increased their security sector expenditures. In 2018, these represented between an average of 22 percent of Government budgets, reducing spending on public services.
Given these stresses and increasing numbers of people in poverty, the Sahel Region is a priority for the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the world’s poorest countries. During the last three years we have scaled up our support by 50 percent and we will go even further in the next three with expected investments of over $7 billion in the Sahel.
Read the whole article following the link to the World Bank Blog
I have recently travelled across the Sahel region from Mali to Burkina Faso to Niger and finally to Mauritania where I addressed the Sahel Alliance General Assembly and the G5 Sahel Leaders’ Summit. During my travels, I met mothers, fathers, engineers, economists, entrepreneurs and community groups. Before arriving in the Sahel, I was at the Munich Security Conference with diplomatic and military leaders.
These people share a common concern: the increasing violence and deteriorating security situation in the Sahel region, and its severe impact on communities, societies and economies.
An estimated 15,000 lives have so far been lost due to the conflict and the region is grappling with huge crisis of forced displacement. At the end of 2019, there were an estimated 1,000,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 165,000 refugees in the region. In the last month, these numbers have increased by 150,000 IDPs in Burkina Faso alone.
The violence destroys jobs, property, health facilities and schools. Nearly 3,800 schools are closed in Burkina Faso and Mali alone and over ten thousand teachers cannot attend work, interrupting schooling for over 500,000 children.
The conflict also strains government budgets. To respond to the increased security threats, governments in the Sahel have been forced to significantly increased their security sector expenditures. In 2018, these represented between an average of 22 percent of Government budgets, reducing spending on public services.
Given these stresses and increasing numbers of people in poverty, the Sahel Region is a priority for the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the world’s poorest countries. During the last three years we have scaled up our support by 50 percent and we will go even further in the next three with expected investments of over $7 billion in the Sahel.
Read the whole article following the link to the World Bank Blog
Keywords
Sahel
Africa
security threats
peacebuilding
forced migration
financial assistance
poverty
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