Slavery is not a thing of the past in Africa

This blog by Ousmane Aly DIALLO, is part of Wikiprogress Series on Personal Security. It resumes the recent Global Slavery Index from an Africa-centred perspective.

The Global Slavery Index is a new initiative by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, which ranks 160 countries of the world according to three factors: estimated prevalence of modern slavery by population, a measure of child marriage, and a measure of human trafficking in and out of a country. The aggregate measure is weighted in order to reflect the first dimension of the index: the estimated prevalence of modern slavery by population (95% weighting).

World Map of Slavery, Source: Global Slavery Index/Walk Free Foundation

Slavery often appears as a phenomenon of the past, reminiscent of raids during the 18^th century, the transatlantic trade and recently, as glamourized in Hollywood productions. But the reality is there, apparent and stark: nearly 30 million of the world populations are enslaved under different forms varying from debt bondage, forced begging to hereditary chattel slavery.

Of the 10 first countries of the ranking (which hosts the highest prevalence of slavery out of the 160 countries), 5 are in Africa: Mauritania (#1), Benin (#7), Côte d’Ivoire(#8), Gambia (#9) and Gabon (#10). 16.36% of the estimated total 29.8 million people in modern slavery are in Sub-Saharan Afric which is the likeliest place to risk enslavement in the world.

The report defines slavery  the possession and control of a person in such a way as to significantly deprive that person of his or her individual liberty, with the intent of exploiting that person through their use, management, profit, transfer or disposal. Usually this exercise will be achieved through means such as violence or threats of violence, deception and/or coercion. It takes many forms in 2013 and may be known by many names. Human trafficking, forced labour,  slavery-like situations (debt bondage, forced or servile marriage, sale or exploitation of children, including in armed conflitct), all these phenomenons falls into the operational definition.

Definition of modern day slavery by the Global Slavery Index

Trafficking                                                                                       Slavery
1    Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons. 2    By means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person (these means are not required in the case of children). 3    With the intent of exploiting that person through:     Prostitution of others;   Sexual exploitation;   Forced labour;   Slavery (or similar practices);   Servitude; and     Removal of organs. (UN Trafficking Protocol, 2000)	The status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised. Includes slavery-like practices: debt bondage, forced or servile marriage, sale or exploitation of children (including in armed conflict) and descent-based slavery. (The Slavery Convention (1926) and Supplementary Slavery Convention (1956)
	Forced Labour
	All work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily. (ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)

Mauritania, is ranked number 1 in the Index. Slavery is prevalent in this country and a large part of its population (abid and to a lesser extent the Haratine[1], populations of black ancestry but of Moorish-Berber culture) is deprived of basic rights due to this institution. The report estimates that between 140,000 – 160,000 people are enslaved in Mauritania, a country with a population of just 3.8 million. This ranking also reflects high levels of child marriage, and to a lesser extent, human trafficking. The phenomenon takes the form of chattel slavery, meaning that adults and children in slavery are the full property of their masters who exercise total ownership over them and their descendants.

The high prevalence measured for such countries as  Mauritania reflect centuries-old patterns of enslavement, often based on colonial conflicts and injustice exacerbated by contemporary armed conflict.

Benin is the second worst performing African country. Informal domestic service- child labour in most cases- is its most prevalent form, as it is in the rest of West Africa. With the Vidomegon institution, girls as young as seven years old, are engaged as domestic workers in exchange for accommodation and subsistence. In a practice which runs parallel to the Trokosi system, Vudusi, or ‘shrine slavery’ affects young girls in Benin, who are offered as sacrifices to religious shrines, and subsequently forced to live in and care for the shrine, and often being habitually sexually abused 

The report shows also that women and children are trafficked within Benin from rural areas to the cities, and children are trafficked into countries in the region like Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Guinea. But the establishment of an ILO-backed agreement between Nigeria and Benin is a positive step towards the eradication of this form of exploitation.

