UN and partners launch new plan to tackle Sahel crisis / Press Conference Rome, Monday, 3 February 2014

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
UN and partners launch new plan to tackle Sahel crisis / Press Conference Rome, Monday, 3 February 2014
UN and partners launch new plan to tackle Sahel crisis / Press Conference Rome, Monday, 3 February 2014

ROME, Italy, February 3, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- People in the Sahel region will continue to need substantial humanitarian assistance in 2014 and beyond. Millions are facing food insecurity and malnutrition, amid continued conflict, natural disasters and epidemics. This has greatly weakened the resilience of communities and their capacity to improve their lives in the long-term.

More than 20 million people – roughly one in eight - struggle with food insecurity. As of January 2014, more than 2.5 million people require urgent lifesaving food assistance, and many more may need assistance during the regional lean season starting around mid-May.


UN agencies and humanitarian partners are launching an unprecedented, three-year Strategic Response Plan to bring life-saving assistance to vulnerable families and help break the crisis cycle for years to come. Planned assistance will address a wide range of needs, including reinforcement of early warning and monitoring systems for flooding, epidemics and population movements.

The nine countries to be covered by the plan are: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, the Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.

What: Press conference – Strategic Response Plan for the Sahel

Who: Valerie Amos, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator; José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); Romano Prodi, UN Special Envoy on the Sahel; Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response; Amir Abdulla, Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, World Food Programme (WFP); Nancy Lindborg, Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, USAID; Robert Piper, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel.

When: Monday, 3 February 2014, at 12:30 CET

Where: FAO Headquarters, Rome, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla: Sheikh Zayed Center, Ground Floor Atrium.

Webcast: The event will be webcast at: www.fao.org/webcast

Online questions from journalists: [email protected]


Accreditation: Accreditation at main entrance to FAO beginning 45 minutes before the event. A valid press card or letter of assignment on company stationery, plus picture ID, required.