Category: General

Abuja, Nigeria – Extreme poverty in Western Africa increased by nearly 3 percent last year, according to a new report on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 published today by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The report, completed in partnership with the West Africa Sub-Regional Office for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), indicates that the proportion of people in the region living with less than $1.90 a day increased from 2.3 per cent in 2020 to 2.9 per cent in 2021. The debt burdens of countries in the region have also increased in the context of slow economic recovery, shrinking fiscal space and weak resource mobilization.

The COVID-19 impact study highlights the effects of the preventive measures including border closures, movement restrictions, and the disruption of supply chains. All these measures disrupted income-generating activities and exacerbated food price increases in the markets. The most affected are people who rely on unstable income sources such as small traders, street vendors and casual workers.

This deteriorating economic situation has adversely affected the food security and nutrition situation of women, men, and children. More than 25 million people in West Africa are unable to meet their basic food needs in the region, an increase of 34% compared to 2020. The situation is most severe in conflict-affected areas such as the Lake Chad Basin, Liptako-Gourma and the Sahel region, forcing people to sell their assets and livelihoods to meet their food needs.

“The Coronavirus health crisis has particularly annihilated the benefits gained by ECOWAS and its Member States in the fight against food insecurity and malnutrition” said Sekou SANGARE, ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water resources.

“Even if we are happy with the governments’ response through the mitigation actions they have taken, we have to worry about the residual effects of the health and economic crisis as they are likely to continue disturbing our food systems for a long time while compromising populations access to food due to multiples factors.”

The publication of this report comes in a context marked by a fragile regional economy that is not dynamic enough to allow families to regain their pre-crisis social and economic well-being. The results of this study will enable public and private actors to provide appropriate and resolute responses to the negative impact of COVID-19 on the lives of people in West Africa.

“The socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 calls for immediate and concerted actions to further strengthen people’s resilience and capacity to withstand shocks” said Chris Nikoi, WFP’s Regional Director for West Africa. “This report clearly shows the urgent need for Governments and partners to deliberately increase investments to strengthen and increase social protection programs, social safety-nets such as school meals, and other livelihoods-enhancing programs with particular emphasis on women and youth.”

The Director of the ECA's West Africa Sub-Regional Office, Ngone Diop, stressed that one of the strengths of the ECOWAS-WFP-ECA partnership was to "carry out an online survey, which has mobilized nearly 8,000 survey respondents in just two editions."

Moreover, Mrs Diop said "basing our analyses on primary, first-hand data from households directly impacted by the health crisis makes it possible to offer decision-makers at the regional and national levels with relevant and better-targeted policy options.”

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, ECOWAS and its partners have put in place various economic and financial measures to respond to the increasing needs caused by COVID-19 in the region. In close collaboration with the West African Health Organization (WAHO), ECOWAS mobilized nearly US$ 38 million in the first half of 2021 to meet the needs of the population.

The ECOWAS Member States, with the support of their technical partners including WFP, have implemented an unprecedented expansion of social protection programmes, as well as food distributions, for the most vulnerable communities. In Mali and Niger, for example, WFP, in partnership with UNICEF and with funding from the German Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ), is supporting 1.4 million people and helping to strengthen national social protection systems to make them more responsive to shocks and more sensitive to nutrition.

“WFP is committed to engage more with ECOWAS in enhancing coordination and facilitating experience sharing among countries, with the aim to ensure social protection systems in the region support food security and nutrition and provide resilience to shocks.” Nikoi insisted.

Source: World Food Programme

UNESCO and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) launched in January 2022 a new project entitled "Aman360" ("Safety 360" in Arabic), marking the 10th anniversary of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. Aman360 will deploy innovative methods to enhance the safety of investigative journalists in the region, including safety guidelines, webinars, training sessions, safety clinics and a hotline service.

The project was created within the framework of a Funds-In-Trust project funded by Denmark entitled "Enhancing the Safety of Journalists in Africa and the Arab Region", and UNESCO's Multi-Donor Programme on Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists (MDP).