At the 143^rd place, Mauritius was the best performing country in Africa. The estimated enslaved population revolves around 510-560 for a population of 1,291,416 habitants. The Island is also performing very well on other government issues as apparent in the recent Ibrahim Index of African Governance, where it stands as the best performing country of the continent. Mauritius leads the region in stability and the protection of human and worker rights, but is eclipsed by South Africa and Gabon in terms of the extent of policies on modern slavery.

Laws and the persistence of slavery

Most of the African countries with a high prevalence of people under slavery has in their judicial system, a set of laws that makes slavery illegal. In Mauritania, slavery was first recognized in 1980 following the emergence of the Haratine movement “El Hor” (“The Free Man” in Hassanya) and further outlawed in 2007 by the first government of the post-Taya period. But criminal prosecution rarely occurs despite the extant laws.  Since the implementation of the law in 2007, and though several victims had tried to take action against their masters, only one conviction has been handed down, according to the report. 

The lack of a special law enforcement unit and solid data on slavery are among Mauritania’s main obstacles to make these practices a negative reminiscence of the past.

Also in Benin, despite the existence of an enforcement unit against child labour and a legislature criminalizing this phenomenon, there has been little effect on this institution. 

One of the reasons suggested is that the 126 Labour inspectors investigates only on the formal sector while the Vudusi system is present only on the informal sector. The creation of the Central Office for the Protection of Minors (OCPM) is part of the government’s response to child labour but the lack of any long term plan for the care of these vulnerable children diminishes the positive reach of these measures.

Interesting trends are apparent in this Global Slavery Index. Slavery is mostly a cultural trait of these afflicted countries, and it may not be considered as such by the victims and the abusers. 

Furthermore, women are the most affected by this practice. They are disproportionately represented in this population. One explanation is that they thrive more often in the domestic sphere of their masters which are likelier to be in remote areas, far from the reach on national justice systems.

Without access to education or alternative means of subsistence, many believe that it is God’s wish for them to be slaves. In Mauritania, as most people in slavery are kept illiterate and uneducated, they are unaware of the fact that according to Islamic law, a Muslim cannot enslave a fellow Muslim. The lack of education is thus a means to perpetuate these practices. 

Conflicts, extremes of poverty, high levels of corruption, and the impact of resource exploitation to feed global markets all increase the risk of enslavement in various African countries. Child and forced marriages are still tolerated in the context of informal or ‘traditional’ legal systems in many countries.

In many African countries, there are laws punishing slavery and slavery-like conditions. The perpetuation of the practice is mainly due to the lack of enforcement by the governments. Political will will be a critical factor in the eradication of these practices

Global Slavery Index 2013 by Ryan M. Baillargeon

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[1] Haratine designates the manumitted slaves. It’s different from abid which is the hassanya term to designate slaves but in the common political discourse, the difference between the two terms has become blurred. See here for more information, http://thinkafricapress.com/mauritania/alive-and-well-mauritania-slavery-and-its-stubborn-vestiges?utm_content=buffer583c9&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=Buffer

Rapport mondial sur le développement: Gérer les risques et les opportunités pour le développement

Le plus récent rapport mondial sur le développement de la Banque Mondiale met l’accent sur  les risques et leur gestion, de même que sur l’impact desdits risques sur les enjeux de développement. Reconnaissant que tous les risques comportent une dimension « opportunité », le rapport souligne qu’une mauvaise gestion peut entraîner une régression et mettre à néant des années de mesures progressives. Une autre conséquence de cette mauvaise gestion des risques est la menace qu’elle constitue sur les structures sociale et économique, à la base du progrès et du développement. Et dans la plupart des cas, ce sont les plus pauvres qui subissent le plus ces chocs exogènes.

La gestion des risques constitue un puissant levier pour le développement

La gestion du risque  est définie comme le processus par lequel une entité fait face à des risques, s’y prépare et établit des stratégies de contingence vis-à-vis de ses effets. Deux objectifs doivent être au centre de la gestion du risque selon le rapport :

•  La résilience, la capacité des hommes, sociétés et pays à se remettre de ces chocs négatifs
• Et la prospérité, découlant d’une gestion adroite de ces chocs en pavant des opportunités pour le développement

De même, les prérequis pour toute gestion de risque couronnée de succès sont l’acquisition de connaissances sur les dangers, l’établissement de mesure d’absorption et l’obtention d’assurances et de garanties.

