Attachments
SUMMARY OF THE EARLY ACTION PROTOCOL
The IFRC Emergency Disaster Response Fund (DREF) has allocated CHF 296,302 to the Red Cross Society of Niger to implement early actions to reduce and mitigate the impact of the drought in Niger. The early actions to be conducted were pre-agreed with the National Society and are described in the Early Action Protocol PAP _Sécheresse_Zinder+HI-18-4-2021 online translation.docx.
In Niger, over four million households are facing the devastating effects of food insecurity caused by consecutive failed rainy seasons and decades of increasing desertification of the Sahel. Men, women, and children have no adequate access to food, and are exposed to several threats harming their well-being. These threats are natural hazards (climate, droughts, wildfires), epidemics (measles, malaria, meningitis, and cholera) and insecurity, leading to population movements and competition over resources. The severe food insecurity situation is confirmed by the Cadre Harmonisé (Fiche_comunicaion_Région_SAO_MARS2022_VF_.pdf (ipcinfo.org) findings, which reported that between 2.5 and 3.3 million people are currently food insecure countrywide (Phase 3 to 5 as per the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification – IPC), and that between 3.6 and 4.4 million people will be food insecure in June-August 2022 period due to a delayed 2022 rainy season and irregular distribution of rainfall, long dry spells, and high risks of flooding that can lead to losses in crops, material goods, and animal and human lives in exposed localities.
The pastoral season in Niger is early due to difficulties in feeding livestock, watering conditions and fodder shortages. In principle, it should begin in June-July, instead of March-April. This has led to disruption of herd movements, which has also been complicated by the security situation. Consequently, livestock is concentrated in secure areas which leads to risks of conflict between farmers and the emergence of animal diseases. Cases of diseases and epidemics like malaria, measles and meningitis will increase as people experiencing food insecurity and there was a decline of 39% in cereal production in the 2021-2022 cropping seasons, which is currently recording a gross deficit of two million tons across all regions of Niger. Agricultural markets are being disrupted due to the failed agricultural season, closure of borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic and insecurity. This has inevitably led to an increase in inflation and a rise in prices of main food staples and livestock, in some cases, by more than 40% compared to the last five-year average for food staples.
Thus, Niger Red Cross (CRN) activated its EAP drought to anticipate the worsening food crisis by supporting vulnerable populations in the agropastoral zone of the deficit area of Zinder, alleviate the suffering of 3,300 households (23,100 people). The outcome of this process, aims to anticipate a slow-onset drought, using a two-phase trigger approach, the first trigger gives a three-month delay, between April and June, the second trigger have a five-month delay from November to March. In the present case, the activation of the EAP took place in April 2022 only following the second trigger which was reached in March 2022, contrary to the initial plan which provided for their successive activation.