FAO Increased resilience of vulnerable people affected by climate variabilities - FAO Strengthening agricultural and livestock resilience FAO Ökad motståndskraft hos utsatta människor som påverkas av klimatvariationer The project « Renforcement de la résilience des populations vulnérables face à la variabilité climatique » is implemented by FAO during the period July 2018-December 2019. The total budget is 20 M SEK. 

The expected impact is improved food security and nutrition among vulnerable people in Gao, Mopti and Timbuktu regions. The target is to reduce the number of people in acute food insecurity by 5 % among the 24 000 beneficiaries. The expected outcome is that beneficiaries rely on livelihoods that are resilient to climate change. 

The following are the main expected results; 
1) Increased capacity of vulnerable households to cope with climate change variabilities, 
2) Sustainably improved monetary revenues of vulnerable households, primarily women headed households (share of households that have increased revenues), 
3) Improved nutrition and social protection of beneficiaries (share of households that produce food needed for better nutrition). 

Mali is recurrently hit by droughts that result in urgent food insecurity. In 2017, the rains ended early and pockets of drought also occurred during the rainy season. This affected the level of food production and availability of productive pastures. In large parts of the country, as much as a third of the population is experiencing food insecurity. Pastoralists that normally start to move south in February, started the yearly move already in November in 2017. The water levels in the Niger river during the 2017/2018 season are comparable to those of 1984 and 2011, years when Mali was hit by drought. The analysis of humanitarian needs shows that 4,1 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance which is a significant increase from 3,8 in 2017. 

The project is in line with national priorities and is coordinated with other relevant actors, especially WFP and UNICEF. FAO, WFP and UNICEF have together partnered to respond to the crisis early and to ensure scaling up. The project enables FAO to carry out important activities within the scope of the defined areas of responsibilities that have been agreed upon.  FAO is thereby focusing mainly on support to pastoralists, regeneration of pastures, rehabilitation of water points and nutrition. Coordination is ensured through several fora where FAO is active, both among humanitarian and development actors. 

The project is also a result of a collaboration between Sida’s humanitarian team and the Embassy in Bamako that manages long-term development funds in order to strengthen the interplay between humanitarian assistance and long-term development cooperation to contribute to resilience . A joint analysis is the basis for this intervention. Learning is built into the project to further increase collaboration, exchange and knowledge. Projektet “Ökad motståndskraft hos utsatta människor som påverkas av klimatvariationer" (Renforcement de la résilience des populations vulnérables face à la variabilité climatique) implementeras av FAO under perioden juli 2018 - december 2019. Den totala budgeten är 20 MSEK. 

Projektet ger stöd till 24 000 människor i regionerna Gao, Mopti och Timbuktu. Det övergripande målet är att minska andelen av dessa som är i akut behov av mat med 5 %. Den förväntade effekten av projektet är att människor får möjlighet att utveckla metoder för att försörja sig som är motståndskraftiga mot klimatvariationer.  

Följande tre resultat förväntas uppnås via projektet: 
1) Ökad kapacitet hos sårbara hushåll att hantera klimatvariationer, 
2) Förbättrade och mer hållbara inkomstkällor hos sårbara hushåll, framförallt kvinnor, och 
3) Förbättrad nutrition och socialt skydd hos målgruppen 

Mali drabbas återkommande av torra perioder som resulterar i matkriser. Regnen under 2017 slutade för tidigt i större delen av landet och under regntiden kom också kortare perioder utan regn. Detta påverkade matproduktionen och tillgången till betesområden negativt överlag. I stora delar av landet påverkas mer än en tredjedel av matosäkerhet. Nomader som normalt börjar röra sig söderut i februari, startade den årliga förflyttningen redan i november på vissa håll. Vattennivåerna i Nigerfloden under 2017/2018 jämförs generellt med rekordnivåerna 1984 och 2011 då Mali drabbades av torka. Analysen av humanitära behov visar på att 4,1 miljoner människor idag har behov av humanitärt stöd, vilket är en ökning från 2017 då man uppskattade att motsvarande siffra låg på 3,8 miljoner människor. 

Projektet är i linje med nationella prioriteringar och koordineras med andra relevanta aktörer, speciellt WFP och UNICEF. Tillsammans ingår FAO, WFP och UNICEF i ett partnerskap för att säkerställa att krisen möts tidigt och att man kan skala upp aktiviteter. Projektet möjliggör för FAO att genomföra viktiga aktiviteter inom de ansvarsområden som har kommit överens om inom partnerskapet. FAO fokuserar därmed framförallt på stöd till nomader, rehabilitering av betesområden, säkerställande av vattentillgång och nutrition bland annat. Koordinering säkerställs via flera olika forum, både med humanitära aktörer och utvecklingsaktörer. 

Projektet är också ett resultat av ett samarbete mellan Sidas humanitära team och ambassaden i Bamako som förmedlar långsiktigt utvecklingsstöd för att stärka länken och samspelet mellan humanitära insatser och långsiktig utveckling. En gemensam analys av den regionala situationen ligger till grund för samarbetet. Lärande byggs in i projektet för att ytterligare öka samarbete, utbyte och kunskap. FAO’s project “Increased resilience of vulnerable populations affected by climate change variabilities” is aligned with national priorities in terms of poverty reduction, rural development and resilience. The project is also very well aligned with the Joint Position Paper on early action and scale up of emergency response in the Sahel by WFP, UNICEF and FAO. 
The expected impact is improved food security and nutrition among vulnerable people. The target is to reduce the number of people in acute food insecurity by 5 % among the 24 000 beneficiaries in the regions of Mopti, Timbuktu and Gao. 
The expected outcome is that beneficiaries will rely on livelihoods that are resilient to climate change. The outcome will be measured by two indicators; the share of beneficiaries that have decreased their use of “negative” adaptation measures (WFP, 2008) for survival and the share of households that have improved their socio-economic status according to the Household Economy Approach. 
The following are the main expected results and a short summary of the indicators; 
1) Increased capacity of vulnerable households to cope with climate change variabilities (share of households that have increased their productive assets, share of households that are more food secure and have diversified their intake, share of households that have increased their productivity and share of households that adopt climate resilient practices), 
2) Sustainably improved monetary revenues of vulnerable households, primarily women headed households (share of households that have increased revenues), 
3) Improved nutrition and social protection of beneficiaries (share of households that produce food needed for better nutrition). 
The project has a total budget of 20 M SEK and the project is expected to start in July 2018 and continue until the end of 2019. 
The types of activities include; pastoralists wells, regeneration of pasture areas, income generating activities, cash for work, irrigation, gardening activities, transformation of agricultural and pastoralist product, nutritional education, support to dairies and support to management committees to ensure sustainability of various activities. These activities clearly fall within the responsibilities of FAO according to the Joint Position Paper on early action and scale up of emergency response in the Sahel by WFP, UNICEF and FAO. 
FAO mainly works through implementing agencies and service providers. The Mali office manages planning, coordination, follow-up, quality assurance and evaluation. 
The contribution has been developed to complement ongoing and planned humanitarian support. In terms of geography, the interventions will target the same regions. In terms of activities, the aim is to complement humanitarian interventions and support a more long-term development approach. The extent to which this approach has, in fact, a positive effect on the humanitarian-development nexus will be analysed at the end of the project period.