De l’importance de se préparer aux risques et de saisir les opportunités

Selon ce rapport, les recherches montrent que les bénéfices d’une gestion des risques en amont sont supérieurs aux coûts engendrés par ne rien faire. La mauvaise gestion en outre entraine des crises. Ainsi, la famine en 2011-12 en Somalie a causé 258,000 vies malgré 11 mois d’alertes répétées; les opportunités d’une intervention ont été ratées par la communauté des bailleurs pour esquiver des contraintes sécuritaires et politiques.

Gérer des risques signifie en outre, faire l’état des lieux, analyser différents risques et prendre des mesures proactives pour réduire leur impact négatif. La définition des priorités est d’une grande importance dans les pays en développement, à cause des moyens limités dont ils disposent.  « Ainsi, un petit pays fréquemment sujet à des pluies torrentielles et exposé aux chocs financiers internationaux doit prioriser et décider combien sera dépensé pour la prévention des inondations et combien pour des mesures d’absorption contre la volatilité financière ».

La gestion des risques doit être systémique

Une autre dimension de la gestion des risques abordée dans ce risque est sa nature systémique à même de contrer les multiples effets des chocs exogènes. Différents paliers sociétaux et politiques doivent être impliqués dans ce processus (des ménages à la communauté internationale).

• Au niveau des ménages, en mutualisant les ressources par la protection des membres, en particulier les plus vulnérables et leur permettant d'investir dans leur avenir.
• Au niveau des communautés, par les réseaux informels de soutien et de protection en aidant les gens à composer avec les risques idiosyncratiques et la mise en commun des ressources pour faire face à des risques communs.
• Au niveau des entreprises, par l’absorption des chocs et l’exploitation de la dimension « opportunité » du risque et in extenso, en contribuant à la stabilité de l’emploi, des revenus et par plus d’innovation et de productivité.
• Les systèmes financiers à travers l’épargne, l’assurance et le crédit et par une bonne gestion des défis de son écosystème.
• L'État  dispose des moyens pour gérer les risques systémiques aux niveaux national et régional, et de fournir un environnement favorable pour les autres paliers tout en apportant un soutien direct aux personnes vulnérables. La protection sociale (assurance et assistance), les biens publics (défense nationale, les infrastructures, la loi et l'ordre), et les politiques publiques (régulation, la gestion macro-économique) seront ses principaux médiums.
• La communauté internationale, en facilitant la coordination des politiques et en appuyant les États dans la gestion des risques.

En conclusion, le rapport recommande l’intégration de la gestion des risques intégrée programmes de développement par les gouvernements à travers la création d’agences nationales de prévention des risques. La création d’une telle institution nécessitera un changement de politique (une évaluation coordonnée et systématique des risques aux niveaux national et international) pour des résultats optimaux. Le rapport reconnaît qu’un changement significatif dans la façon de faire pourrait être nécessaire à la mise en œuvre de cette recommandation. Cinq principes clés aux États sont ainsi recommandés en état dans la mise en place de cette dernière recommandation :

• Les gouvernements ne devraient pas générer de l'incertitude ou de risques inutiles
• Les gouvernements devraient fournir des mesures incitatives pour les personnes et les institutions afin qu’elles fassent leur propre planification/préparation, tout en évitant d'imposer des risques ou pertes sur les autres
• Les gouvernements devraient maintenir une perspective à long terme pour la gestion des risques en construisant des mécanismes institutionnels qui transcendent les cycles politiques
• Les gouvernements devraient promouvoir la flexibilité dans un cadre institutionnel clair et prévisible.Les gouvernements devraient protéger les plus vulnérables, tout en encourageant l'autonomie et la préservation de l’équilibre fiscal.

