by Mara Caputo

Successful initiatives in the Sahel that span the aid-development continuum have been cultivated in the midst of mounting drought and despair, providing a blueprint for a way beyond chronic food insecurity.

The despair is born of a deepening food crisis as an estimated 12 million people concentrated primarily in the West African region of the Sahel teeter on the brink of famine. The governments of Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Niger have already declared states of emergency and called for international assistance.