CO-505233 For years, Oxfam has been supporting "proximity stocks" in the Sahel (notably cereal banks, which are used to store cereals for human consumption). It is an instrument with great potential for strengthening food security strategies. These proximity stocks are theresult of collective initiatives, formal or informal, managed by small producers, in order to improve availability and access to food or increase profits.
In this context, Oxfam led a 3-year research program on resilience and food security, with a focus on food reserves (proximity stocks) in the Sahel. Knowledge gained contributed, for example, to the definition of the regional food reserve project led by ECOWAS. The research program also highlighted the lack of available information on the situation of proximity stocks. This resulted in the approval of a project (still in progress), implemented by Oxfam, entitled "Design and implementation of a mapping exercise and a monitoring system for proximity stocks in the Sahel ".
This draft is the predecessor of this proposal.
The aim  ofthis project is to map 300 proximity stocks managed by the Mooriben Federation in Niger and to determine not only their geographical location but also their storage capacity, resources and so on. Once this mapping exercise has been completed, an information system will be put in place to ensure continuous monitoring of the situation. The methodology used provides mobile phones with special software.
Our partner is the Mooriben federation, one of the most important institutions in the country in the field of food security and proximity stocks. Mooriben is Oxfam's partner in Niger, and works in the regions of Dosso and Tillabery.
During the implementation of this project, we found that the infrastructure of the Mooriben Federation's cereal banks is old, weak and inadequate. Cereal banks are usually built in adobe covered with a layer of cement. During the months of August and September, heavy rainfall and flooding only highlighted the poor condition of the buildings. Several buildings where peasants kept their last bags of food waiting to start the harvest were damaged and collapsed.
The need to strengthen damaged infrastructure, expand the network of mapped banks of cereals and transfer project management information from the project team to the partner led to the decision to send this proposal to Your Foundation.
Main objective :
Improve the viability of Mooriben-managed cereal banks and strengthen the Organization in making appropriate decisions regarding identification, response and anticipation of potential food crises.
For that it is necessary :
(1) initiate a process of reinforcement and reconstruction of these buildings; (2) pursue geographic location activities, adding to the mapping of reconstructed and identified cereal banks; (3) to form a technical team in Mooriben so that it can take ownership of the geographic location  and the information system that we have put in place during the execution of the project.
The project will have two stages, between January and May 2017 and 2018. This is due to the fact that construction work must be done after the rainy season,which takes place in the second half of the year. It is at this stage that cereal banks are more necessary, as it is the time of harvest, when the greatest quantity of food must be properly recorded and preserved.