Le rapport est disponible sur ce lien

Risks and Opportunity: Managing Risks for Development

The newest World Development Report by the World Bank Group focuses on the risk and its management, as well as its impact on development issues. Opportunities are concomitant with risks and their mismanagement can lead to a reverse of hard-won progress as well as an endangering of the social and economic structure that was at its base. The consequences of mismanaged risks may destroy lives, assets, trust, and social stability. And more often than not, the poorest are hit the hardest.

Risk management can be a powerful instrument for development

Defining risk management as the process of confronting risks, preparing for them and establishing coping strategies with their effects, the report declines two goals for it:

•          the resilience, the ability of people, societies and countries to recover from negative shocks
•          And the prosperity, derived from the successful management of positive shocks that paves way for opportunities for development.

Acquiring knowledge, building protection and obtaining insurance are the prerequisites for preparing to risks and negative shocks.

Why preparing for risks is important

World Development Report 2014 from WB_Research

According to the report, evidence suggests that the benefits of risk managements overwhelmingly outweigh the cost of not to.  Mismanagement of risks create crises. 

• During 2011–12, the famine in Somalia claimed 258,000 lives, despite 11 months of repeated warnings; opportunities for early intervention were missed by the donor community to avoid political and security risks.

 Managing risks means also to assess, evaluate various risks and to take proactive action to counter them. Defining the priorities is thus crucial in developing countries, due to the limited resources. “For instance, a small country prone to torrential rains and also exposed to international financial shocks must decide how much to spend on flood prevention and how much to save to cushion against financial volatility”.

Managing risks must be systemic

Having addressed the benefits of the management of risks, the report calls for a systemic approach to counter exogenous shocks. Risk management requires shared action and responsibility at different levels of society (from the household to the international community). Their complementarity can be broken down this way:

•  At the household level, by pooling resources, protecting its members—especially the vulnerable— and allowing them to invest in their future.
• Communities can provide informal networks of insurance and protection by helping people deal with idiosyncratic risks and pooling resources to confront common risks.
• Enterprises can help absorb shocks and exploit the opportunity side of risk and by extension, contributing to more stable employment, growing income, and greater innovation and productivity.
• The financial system through savings, insurance, and credit can provide useful risk management tools, while managing its own risks responsibly.
• The state has the scale to manage systemic risks at the national and regional levels, to provide an enabling environment for the other systems to function, and to provide direct support to vulnerable people. Social protection (insurance and assistance), public goods (national defense, infrastructure, law and order), and public policy (regulation, macroeconomic management) will be its main mediums.
• The international community, by enabling policy coordination, and giving support to states when they cannot absorb the impact of the risks they face.

In conclusion, the report calls for a mainstreaming risk management into development programs by national government through the creation of national risk board. Such an institution will require a change in approach (a coordinated and systematic assessment of risks at the national and international levels) for more positive outcomes.  The report recognizes that a susbstantial change in the way of doing might be required in the implementation of this recommendation. Five key principles to states are thus put forward:

• Governments should not generate uncertainty or unnecessary risks
• Governments should provide the right incentives for people and institutions to do their own planning and preparation, while avoiding imposing risks or losses on others
• Governments should keep a long-run perspective for risk management by building institutional mechanisms that transcend political cycles
• Governments should promote flexibility within a clear and predictable institutional framework
• Governments should protect the vulnerable, while encouraging self-reliance and preserving fiscal sustainability

The report is available on this link

Weekly Roundup

Hello everyone and welcome to weekly roundup. Below is a selection of news articles and a video that caught our eye from our blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts.  We hope you enjoy the read. 

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2013: The Multiple Dimensions of Food Security.  The newest edition of the State of Food Insecurity in the World Series by FAO presents updated estimates of undernourishment and progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and World Food Summit (WFS) hunger targets. The 2013 report goes beyond measuring food deprivation. It presents a broader suite of indicators that aim to capture the multidimensional nature of food insecurity, its determinants and outcomes.

Below a Q&A session on the report

The Global AgeWatch Index 2013  was unveiled by the HelpAge Network on October 1^st, International Day of Older Persons. It is the first ever tool to measure the quality of life and well-being of older people around the world. It responds to the urgent need to tackle the poverty and discrimination faced by the growing numbers of older people across the globe and demonstrates there is much to do. 

