The Sahel Resilience Project held its board meeting on July 25, 2024, in Abuja, Nigeria. The meeting was conducted in both virtual and in-person formats, following a technical meeting of experts on July 24. The agenda included assessing the project’s progress, reviewing program priorities and financial status, discussing communication efforts, partnership building, and resource mobilization.
The project encompasses seven countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal. Five of these countries are members of ECOWAS; one is from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and one is from the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU).
Dr. Sintiki Tarfa Ugbe, Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs at the ECOWAS Commission, emphasized the project’s significant contribution to addressing regional challenges such as youth under-employment, food insecurity, terrorism and armed attacks. “ECOWAS will remain committed to working with its Member States to ensure the success of the project,” she stated.
Mr. Njoya Tikum from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) highlighted UNDP’s activities combating climate change effects in the Sahel and reiterated their commitment to strengthening regional resilience alongside ECOWAS.
Mr. Joachim Bejimo from the Swedish Embassy in Addis Ababa praised the project’s successes in data collection on disaster impacts and enhancing governmental capacities for monitoring progress according to international frameworks.
Mr. Aboubakar DIANÉ from the African Union Commission lauded the initiative for fostering sustainable development that accounts for risks.
The Sahel Resilience Project aims to build policy and institutional capacity at regional and national levels to understand multi-dimensional risks facing the region. It seeks to design mechanisms that anticipate these challenges while integrating risk reduction into development planning for sustainable outcomes.
Representatives from national governments, project committees, implementing partners including various UN agencies and national governments participated in these meetings.
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