STORY HIGHLIGHTS

By Josh Harris, Communications Officer

May 31, 2013— Mabinty Kargbo is worried about how she will feed her family over the next three months. She gave birth to twin girls 6 months ago, joining her 4 year old daughter and 10 year old son. Life has never been easy in the community of Mile 91 where she lives, a town so lacking in infrastructure and defining features that it has only been named in terms of its distance from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. For Mabinty, life got even harder this year when her husband suddenly left, leaving her alone with four children.

West Africa can be divided into three agro-ecological zones or three different trade basins (West Basin, Central Basin and East Basin). Both important for understandin gmarket behavior and dynamics.

Introduction

This review is concerned with the financing arrangements for programmes that address acute malnutrition at scale through the community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM). The CMAM approach is geared towards the early detection, treatment and counselling of moderately and severely acutely malnourished children, in the community, by community agents.

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).

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.

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.

In parts of West Africa, the Peace Corps is expanding opportunities for its Volunteers to receive training in combating hunger and undernutrition.

Peace Corps Volunteers are closely integrated with the communities they serve, often supporting local community health workers or even providing counseling themselves to caregivers responsible for the health and nutrition of family members.

L'Afrique de l’Ouest peut être divisée en trois zones agro-écologiques ou en trois bassins commerciaux (bassins de l’ouest, bassin du centre, bassin de l’est). Les deux sont importants pour l'interprétation du comportement et de la dynamique du marché.