West African leaders welcome the AGIR Sahel Initiative
About AGIR
At the high-level consultation with West African regional institutions, organised by the European Commission on 18 June in Brussels, participants agreed to join their efforts and build a Global Alliance for Resilience Initiative - Sahel (AGIR). In response to chronic food insecurity and malnutrition, the initiative aims to promote greater resilience among vulnerable populations by creating greater synergy between emergency actions and between long-term strategies aimed at addressing the root causes of food crises. In line with the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, the global alliance puts emphasis on donor co-ordination and the building of synergy in order to foster effective collective action for sustainable food security. “In order to achieve the objectives set, “the relevant processes should be fully owned at regional level and anchored in the region”, concluded participants at the high-level meeting on 18 June.
West African leadership
A consultation meeting between ECOWAS, UEMOA and CILSS, facilitated by the SWAC Secretariat on 10 September in Abidjan, led to the drafting of a joint position paper in which the three regional organisations warmly welcome this ambitious initiative. They highlighted that AGIR must support the implementation of existing regional policies and investment programmes in the field of food crisis prevention and management. By strengthening West African regional leadership, this initiative could become an example of successful international partnership and improvement of development effectiveness in Africa.
The role of SWAC
The SWAC Secretariat is fully playing its liaising role as facilitator and “Club” bringing together the main international and regional stakeholders, institutions as well as civil society organisations in order to create greater convergence between the various partners. All stakeholders decided to use the Club as platform for policy dialogue, lobbying and co-ordination of the initiative. Facilitated by the SWAC Secretariat, the consultation meeting between ECOWAS, UEMOA and CILSS in Abidjan, led to the drafting of a joint West African position paper. The SWAC Secretariat has also commissioned a mapping study on the regional governance of food security to enrich the analysis and facilitate the drafting of a roadmap.
Next steps
Information sharing, joint analysis and an active dialogue with civil society, private sector and other stakeholders will be critical for the success of the initiative. A first dialogue meeting with agricultural producer’s organisations, civil society groups and the private sector is planned on 22 October in Ouagadougou. A high-level expert meeting, involving West African regional organisations, civil society and international partners is scheduled for 7-8 November 2012 at the OECD headquarters in Paris. Participants will endorse a roadmap at this meeting outlining the next steps for the implementation of the initiative. AGIR will be officially launched on 6 December within the framework of the 28th annual meeting of the Food Crisis Prevention Network (RPCA).
- Dialogue with agricultural producers, civil society groups and the private sector, Ouagadougou, 22 October 2012
- High-level expert meeting, Paris, 7-8 November 2012
- Official launch of the AGIR Initiative, Ouagadougou, 6 December 2012
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| AGIR West Africa_Position Paper_EN_FINAL.pdf | 162.53 KB |