Within the media landscape, investigative journalists play a particularly crucial role. They uncover malpractice, fraud, corruption, and human rights abuses, thereby promoting transparency and accountability in society. For this reason, they are particularly vulnerable to threats, violence, and killings which in turn underlines the importance of enhancing their safety through different means.

ARIJ has been active for 15 years in fostering a culture of safety and leads a network of investigative journalists across the region. It has trained more than 3.500 journalists and supported the production of over 650 investigations. It will be joined in its efforts on the ground by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world's largest organization of journalists. UNESCO will implement Aman360 in the MENA region, with a particular focus on Algeria, Iraq, Mauritania, Palestine, Tunisia, and Yemen.

Since its formal creation in 2017, the MDP has implemented actions aiming at enhancing freedom of expression, access to information and the safety of journalists in over 35 countries. As part of its focus on safety, it has held numerous capacity-building activities (including physical and digital safety trainings), produced dedicated resources, and supported safety mechanisms at national and regional levels. Thanks to the MDP, UNESCO has been an active player in protecting freedom of expression and the safety of journalists in the Arab region in countries such as Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. The Aman360 project comes to complement pre-existing initiatives, and will also serve to reinforce the implementation of the Hague Commitment to Increase the Safety of Journalists and of the Global Drive for Media Freedom and Safety of Journalists, launched jointly with OHCHR in 2021.

About the Multi-Donor Programme for Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists (MDP)

The MDP serves to further strengthen UNESCO work at a global, regional, and national levels, by channeling funds towards emerging priorities and the most pressing needs to achieve its mandate on freedom of expression. It enables UNESCO Communication and Information Sector to address complex issues through the design and implementation of holistic medium and long-term interventions at national, regional and global levels. The clear advantage of this mechanism is that it allows UNESCO and its partners to achieve greater impact and sustainability, whilst reducing fragmentation of activities in the same field.

Source: UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

ROME, More than $138 million is needed to assist rural communities affected by extended drought in the Horn of Africa, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said, launching a comprehensive response plan for the region.

A third consecutive year of poor rains is posing a major threat to food security in countries already facing natural resource limitations and conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, and locust invasions during 2020-21.

FAO fears that a large-scale hunger crisis could break out if food-producing rural communities do not receive adequate assistance timed to the needs of the upcoming agricultural seasons.

The bulk of the funding under the FAO Horn of Africa Drought Response Plan, $130 million, is urgently needed by the end of February, to provide critical assistance to highly-vulnerable communities in the three most impacted countries: Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

Projections indicate that some 25.3 million people will face “high acute food insecurity” by the middle of the year.

Should the scenario materialize, FAO said it would place the Horn of Africa among the world’s largest-scale food crises.

“We know from experience that supporting agriculture at moments like this is hugely impactful – that when we act fast and at the right moment to get water, seeds, animal feed, veterinary care, and much needed cash to at-risk rural families, then hunger catastrophes can be averted,” said Rein Paulsen, the agency’s Director of Emergencies and Resilience.

“Well, the right moment is now. We urgently need to support pastoralists and farms in the Horn, immediately, because the cycle of the seasons waits for no one.”

Paulsen warned that the clock is already ticking as the lean season, which just started, has been marked by limited grazing opportunities for pastoralist families whose livestock will need nutritional and veterinary support.

Meanwhile, families who rely on producing crops will need seeds and other supplies in time for the Gu planting season that begins in March.

The FAO plan targets 1.5 million of the most at-risk rural populations in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

For pastoralist families, support will include providing animal feed and nutritional supplements, as well as mobile veterinary health clinics, to keep their livestock healthy and producing milk; transporting water to 10,000 litre collapsible water reservoirs set up in remote areas, and upgrading existing wells to run on solar power.

Crop-reliant families will receive seeds of drought-tolerant early-maturing varieties of sorghum, maize, cowpea and mung bean, and nutrient-dense vegetables. The UN agency also aims to arrange for pre-planting land-ploughing services and access to irrigation, as wellas training on good agricultural practices.

Cash for work programmes would allow able-bodied households to earn extra income by helping to rehabilitate irrigation canals, boreholes or other agricultural infrastructure.

