Support project for populations living in extreme poverty for the prevention of malnutrition in Senegal (ECHO 3)

The project targeted very poor households with members at risk of malnutrition (with priority to children from 6 to 59 months and pregnant or breastfeeding women). The objective was to cover their basic needs during the 2016 hunger gap and avoid seeing them suffer from nutritional and food insecurity. There is usually no harvest during the hunger gap, which corresponds to the rain season. It now comes later in the year and is shorter, which amounts to greater distress among the population who, by this time of the year, has usually exhausted their food stock (the harvests, while adequate, are not enough to make up for the deficit accumulated in previous years). The support offered through the project came in different forms.

In response to this food and nutrition crisis, CECI has sent out unconditional monthly money transfers for the months of July, August and September (distribution in cash of an average of CAD 80 per household, allowing to cover 100% of their basic energy needs). The targeted households, representing over 8300 beneficiaries, were thus able to provide for
their needs locally and by themselves. Before deploying these efforts, a study was conducted across the four main markets of the area in order to confirm the availability of staple foods. The project’s teams monitored the price and availability of these staples throughout the implementation period of the project, making sure the increase in demand did not create any issues (inflation or shortage).

In parallel, on each distribution site, sessions were organized for all beneficiaries of the project to build awareness on Essential Family Practises (EFP), such as best practices related to food, hygiene or health. These sessions were successful, as every targeted household now claims to know and use at least three EFPs. At national level, CECI remained involved in the Collectif pour le Renforcement de l’Insécurité Alimentaire et Nutritionnelle au Sénégal (CORRIANS) (1) by, among other things, supporting the organization’s efforts to align and leverage its tools with the other members of the network. CECI also worked with other national agencies in order to strengthen the coordination and implementation of the operations.

CECI and ACTED, like all other partners of CORRIANS, participated in the implementation of the comparative study on selection criteria for the Household Economics Analysis (HEA) and of the Unique National Register (RNU — Registre National Unique) put together by the Délégation générale à la protection sociale et à la solidarité nationale (DGPSN). They also contributed to the national survey on food security for the 2016 Aligned Framework.