16/05/2013 - Improving the quality of care for vulnerable children is a global issue. Delegates at a conference at the SOS Children’s Villages International headquarters in Innsbruck, Austria, have today highlighted how this can be addressed through a campaign that boldly sets out to achieve quality care for every child.

Heavy rains continued for a second week across previously dry areas in western Ethiopia and South Sudan.

1) Poorly distributed and significantly below average seasonal rainfall has resulted in deteriorating ground conditions since January. This has negatively impacted crops and livestock throughout many parts of southern Angola and northern Namibia.

In the wake of the food crises of the early 1970s and the resulting World Food Conference of 1974, a group of innovators realized that food security depends not only on crop production but also on the policies that affect an entire food system, from farm to table. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) was founded in 1975, the same year as the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, which formally created the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

98% of all displacement in 2012 was related to climate- and weather-related events, with flood disasters in India and Nigeria accounting for 41% of global displacement in 2012.

L’Afrique de l’ouest est marquée par un phénomène important de mobilité des populations, tout particulièrement chez les jeunes. Beaucoup d’entre eux décident de quitter leur village d’origine pour les grandes villes voire pour les pays voisins à la recherche de perspectives économiques plus réjouissantes pour eux-mêmes et leur famille. Pourtant, ces enfants se retrouvent le plus souvent confrontés aux dangers de l’exploitation et des abus.

Normal start in bi-modal zone and a good progression of the season in Guinean-Sudanian zone

KEY MESSAGES

• February to April rainfall estimates (RFE) indicate that the onset of rains occurred earlier than normal this season with generally above normal rainfall levels in the bi-modal zone, as well as the southern part of the Guinean-Sudanian zone. According to medium term forecasts, an on time or early onset of the rains is expected for the northern part of the Guinean-Sudanian zone.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• In Benin, community conservation areas have been established to preserve the biological diversity of coastal wetlands

• Investments have been made to enable communities to conduct environmentally-friendly business activities

• To date, 1,601 Beninese have benefited from the Community-Based Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Management Project

• Multi-country immunization campaigns took place this week (26-29 April) across West Africa. Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone all participated, aiming to reach nearly 30 million children under the age of five years with oral polio vaccine (OPV).

This report covers the period: 01/01/2012 to 31/12/12.

Overview

This report is on consolidated coverage of West Coast region’s programmes carried out between January 2012 to December 2012 in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. By the end of the reporting period, most of the activities outlined in the 2012 operational plan were implemented in line with the Long-term planning Framework (LTPF) 2012-2015.