I’m tasked with dealing with the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Nowhere worries me more than the Sahel. I fear the region is very close to a tipping point. I'm at @sciencespo discussing with students why we need to care for #SahelNow. My remarks: https://bit.ly/34SFaKj  1/8

Next week the UN, together with @GermanyDiplo, @DanishMFA, & the @eu_echo will host a major conference on the central Sahel. Leaders from the region and around the world will come together to pledge funds and make concrete policy commitments. 2/8

As of today, most public policy efforts, at both national and international levels, are treating symptoms rather than their causes. This is a surefire recipe for failure. 3/8

Right now, people who live in the six Sahelian countries I’ve mentioned find themselves at a true epicenter of conflict and insecurity, weak governance, chronic underdevelopment and poverty, demographic pressures, and climate change. 4/8

The humanitarian system - UN agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent family and local and international NGOs - is amazingly effective at getting help to the people who need it most. Without aid, millions more would die each year. 5/8

But I have come to realize more and more that humanitarian aid can only be a band-aid on a much deeper wound. And right now, the wound is growing faster than the band-aid. 6/8

The people of the Sahel deserve a much better future than current projections illustrate. If we fail to effectively address the drivers of humanitarian need, the consequences in the next decade & beyond will be far-reaching for the countries themselves, the region & the world.

Public policy& donor investment has to address the causes, not merely respond to the symptoms.
The region's decision makers must take responsibility, above all legitimate national & local authorities.
Unless this happens,the situation will get worse.We have no time to lose.