The Beating Famine Sahel Conference, held from 26-28 February in Bamako, Mali, focused on farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) and other successful land restoration initiatives in the Sahel. It is estimated that FMNR has spread to 21-million hectares in the West African Sahel, making the region a world leader of the land restoration movement. The conference participants adopted a declaration to rally support to restore 100-million hectares of degraded land within the African Forest Landscapes Restoration Initiative (AFR100). Read on

The USAID West Africa team organised a workshop on 30 May-1 June in Accra, to brainstorm about future work priorities associated with their food security strategy. CILSS plays a key role in implementing US priorities in the food and nutrition security field in West Africa. Read on

Launched on 27 April in Abuja, the EUR 8 million programme will finance field projects that support agro-ecological intensification on family farms in five West African countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal and Togo. Read on

CILSS leaders gathered on 7 February in Niamey for the 18th ordinary session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government. Organised back-to-back with the G5 Sahel summit, six presidents (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal) as well the Prime Minister of Togo participated in the event. Discussions focused on how to advance reforms of the 45-year old institution and how to provide the institution with sustainable financing. Read on