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Food security & Nutrition

Opinion:

Opinion

Body:

Food is particularly expensive for households in sub-Saharan Africa – relative to their incomes. Prices are 30-40% higher than in the rest of the world with comparable per capita GDP levels. In West Africa, markets provide at least two-thirds of household food supplies and households spend an average of 55% of their budgets on food. “Transforming the food economy is key to lowering prices,” explains Thomas Allen from the Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat (SWAC/OECD) in an article published on the OECD Development Matters blog. Read on

01 Feb 2018

Rice, the white gold of West Africa?

Country:

Mali

Senegal

Topics:

Food security & Nutrition

Members:

ECOWAS

Body:

The most recent issue of Dynaniques paysannes magazine, published by SOS Faim Belgium, analyses the rice sector in West Africa from a producers’ perspective. Authors call for more coherence between agricultural and trade policies and between national and regional policies in order to develop the regional market. Read on

01 Jan 2018

Mauritania revamps its currency

Country:

Mauritania

Topics:

Body:

As of 1 January 2018, Mauritania is using a new series of polymer bills, and the currency was redenominated with 10 ouguiyas becoming one ouguiya. The former banknotes and coins will be progressively withdrawn and replaced until the end of June 2018. Many citizens expressed concern about losing purchasing power fearing a hidden devaluation. Read on

26 Dec 2017

George Weah becomes Liberia’s president

Country:

Topics:

Body:

Following the first female president of Africa, Liberia will now have the first president who has been an international football star. George Weah won the country’s presidential election run-off on 26 December 2017 with 61.5% of the vote beating his rival, the outgoing Vice-President Joseph Boakai, who got 38.5% of the vote. Read on

16 Dec 2017

52nd ECOWAS Summit

Topics:

Members:

Body:

The 52nd ECOWAS Conference of Heads of State and government was held on 16 December in Abuja, Nigeria. This annual meeting was an opportunity for regional leaders to take stock of the West African regional integration process and to call for its acceleration by implementing regional infrastructure projects and improving the business environment in a co-ordinated way. Read on

11 Dec 2017

The main reservoir of jobs today and tomorrow is the food economy

Country:

Benin

Topics:

Opinion:

SWAC:

Body:

Laurent Bossard, director of the Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat, talks about the region's key challenges and the issue of youth employment. The interview was conducted on the sidelines of the Sahel and West Africa Week 2017 in Cotonou, Benin. Read on

11 Nov 2017

The perception of African rural migration is wrong

Topics:

Children & Youth

Demographic trends

Development co-operation

Migration & Mobility

Urban-rural development

Opinion:

Opinion

SWAC:

SWAC

Body:

Laurent Bossard, Director of the SWAC Secretariat, and the economist Jean-Marie Cour were invited to the programme “Eco d’ici Eco d’ailleurs” on RFI, a French public radio channel, where they discussed the issue of rural migration in Africa. They lamented the often-false perception of this phenomenon, which shows how difficult it is for observers and development actors to change the paradigm when it comes to how the continent’s transformations are analysed. Read on

02 Nov 2017

Tunis gets closer to ECOWAS

Topics:

Development co-operation

Members:

ECOWAS

Body:

During his courtesy visit to the commission president at the ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja, Tunisian Trade Minister Omar Behi expressed a desire to strengthen economic exchanges between Tunisia and West Africa. They discussed several partnership opportunities, and a memorandum of understanding between Tunisia and the regional organisation will be signed during the next visit of president de Souza to Tunis. Read on

25 Sep 2017

Substantial food price gaps across West Africa

Topics:

Food security & Nutrition

SWAC:

SWAC

Body:

Prices are a key determinant of access to food in West Africa as households rely on markets for two-thirds of their food supply. Food prices in sub-Saharan Africa are 30 to 40% more expensive than in the rest of the world at comparable levels of GDP per capita. They vary greatly across countries – from -28% in Mauritania to +14% in Ghana compared to the West African average. Read on

10 Sep 2017

Showdown in Togo

Country:

Togo

Topics:

Democracy & Peace