Allianz - Open Knowledge, HelpAge, Centre for Social Protection, European Network on Measuring Progress, Institute of Social and Medical Studies, Global Alliance of International Longevity Centres, International Council on Social Welfare, OECD - Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, PRO Global, Wikiprogress and World Bank invite you to participate in their online discussion, on “How should older people’s well-being be measured?” from 3 - 14 October 2013. Here is the short link http://bit.ly/17iDNBy and the hashtags for Twitter are #OlderPeople and #AgeingIndex.

After a Decade of Growth in Africa, Little Change in Poverty at the Grassroots, the most recent Policy Brief by the Afrobarometer Research Center shows the discrepancy between the economic growth in the African continent and the well-being of Africans. More than 50,000 individuals have been targeted in this survey (2010-2) in 34 African countries. 56% of the surveyed considered “bad” or “very bad” the management of the economy by their national governments and 69% had the same opinions on the policies targeting poverty.  67% believed that there was no improvement or a worsening of their quality of life.

Africa’s century?, this brief paper builds its arguments on an article by Myles Wickstead, Head of the UK Commission for Africa, on the OECD Observer, to discuss the economic growth in the continent in the last decade and the challenges to overcome. In the same page, are accessible several background papers of the International Economic Forum on Africa.

Ressources minières: un tremplin pour le développement de l'Afrique  by the Director of UNDP Africa, Abdouaye Mar Dieye. The article was published ahead of this year’s International Economic Forum on Africa which calls for a harnessing of natural resources’ for development. The articles calls for an efficient and transparent exploitation of these resources through taxes and fees; a better use of those taxes in uplifting sectors such as education and health and a progressive diversification of the economy through investments in high added-value sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.

Below this infographics by Standard Chartered gives a glimpse of the potential of the continent

Políticas Públicas para El Buen Vivir y el Bienestar, the theme for Wikiprogress América Latina’s first online discussion. Only 3 DAYS left to make your points and share the best practices on well-being and “buen vivir” in Latin America. Here is the link:   http://bit.ly/19vQBTK and the hashtag for Twitter: #Bienestar and #PoliticasPublicas

Stay tuned the same time next week for another roundup of the week that was.

Yours in progress,
Wikiprogress Africa

How should older people’s well-being be measured?

INVITATION

HOW SHOULD OLDER PERSON'S WELL-BEING BE MEASURED

Allianz - Open Knowledge, HelpAge, Centre for Social Protection, European Network on Measuring Progress, Institute of Social and Medical Studies, Global Alliance of International Longevity Centres, International Council on Social Welfare, OECD - Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, PRO Global, Wikiprogress and World Bank invite you to participate in this online discussion from 3 - 14 October 2013, Click here to participate.

                                  

The Global AgeWatch Index  was launched by the HelpAge Network  on 1 October 2013 – the UN International Day of Older Persons. It is the first global index to rank countries according to the social and economic well-being of older people. 

The index provides a measure of 13 different indicators across four key domains of income security, health status, education and employment, as well as aspects of the enabling environment already identified by older people as being of utmost importance to them. 

Leading questions

•  How can evidence gathering tools such as the Global AgeWatch Index be useful in fostering progress towards ensuring economic and social rights of older people around the world?

•  What are the most important domains of well-being of older persons? What specific indicators can you suggest for each of the four domains of well-being used in constructing the Global AgeWatch Index?

•  The Global AgeWatch framework offers a composite index, domain-specific indices in four domains of well-being of older persons, as well as a full set of individual indicators. What approach is the most effective in your view in engaging policymakers?

•  What public policies and programmes had the most impact on the welfare of older persons? Provide specific examples.

•  What is the best way to ensure collecting data on ageing happens in a systematic way and that this data is reflected in the national and international data sets used in the goals, targets and indicators for the post-2015 framework? What difference would this make both to development and to older people?

