Executive summary
The Sahel region covers nine countries Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal. Sahel National Societies' priorities for 2010-2011 are guided by the Federation's Global Agenda Goals and the Framework for Action. Specific National Society plans also take their roots from Strategy 2010, ARCHI 2010, Algiers Plan of Action and Johannesburg commitment.
The Sahel strategy comprises four programmes: disaster management (DM), health and care, (H&C) Organizational development (OD) and Principles and Values (P&V) which will include migration issues. For 2010-2011 planning process this strategy implementation will be changed from regional to country based and will include, whenever possible, an integrated approach.
The 2010-2011 support to Sahel National Societies will mainly focus on disaster risk reduction (DRR) including adaptation to climate change; early warning system development; preparation for, response to, and reporting on emergencies in a timely and appropriate manner. This will be done through initiatives at community level, and the formation of networks and partnerships to support disaster risk management (DRM) including food security programmes. With the ongoing support from the British Department for International Development (DFID), the Irish and Spanish Government, and the Swedish and Spanish Red Cross Societies, the Federation will continue to support National Societies in community based risk reduction activities. The ongoing partnerships with governments and intergovernmental bodies such as the Comité Inter-Etats pour la lutte contre la sécheresse au Sahel (CILSS) and the African Centre for Meteorological Applications and Development (ACMAD) will be further developed and strengthened especially in the area of disaster management. The partnerships with academic institutions such as Columbia University's IRI will be further strengthened to facilitate National Society work in risk reduction and food security.
Based on the Federation strategies, the nine National Societies will continue to scale-up their health and care activities by focusing on maternal and child health, malaria, water and sanitation, risk reduction activities, and response to public health in emergencies. In terms of social mobilization, the Federation will provide support to the National Societies during mass vaccination campaigns and the distribution of insecticide treated nets (ITN). As part of the global programme, the Sahel team will support Red Cross Societies Human Pandemic Preparedness (H2P) country preparedness. In terms of HIV and AIDS the support to National Societies in reducing the vulnerability through care and prevention activities will be improved. Three National Societies in the Sahel region are already part of the Global Alliance on HIV/AIDS.
The organisational development support will focus on strengthening Sahel National Societies' structures both in terms of governance and management and will improve the capacities in service delivery to the most vulnerable according to the Federation's new directions and ensure that they work towards an intensified capacity building (ICB) initiative. The purpose is to facilitate the scaling-up of activities by providing strategic support in the formulation of programmes, and an integrated approach of all project components. Guidance will be provided to National Societies to ensure effective volunteers management. Through the funding provided by the Spanish Government, institutional support to the eight National Societies will be developed and improved with additional funding opportunities. This will include core costs support, structural development and finance development. The OD department will also continue to encourage and facilitate knowledge sharing through peer to peer support.
Migration will also be an important area of focus given the challenges being experienced by the National Societies in dealing with humanitarian consequences of migration since the region is both a producer and a transit point for migrants to Europe. This Migration also has some important political and social implications in both the production and reception States and civil societies. National Societies such as the Mauritanian Red Crescent, the Senegalese Red Cross Societies and the Mali Red Cross are implementing projects and activities to assist the migrants. Movement partners such as the Spanish Red Cross and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) are providing spontaneous support which needs to be structured and coordinated. Other sister National Societies such as the Swedish and Norwegian Red Cross Societies have also expressed interest to work with the Zone to assist the National Societies of the region. To define a common Movement strategy based on the resolution of the last International Conference, the West and Central Africa Zone intends to carry out a study on migration (causes and definition of roles and responsibilities of the International Federation) to better understand the context, and to facilitate effective and more strategic support and advice to the National Societies in their work with migrants. Through partnerships, the unit will attract funding from Movement and non Movement partners and implement activities in cooperation with United Nations Agencies (UNICEF, UNHCR, UNFPA, IOM, UNAIDS) and with other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to fight against all forms of violence, discrimination, exclusion and female genital mutilations (FGM).
The total 2010-2011 budget of the strategy is CHF 2,397,585 (USD 2,315,165 or EUR 1,588,435)