Joint Programme for the Sahel in Response to the Challenges of COVID-19, Conflict and Climate Change

The Joint Programme for the Sahel in Response to the Challenges of COVID-19, Conflict and Climate Change (SD3C) in the Sahel and Senegal aims to consolidate the livelihoods of small producers, in particular women and youth living in cross-border areas of the six targeted countries. It is implemented in partnership with the two other United Nations Rome-based agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) – and the G5 Sahel. It seeks to address the trilogy of challenges posed by COVID-19, conflict and climate change in the Sahel. The programme covers six years into two phase (phase 1: 2021-2023 and phase2: 2024-2026). The intervention targets around 41,000 rural households, or 290,000 people, at least 50% of whom are women and at least 40% of young people, including people with disabilities and migrants.

It is expected that:

• 6,000 hectares of degraded lands will be rehabilitated and developed.
• a livestock market (camelids) will have been rehabilitated.
• a center for the collection of smoked fish will have been built to allow an increase in the marketing of these products.
• 50 initiatives mainly led by cooperatives, women and young people, and by Farmers’ Organisations (FO) platforms will be supported in the agricultural value chains and their related activities to improve the income and resilience of women, young people, people in disability, returned migrants and vulnerable farmers.
• 3,000 young agripreneurs to be supported.
• digital financial services with the aim of securing border transactions are improved.