Here is the short link  http://bit.ly/17iDNBy and the hashtags for Twitter are #OlderPeople and #AgeingIndex.

We look forward to your participation

Email: info@wikiprogress.org

Twitter: @wikiprogress

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wikiprogress

The Wikiprogress Team

Comment doit-on mesurer le bien-être des personnes âgées?

COMMENT DOIT-ON MESURER LE BIEN-ÊTRE DES PERSONNES ÂGÉES?

Allianz-Open Knowledge, HelpAge, le Centre for Social Protection et le réseau européen pour la mesure du progrès, le Global Alliance of International Longevity Centre, l’Institute of Social and Medical Studies, le Conseil international sur le bien-être social, OECD-Emploi, Travail et Affaires sociales, PRO Global, Wikiprogress et la Banque Mondiale vous invitent à participer à la discussion en ligne qu’ils organisent du 3 au 14 octobre 2013.

Contexte

Le lancement du Global  AgeWatch Index par le réseau HelpAge  a eu lieu ce 1er Octobre- Journée internationale des personnes âgées. C’est le premier classement des pays du monde selon le bien-être social et économique des personnes âgées.

À travers 13 indicateurs regroupés selon 4 axes (la sécurité de revenu, l’état de santé, l’éducation et l’emploi) le Global  AgeWatch Index tient compte aussi de certains aspects structurels considérés comme étant de la plus haute importance par les seniors pour mesurer leur bien-être.

Il a été développé selon des séries de données provenant du Département des Nations-Unies pour les Affaires Économiques et Sociales (DESA), la Banque mondiale, l’Organisation mondiale de la santé, l’Organisation internationale du travail, l’UNESCO et le Gallup World Poll.

Questions d'entrée

• Comment les outils de collecte de données comme le Global AgeWatch Index peuvent être utiles pour promouvoir un progrès garantissant les droits sociaux et économiques des personnes âgées dans le monde?
• Quels sont les aspects les plus importants du bien-être pour les personnes âgées? Quels indicateurs  proposeriez-vous pour chacun des 4 composantes du bien-être à la base du Global AgeWatch Index?
• Le Global Age Watch propose un index composite, basé sur 4 composantes du bien-être des personnes âgées, de même qu’une série d’indicateurs autonomes. Quelle est selon vous, la meilleure approche pour susciter des réactions positives auprès des décideurs politiques?
• Quelles politiques publiques et programmes ont eu le plus d’impact sur le bien-être des personnes âgées? Donnez des exemples spécifiques.
• Quel est le meilleur moyen pour s’assurer que la collecte de données sur la vieillesse se déroule de manière systématique? Comment faire pour que ces données se répercutent dans les bases de données utilisées pour établir les buts, cibles et indicateurs de l’agenda de développement de l’après-2015? Quel en serait l’impact sur le développement et sur les personnes âgées? 

Voici le lien vers la page de discussion : http://bit.ly/17iDNBy et les mot-dièses qui seront utilisés sur Twitter seront #OlderPeople et #Wellbeing

Pour plus d’informations: 

Email: info@wikiprogress.org

Twitter: @wikiprogress

Blog: http://theblogprogress.blogspot.fr/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wikiprogress

L'Équipe Wikiprogress

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2013: The Multiple Dimensions of Food Security

The newest edition of the State of Food Insecurity in the World series by FAO presents updated estimates of undernourishment and progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and World Food Summit (WFS) hunger targets. A total of 842 million people in 2011–13, or around one in eight people in the world, were estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger, regularly not getting enough food to conduct an active life. The MDGs are within reach for many developing regions as a whole although there are significant differences across regions and considerable and immediate efforts are needed to achieve them.

The 2013 report goes beyond measuring food deprivation. It presents a broader suite of indicators that aim to capture the multidimensional nature of food insecurity, its determinants and outcomes. This taxonomy gives a more nuanced picture of the world states' food security status as well as impacting on the implementation of targets and the establishment of effective policy measures by policy makers, that will eradicate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.

