ECOSOC Management Segment 2020: African countries emerging from conflict

 

 

 

United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Management Segment

Agenda item 12(e): African countries emerging from conflict (section on the Sahel region)

statement delivered on behalf of the Rome-Based Agencies (RBAs)

by Carla Mucavi, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the United Nations in New York

 

Excellencies,

Distinguished delegates,

Thank you for the opportunity to take the floor.

I welcome the report of the Secretary General.

FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the World Food Programme actively participate in the humanitarian and development responses to protracted crises in the Sahel region, working alongside other governments, regional counterparts, UN entities and other partners in the context of the UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel.

The main focus of our efforts is to strengthen the resilience of pastoral and agro-pastoral cross-border populations through economic development, social cohesion and support to vulnerable populations, especially women and youth.

Examples of our work include the GLoNet program that tackles the root causes of the food and nutrition insecurity. Supported by the European Union, this program will contribute to efforts to stabilize priority areas of the Sahel, defined by the G5 Sahel.

FAO is also engaged in a regional partnership with the Rome-based agencies IFAD and WFP to support the G5 Sahel + Senegal to consolidate the livelihoods of family farmers, in particular women and youth, living in cross-border areas, through the revitalization of socio-economic and commercial spaces plagued by insecurity and climate change.

In addition, FAO is assisting countries in the Sahel to prepare for and respond to a potential desert locust invasion.

Finally, FAO is supporting efforts to protect food systems and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security.

Thank you for your attention.