Details

“Evidence is crucial to successful policymaking. However, in many low and middle-income countries, policy makers lack the capacity to effectively access, appraise and apply research when making decisions.”

This was the starting assumption behind the Building Capacity to Use Research Evidence (BCURE) programme – a £15.7 million initiative funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) from 2013–17. This report presents the findings of the three-year realist evaluation of BCURE.

Published 15 May 2018

Between 1 January and 30 April 2018, 1,731 children arrived in Italy by sea, including 1,439 unaccompanied and separated children (UASC). The numbers of UASC arrivals this year so far have considerably decreased compared to the same period last year, when 5,190 UASC reached Italian shores. However, their proportion among sea arrivals (15%) remains comparable to the first four months of 2017.

UASC arriving by sea in the first four months of 2018 most commonly originate from Eritrea (353), Tunisia (293), Guinea (120), and Côte d'Ivoire (105). UASC from these four nationalities combined represent 61% of all UASC sea arrivals in 2018 so far. While Eritrean UASC were the most common UASC group disembarking in 2017, while Guinean and Ivoirian UASC were also numerous last year. However, high numbers of Tunisian UASC are a rather newer trend: in the first four months of 2017, only 10 had reached Italian shores. During the first four months of the year, significant numbers of UASC arrivals also originate from Mali (86), Somalia (58), Sudan (55), Sierra Leone (52), The Gambia (49), and Pakistan (42).

32 Education staff supported by UNHCR in Bahn High Extension School, Tchien Public School and Little Wlebo Extension Elementary School

407 Birth certificates have been shared with refugee parents from January-April 2018

11,263 Total number of refugees remaining in Liberia

CONTEXT HIGHLIGHTS

• Liberia experiences an increase in cases of homicide

According to reports, April 2018 has recorded 14 incidents of homicide across Liberia, including a reporter, mostly committed by youth population. The majority of the incidents occurred in Monrovia, where there is a high presence of police. Law enforcement agencies have arrested and charged some of the culprits.

• UN Security Council renews support for Liberia

On 19 April 2018, the United Security Council (UNSC) renewed its commitment to support the peace process in Liberia. The UNSC made the renewed commitment following its final meeting about security situations in the country.
The Council also received the final report of the Secretary General on the United Nations Mission in Liberia. Presenting the report, Assistant Secretary General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions, Alexander Zuev, described the moment as a historic milestone.
Zuev urged partners to remain engaged in efforts to finalise and implement the national development agenda, which will align with the Sustainable Development Goals.

While Africa has seen tremendous progress towards access to immunization, one in five African children still lack access to all the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended life-saving vaccines, a threat not only to the health of families, but also to the strength of economies and equity in African societies.

The Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) 2011-2020, endorsed by Member States during the May 2012 World Health Assembly, has set ambitious targets to improve access to immunization and tackle vaccine-preventable diseases. This responsibility has been translated into firm commitments in February 2016, through the signature of the Addis Declaration on Immunization (ADI) by African Ministers and subsequently endorsed by the Heads of States from across Africa at the 28th African Union Summit held in January 2017. This commitment from the highest level of government comes as a catalyst to immunization efforts on the continent to deliver on the promise of universal immunization coverage.

With the GVAP 2020 targets approaching and the ADI roadmap being implemented, accelerated efforts are required to improve immunization systems. In parallel, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and Gavi the Vaccine Alliance transitions require a plan to mitigate the consequences of this imminent and drastic reduction in resources.

Despite a decrease in rainfall, flooding continues in East Africa.

1. Due to poor rainfall since November western Namibia is in a severe drought. Conditions may worsen as limited rain is forecast next week.

2. In southwestern Madagascar, an uneven and inadequate rainfall distribution since the start of the rainfall season has resulted in severe drought. Drought conditions are likely to persist.

3. Insufficient rain since January has resulted in large moisture deficits and below-average vegetation conditions over portions of northwestern Angola.

4. Below-average rain over the past four weeks has led to large moisture deficits and poor ground conditions over portions of the Nampula province of northern Mozambique.

5. Poorly-distributed rain since late February has resulted in abnormal dryness across central and northeastern Ethiopia.

6. A slow onset to seasonal rainfall across the southern Gulf of Guinea countries has led to strengthening moisture deficits throughout the region.