Those not able to work due to health or other reasons will receive “unconditional infusions of cash”. FAO said that providing rural families with extra disposable income gives them the means to buy food at market while they wait for their harvests to come in.

In Somalia, the FAO plan calls for the provision of boats, equipment and training to help coastal communities who do not typically fish, to secure a new and much-needed source of nutrition, building on existing programmes to promote the diversification of livelihoods in the country.

FAO said if fully funded, the plan would allow for the production of up to 90 million litres of milk and up to 40,000 tonnes of staple food crops in the first part of 2022, putting over one million highly food insecure people on a safe footing, for at least six months.

Source: Nam News Network

Through COVAX facility, UNICEF supported the delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccine doses in Rwanda. Over 4.3 million people (one third of the population) have received two doses of vaccine in Rwanda.

• With UNICEF support, 7,959 children aged 0-6 years (51 per cent girls) were enrolled in ECD services in Mahama refugee camp in 2021.

• Over 2 million people were regularly reached with key messages on COVID-19 prevention and access to services.

• In 2021, UNICEF mobilized US$ 2.1 million, representing 35 per cent of the funding needed to address the urgent needs of women and children.

Situation in Numbers

2,000,000 children in need of humanitarian assistance (UNICEF 2021 HAC)

4,000,000 people in need (UNICEF 2021 HAC)

146,831 Refugees (UNHCR December 2020)

Funding Overview and Partnerships

UNICEF Rwanda, as part of its 2021 Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC), appealed for US$ 6 million to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees and to support the Government of Rwanda’s response to health crisis, including the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to risks of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) affecting the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

In 2021, UNICEF Rwanda mobilized US$ 2.1 million, representing 35 per cent of required amount, which enabled UNICEF to deliver life-saving services to refugees – more than half of whom are women and children – as well as children and families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic impacts.

Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs

In 2021, two EVD outbreaks were declared in the Province of North Kivu, eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), neighbouring Rwanda. Since 2018, three EVD outbreaks have been declared in the same zone, the 2018-2020 EVD outbreak was second deadliest in Africa. Although Rwanda has so far managed to remain Ebola-free, the recurrence of EVD outbreaks in neighbouring DRC poses a significant health risk due to intense population movements between the two countries and a large cross-border community with shared culture and connections. Rwanda continues to maintain its Ebola preparedness plan.

Rwanda continues also to enforce preventing measures throughout the year to control the spread of COVID-19. Apart from January when the Government closed schools in the City of Kigali in response to an increase in COVID19 cases, schools remained open throughout 2021. In June-July, the country recorded the largest increase in COVID-19 cases leading to a lockdown in the city of Kigali and in 8 out of 30 districts of the country from 17 to 31 July. Since the start of the pandemic, Rwanda has conducted around 3.7 million tests and registered 1,344 deaths related to COVID-19. The country has managed to monitor confirmed cases and trace their contacts. With the support of the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility, more than 6.9 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine of whom 4.3 million (33 per cent of the population) are fully vaccinated1 . As the pandemic continues with emerging new variants, significant gap persists with regards to the coverage of WASH services in the refugee camps and host communities. Despite funding constraints, UNICEF continued to support the Government of Rwanda (GoR) to mitigate the secondary effects of COVID-19 on children and families, including by supporting remote learning during closure of schools, providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for community health workers (CHWs) and child protection volunteers, providing mental health and psychosocial support to children including those with disabilities, as well as by supporting the construction of handwashing facilities in schools.

In 2021, Rwanda continued to host tens of thousands of refugees as in the past two decades, mainly from Burundi and DRC. From 147,000 refugees in late 2020, the number of refugees decreased slightly during the year due to movements of return, especially among Burundian refugees. The latest statistics by UNHCR reports that 127,382 people, 49 per cent of whom children, are currently refugees in Rwanda, including 77,412 from DRC (61 per cent) and 48,234 (38.6 per cent) from Burundi. Nine refugees out of ten in Rwanda live in refugee camps and 10 per cent in urban areas. . In addition to refugees, Rwanda hosted during a short period around 8,000 people who crossed the border from DRC following the eruption of the Volcano Nyiragongo in June 2021 in the North Kivu province. UNICEF participated in the emergency response to volcano affected people in Rwanda under the coordination of the GoR and UNHCR. The GoR, World Bank and other partners conducted a post disaster needs assessment that revealed hundreds of house damages and families needing relocation. . Part of the UNHCR-UNICEF Blueprint for Joint Action for Refugee Children (Blueprint), UNICEF also continued to support the GoR response to refugees living in refugee camps and their host communities throughout 2021.

