Sahel strategies: why coordination is imperative

This study compares the various initiatives and strategies for the Sahel undertaken by multilateral actors.

Given the significant challenges in the region, the extent of the international community’s response to the situation in the Sahel should be commended. Nonetheless, coordination is essential to ensure the effective implementation of programmes and projects aiming to improve everyday life for the people of the Sahel. With this in mind, this study offers a comparative analysis of the various initiatives and strategies for the Sahel undertaken by multilateral actors. Gaps and overlaps are identified and recommendations on both the possibility for synergies and for coordination efforts are set out.

About the authors

Dr Damien Helly is the deputy head of the ECDPM’s Strengthening European External Action Programme. He previously worked for the International Crisis Group, Saferworld and the European Union Institute for Security Studies.

Dr Lori-Anne Théroux-Benoni is the office head at ISS Dakar. She joined the ISS in 2012 as a senior researcher. An anthropologist by training, she works on various human security issues in West Africa.

Greta Galeazzi is a junior policy officer in the Strengthening European External Action Programme at the ECDPM, and works on the European Union external action and development policy in Africa.

Ibrahim Maïga is a junior researcher at ISS Dakar and joined the ISS in 2014 as a junior fellow. His research focuses on issues of peace and security in the Sahel region.

Fatimata Ouédraogo has a legal background and is passionate about human rights, peace and security issues. From February 2014 to February 2015, she was a junior fellow at the ISS.