Niger
Food crises are occurring more regularly than ever before in Sub-Saharan Africa, due to deepening poverty, the degradation of natural resources, the rise in food prices, or climate change. Responses to these crises are often limited to costly, ineffective, and unsustainable emergency relief and food aid. Global responses often lack oversight, coherence, and a gender-sensitive framework.
The Emergency Capacity-Building Project started in Niger with the 2005 food crisis, with a multi-agency evaluation which brought together CARE, CRS, Save the Children, and World Vision. From this initial effort, collaboration has increased, and several joint activities have been conducted.
Now in its second phase, the ECB Project will build on existing initiatives, focusing on harmonizing vulnerability measurement and disaster risk reduction. Led by CARE Niger, the Niger Consortium members include: Plan International Niger, CRS-Niger, Oxfam Quebec, Oxfam Great Britain, Oxfam Novib and Mercy Corps. The Consortium will partner with other NGOs such as farmer and pastoralist associations as well as UN agencies and government structures. The Niger Consortium will work closely with government and civil society actors to create a reliable Early Warning System and to build improved coordination between international NGOs, local NGOs, and governments in emergency preparedness and response.
The Niger consortium is currently agreeing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will help to clarify roles and responsibilities for all participating members. The process of developing this memorandum has helped ECB Field Facilitator, Arimai Tanimoune, to build trust with the different stakeholders and formalise expectations for the project over the next four years.
Oxfam will be leading a PCVA (Participatory Capacity & Vulnerability Analysis) training workshop in November 2009, with all ECB consortium agencies joining this 3-day event. We hope to share some learning from this workshop in our first 2010 e-newsletter.
Neighboring countries where some Consortium members work—Burkina Faso and Mali, for instance—often face similar humanitarian crises, and the Consortium also anticipates spreading and exchanging successful experiences with NGOs in these nearby countries.
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