 Food security dimensions at the national level

Drawing on the suite of indicators which captures the various dimensions of hunger (availability, access, utilization and stability), the report also examines the diverse experiences of six countries (Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal, Nicaragua, Tajikistan and Uganda) in more detail, finding a mixed picture of progress and setbacks. Bangladesh, Ghana and Nicaragua have all managed to halve the prevalence of undernourishment since the beginning of the 1990s. Although many factors comes into consideration, this progress is largely due to the commitment of consecutive governments to long-term rural development and poverty reduction that has shaped the dynamics of change. Nepal, although in a state of conflict, for a long time is now on track to meet MDG1.

On the other end,Tajikistan and Uganda seem unlikely to reach the target. Uncomplete land reform in Tajikistan and low agricultural productivy in Uganda being the main obstacles.

Although their path have been different, the experiences of these 6 countries show the importance of social protection and nutrition-enhancing interventions, policies to increase agricultural productivity and rural development, diverse sources of income and long-term commitment to mainstreaming food security and nutrition in public policies and programmes.

The report also highlights the impact of remittances, which have globally become three times larger than official development assistance, on poverty and food security. This report suggests that remittances can help to reduce poverty, leading to reduced hunger, better diets and, given appropriate policies, increased on-farm investment.

Links to the reports

The State of Food Insecurity in the World: The multiple dimensions of food security Executive Summary

The State of Food Insecurity in the World: The multiple dimensions of food security

Ousmane Aly DIALLO

État de l'insécurité alimentaire dans le monde 2013: les multiples dimensions de la sécurité alimentaire

La plus récente édition de la FAO sur L'état de l'insécurité alimentaire dans le monde  met à jour l’impact de l'insécurité alimentaire dans le monde ainsi que les progrès vers l’atteinte des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement (OMD) et des Objectifs du Sommet Mondial sur l’Alimentation.

Près de 842 millions de personnes, une personne sur huit, souffrait de faim chronique selon les estimations de l’étude. Elles ne disposaient dans d’assez de nourriture pour mener une vie active selon l’étude. Malgré ces chiffres, les OMDs restent toujours de portée pour bien des régions en développement, même si on note des différences entre elles. Des efforts importants et urgents doivent être faits pour réussir ce pari, cependant.

Le rapport présente en outre une série d’indicateurs afin de donner une vue d’ensemble de la nature multidimensionnelle de l’insécurité alimentaire, de ses causes et de ses conséquences. La taxonomie donne une vue plus nuancée de l’état de de la sécurité alimentaire des nations, tout en donnant aux décideurs politiques des données afin d’implémenter des politiques éradiquant la faim, l’insécurité alimentaire et la malnutrition. Si la FAO a sensiblement amélioré cette année sa méthode d’estimation de la sous-alimentation, il lui reste cependant à apporter d’autres améliorations et à parfaire les données dont elle a besoin pour appréhender les effets des brusques variations des prix des denrées alimentaires et des autres chocs économiques. Par conséquent, les estimations de la sous-alimentation ne prennent pas en compte l’ensemble des effets sur la faim des brusques hausses des prix de 2007–2008, ni le ralentissement de l’économie que connaissent certains pays depuis 2009, à plus forte raison les récentes hausses des prix. On a également besoin d’autres indicateurs pour pouvoir évaluer de façon plus complète la sous-alimentation et la sécurité alimentaire.

L’insécurité alimentaire au niveau des nations

À partir des indicateurs des dimensions de la faim (disponibilité, accès, utilisation et la stabilité), le rapport analyse les expériences variées de 6 pays en développement que sont : le Bangladesh, le Ghana, le Népal, le Nicaragua, le Tadjikistan et l’Ouganda. Progrès et revers s’entrecroisent. Le Bangladesh, le Ghana et le Nicaragua ont diminué de moitié la prévalence de la sous-alimentation depuis les années 1990. Bien que plusieurs facteurs expliquent ces avancées, le rapport met l’accent sur l’engagement des différents gouvernements successifs dans ces pays à promouvoir le développement rural à long terme et la réduction de la pauvreté dans leurs politiques publiques.

