Mød FN’s humanitære koordinator for Sahel-regionen, Robert Piper

TID: Onsdag d. 23. oktober kl. 16-17

STED: IBIS, Vesterbrogade 2B, København V.

Tilmelding er nødvendig og skal ske til Jan Kjær på [email protected] eller 26 70 36 81 senest mandag d. 21. oktober kl. 14.

TID: Onsdag d. 23. oktober kl. 16-17

STED: IBIS, Vesterbrogade 2B, København V.

Tilmelding er nødvendig og skal ske til Jan Kjær på [email protected] eller 26 70 36 81 senest mandag d. 21. oktober kl. 14.

The Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel Robert Piper will during his visit in Copenhagen meet with senior governmental officials, representatives of Non-governmental Organizations, researchers and think tanks to discuss the humanitarian crisis in the Sahel region (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, The Gambia and northern parts of Cameroon and Nigeria).

The Sahel is the most vulnerable region in the world. This year alone, an estimated 11.3 million people are affected by food insecurity and some five million children are suffering from acute malnutrition, as communities struggle to recover from the last year’s severe food and nutrition crisis.

Sahel is also host to over 1.1 million displaced persons, 700,000 of them refugees, who fled conflict in Mali and insecurity in Sudan, Central African Republic and northern Nigeria.

As crises in the Sahel become more frequent, individuals and communities are struggling to recover before the following crisis hits, creating greater and greater vulnerability. New approaches are needed amongst emergency actors to address such ‘chronic’ crises.

Governments and development agencies need to place these vulnerable households in the centre of their plans. Disaster preparedness and disaster risk reduction, support to social protection, bolstering early warning systems, are all part of on-going efforts to boost resilience in the region.

The UN most recently published the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel, which encompasses this work and that of the UN in the fields of security and governance.

United Nations agencies and partners are continuing to provide lifesaving assistance, to address root causes of food insecurity and malnutrition, and to strengthen resilience of populations of the region. Of the US$1.7-billion humanitarian appeal for the Sahel requested for 2013, US$ 803 million (or 47%) has been received to date.

In 2013 the Government of Denmark has provided USD 10.6 million in support of humanitarian activities in the Sahel region; this includes support for emergency lifesaving interventions and projects contributing to strengthening the resilience of individuals and communities.

Danish support to humanitarian action in the Sahel in the past 5 years amounts to some USD 24 million.