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The Aid Pros Blog

A collection of news and comment of interest to people working in the world of humanitarian aid.   Subscribe

New Sahel Response Map Combines Range Of Data

A new interactive map of the Sahel hunger crisis has been created by Development Seed, the Washington-based specialists in data visualisation and mapping. It's actually a platform allowing regional and international organizations to share their data and to help build a broader picture of the crisis in Sahel.

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Mali: Map Of Food And Refugee Crisis

This new map from our Food Security unit in West Africa provides a helpful overview of the situation in and around Mali, where the risk of hunger caused by the Sahel drought has been compounded by the population displacement caused by the conflict in northern Mali.

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Flights Across The Sahel

To cater for the growing humanitarian needs in the Sahel region due to the on-going crisis,  WFP Aviation/UNHAS is now offering a weekly flight between Bamako (Mali) and Niamey (Niger) via Mopti – connecting two of the worst affected countries in the region.

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Water Pans and Trapezoidal Bunds: Life-Changing Tools in Kenya

Though one sounds like a medical contraption and the other a geometry problem, water pans and trapezoidal bunds are actually vital instruments Kenyan herders and farmers can use to collect and preserve rainwater for human and livestock consumption and crop irrigation in areas regularly impacted by droughts.

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Three-Pronged Action Plan For Horn Of Africa

The plan for the Horn of Africa, hit so hard by droughts and hunger in recent years, involves short-term action to improve levels of nutrition, early recovery strategies and promoting resilience in the long term. The approach is outlined in two key documents.

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Sahel crisis meeting - webcast

WFP is hosting a meeting of heads of humanitarian agencies and donor governments on Wednesday 15 February to address the urgent need for a scaling up of humanitarian assistance in the Sahel, where drought and food shortages are causing hunger and threatening lives.

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WFP and PepsiCo Showcase Innovative Partnership

WFP and PepsiCo recently sat down to discuss a ground-breaking public-private partnership at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The initiative, called Enterprise EthioPEA, will support smallholder chickpea farmers in Ethiopia and develop a locally made nutritional product.

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Technical Guide Identifies Best Practices For Weather Index Insurance

WFP and IFAD are working together on a project to provide weather index-based insurance to cover small farmers in case of climate-related risk like flood and droughts. Recently, the partnership yielded a technical guide, providing practical decision-making steps for practitioners and donors.

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Myanmar Learns About Latest Mapping Technology in Emergencies

Good emergency responses depend on decision-makers understanding the situation on the ground. That’s why getting sophisticated data and quickly turning it into maps is a precious skill. WFP and Turin-based research centre ITHACA has been helping the government and NGO partners in Myanmar to use the latest technology in the field to map situations such as the cyclone devastation caused by Nargis in 2008.

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My Mission As Radio Trainer In Libya

It's important to be able to use a VHF radio correctly in emergency operations because the security of humanitarian workers often depends on these devices. So, one of the things WFP often needs to do is to train staff and operatives of other partner organisations to use them. Mick Eccles, radio trainer for WFP’s Fast IT, Telecoms, Emergency and Support Team (FITTEST), was recently deployed to Libya to do this job.

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