Le Népal, bien qu’ayant longtemps eu à faire face à des conflits internes est maintenant sur la voie d’atteindre le premier OMD. Par contre, il est peu probable que le Tadjikistan et l’Ouganda atteignent ces objectifs. Des réformes agraires non poursuivies et une faible productivité agricole étant, respectivement, les raisons principales.

Les transferts de fonds des populations immigrées (qui sont trois fois plus importantes que l’aide au développement) ont eu un impact positif sur la pauvreté et la sécurité alimentaire. En effet, le rapport conclut à partir des données recueillies que ces transferts de fonds peuvent aider dans l’éradication de la pauvreté, dans la diminution de la faim, dans la promotion de meilleurs régimes d’alimentation et si encadrées par des mesures politiques appropriées, sur les investissements dans les exploitations agricoles.

Les trajectoires différentes de ces pays permettent de voir l’impact des interventions favorisant la nutrition et la protection sociale dans la diminution de l’insécurité alimentaire. La croissance économique est nécessaire mais elle n’est pas suffisante pour accélérer la réduction de la faim et de la malnutrition. Les politiques visant à augmenter la productivité agricole et le développement rural. Des sources alternatives de  financement comme les transferts de fonds et un engagement intégral dans la sécurité alimentaire, la nutrition sont autant de voies pour enrayer ce fléau.

Liens vers le rapport

État de l'insécurité alimentaire dans le monde 2013: les multiples dimensions de la sécurité alimentaire

Résumé du rapport

Ousmane Aly DIALLO

Weekly Roundup

Hello everyone and welcome to another Africa-focused review of progress initiatives and reports. Among the highlights this week we have:

• Africa 2.0: Harnessing natural resource wealth for economic transformation will be the theme of the 13^th International Economic Forum on Africa that will take place in the OECD Conference Centre on Monday 7 October, 2013.Organized by the Development Centre brings together OECD and African policy-makers with academia, civil society and private sector leaders to discuss Africa’s main challenges and opportunities. This year, the Forum will focus on strategies to promote greater economic diversification and inclusive development in the continent.
• Education is Essential for Development, an article by Pauline Rose of EFA Global Monitoring Report discusses the importance in equality in the access to education and its impact on different components of well-being and development through the insights of new data.  “If education inequality in sub-Saharan Africa had been halved to the level of Latin America and the Caribbean, for example, the annual per capita growth rate over 2005-2010 would have been 47% higher”.
• In this article, Africa and climate change: What's at stake?, Richard Munang and Joy Hyvarinen discusses the impact of climate change in Africa and the upcoming negotiations on this topic in 2014-2015 in Poland (Warsaw), Peru and France (Paris).  African countries have always called for more political commitment in this area, face several obstacles and needs to capitalize on this reality to meet this challenge by forcing world countries to compromise for a better future. A lack of progress will have dire impacts in Africa and on its inhabitants.
• Seaulidarité in Dakar. Facing a water shortage for the last two weeks, citizens in Dakar have been using the web as a way to find and share water. A ruptured pipe having caused a severe shortage in some areas, this article discusses how an app on Facebook helps identify those who are deprived of water and those who want to share theirs. Social connections are reinforced through technology in a context of crisis.
• Políticas Públicas para El Buen Vivir y el Bienestar, the theme for Wikiprogress América Latina’s first online discussion. It started this Thursday September 26^th and will end on October 7^th. The discussion will be a unique opportunity to reflect and exchange best practices, research and experiences on well-being and “buen vivir” in Latin America.Here is the link:   http://bit.ly/19vQBTK and the hashtag for Twitter: #Bienestar and #PoliticasPublicas
• Global poverty has fallen at an unprecedented rate yetgrowth alone will not be enough to eradicate it altogether. To reach the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 as quickly as possible, Judith Randel of Development Initiatives  tells us which domains to target, to have the greatest impact on reducing poverty in this video  below.

We hope you enjoyed this review. Stay tuned the same time next week for another roundup of the week that was.

Yours in progress,

Ousmane Aly DIALLO