Source: UN Children's Fund

When the first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Rumbek, the capital of Lakes State in South Sudan, WHO State Polio Officer Dr Jiel Jiel was prepared. In support of the Ministry of Health, and in collaboration with partners, he had been working for weeks to help coordinate the vaccine rollout, using skills gained from working to eradicate polio.

He explains, “For the COVID-19 rollout, the implementing partner turned to us, as they know we have experience in delivering vaccines. The expertise from the top to the bottom of the polio team was utilised.”

In countries where the polio programme has a large footprint, staff provided exceptional support to the initial stages of COVID-19 pandemic response. Since then, polio teams have been assisting with COVID-19 vaccination. Their contributions – including to vaccine logistics, social mobilization, surveillance, training and data management – demonstrate their wide skillset and their ability to help make progress on broader health priorities.

In the African Region, over 500 polio eradication staff assisted with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in 2021. 39% of that workforce reported spending between 20 – 50% of their time on COVID-19 vaccination efforts, whilst 37% reported dedicating more than 50% of their time. Staff balanced this work with resumed polio vaccination campaigns, which were paused to protect against possible spread of COVID-19 in the early stages of the pandemic.

Their efforts demonstrate the potential for the polio workforce and assets to contribute in the long term to strengthening health systems and building back better. The polio transition process aims to leverage the skills, relationships and reach of the polio workforce in an integrated manner to make progress on a range of health priorities - especially essential immunization, vaccine-preventable disease surveillance and emergency response. The indispensable work of the polio workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic shows that sustaining this network is a good investment for national and global health priorities.

Dr Eshetu Wassie, a National Polio Officer in Ethiopia, explains that the polio workforce is well positioned to assist with reaching health goals.

“The polio experience has helped to bring the WHO workforce together, as COVID-19 required a multisectoral response. This was easier to organize through the polio platform, which was used to bringing partners together.”

Polio staff have undertaken a wide range of tasks. In Nigeria, ensuring the availability of both COVID-19 and polio vaccines has reduced the number of visits families need to make to health facilities, whilst in Cameroon, polio staff have developed communications and advocacy materials to promote COVID-19 vaccine uptake. In many countries, the polio workforce have supported the collection of data on Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) for COVID-19, and have used their experiences in polio eradication to help coordinate effective rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in different contexts.

In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, the polio workforce in Somalia helped to rollout COVID-19 vaccines throughout 2021. Mohamud Shire, a Senior Polio Eradication Officer in Somalia, explains, “Some of the polio volunteers worked as vaccinators, whilst others were social mobilizers. Regional and District Polio Officers were supervisors of the vaccine rollout. And it helped that communities know and trust us.”

In the South East Asian Region, the integrated immunization and surveillance networks used their experience of introducing new vaccines, including Inactivated Polio Vaccine, to help ensure a smooth rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines. In India and Nepal, support provided by the network has included capacity building, campaign monitoring and contributing to guideline development. In Bangladesh, polio and measles campaign microplans were used to conduct a successful pilot of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. In Indonesia and Myanmar network support included dissemination of guidelines and cold chain monitoring.

With populations in low-income countries around the world still un- or under-vaccinated against COVID-19, and health systems under severe strain, the continued support of the polio network is likely to be critical to recover from the pandemic. Looking ahead, Dr Jiel Jiel underlines the importance of transitioning and sustaining the polio workforce in polio-free contexts so that they can contribute to health systems recovery, “If we were not present, it would be more difficult for the health system to reach the vaccine coverage that is desired.”

“WHO staff have built up our skills, we have institutional memory and you can rely on us to produce results.”

Source: World Health Organization