7. Several consecutive weeks of enhanced rainfall over many parts of Kenya, southern Somalia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda has led to flooding. Rainfall is expected for the next week, continuing risk of flooding.

8. Several consecutive weeks of below-average rainfall in Guinea and Sierra Leone has resulted in dry conditions and degraded ground conditions.

9. Heavy rain is expected to track through the Gulf of Aden to coastal Yemen, northern Somalia, Djibouti, and Ethiopia.

Sierra Leone introduced the ban in 2015 after a rise in rape, abuse and poverty during the deadly Ebola outbreak.

By Nellie Peyton

DAKAR, May 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A West African court is to examine a ban on pregnant girls going to school in Sierra Leone in a landmark case that campaigners say could strengthen girls' rights across the region.

Sierra Leone introduced the ban in 2015 after a rise in rape, abuse and poverty during the deadly Ebola outbreak fuelled a spike in teenage pregnancies.

The law increased the stigma surrounding pregnant girls and set thousands back in their studies, said women's rights group Equality Now, which filed the case with partner organisations.

A spokesman for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court in Nigeria's capital Abuja confirmed the case had been filed and said it would give Sierra Leone 30 days to respond.

"This is a really big deal," said Sabrina Mahtani, a researcher at rights group Amnesty International.

"I think this is an important opportunity for the ECOWAS court to set down in case law what the rights and obligations are of states regarding the rights of pregnant girls," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The Sierra Leone government said at the time of the ban allowing pregnant girls to go to school would undermine their ability to do well in class, expose them to ridicule and encourage others to get pregnant.

Mahtani said the issue had also surfaced in other African countries such as Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, although not all had explicit bans.

An official in Sierra Leone's education ministry said she was not yet aware that a case had been filed, but that the government would defend their policy.

"I am sure they will defend the ban," said Olive Musa, Sierra Leone's director of non-formal education, by phone.

"There was an alternative programme for (pregnant girls), and some of them went back to school after a period of time, so I don't know why they have taken this to the ECOWAS court."

Sierra Leone's government spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Equality Now said they filed the case because years of advocacy and discussions with the government had not been fruitful.

"If there is no intervention, this will result in a lifetime of illiteracy, ignorance, poverty and extreme violations for these girls," Equality Now and partners said in a statement.

(Reporting by Nellie Peyton, Editing by Claire Cozens. Please credit Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)

Key messages

• The European Union, together with its Member States, provided close to €2 billion in financial aid to help West Africa contain and recover from the outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) that devastated the region in 2014-15. The following year, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end of transmission in West Africa.

• During the outbreak in West Africa, the Commission coordinated EU support and provided humanitarian aid, technical expertise, longer-term development assistance, funding for vaccine research and evacuation means for international humanitarian workers.

• Activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism enabled the rapid, coordinated deployment of emergency supplies and experts offered by the Member States.

• On 8 May 2018, a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease was declared by the Minister of Public Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The outbreak occurred in a remote and hard to reach area and is so far limited to locations in the province of Equateur in western DRC.

• As an immediate response, the European Commission announced a package of €1.7 million in emergency aid. The aid contains €1.5 million for logistics support to WHO, €200 000 to support life-saving interventions with the Congolese Red Cross and the air service 'ECHO Flight' to transport medical experts, emergency staff as well as equipment to the affected areas.

European Commission - Press release

Brussels, 18 May 2018

Education in emergencies helps millions of children in need across the world.

The Commission has adopted a new policy framework today that aims to increase humanitarian funding for education in emergencies and crises to 10% of its overall humanitarian aid budget as of 2019. The policy also aims to bring children caught up in humanitarian crises back to learning within 3 months.

“With humanitarian crises growing across the world, millions of children are at risk of growing up without education. We have a responsibility to act to prevent lost generations. Our new policy will allow us to help children better and quicker than before, even in the most difficult situations. To do so, we will strengthen cooperation with other donors and partners and better link our short and long term assistance. The EU is now a global leader in bringing children back to school. 8% of our humanitarian aid budget goes to education in emergencies this year, 8 times up from 2015. We aim to reach 10% in 2019," said Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides speaking in Brussels today at the launch of the EU's Communication on education in emergencies and protracted crises.

The new policy framework sets out four key priorities: improving access to learning opportunities for children and young people, providing quality education and training, ensuring that education is protected from attacks, and introducing rapid and innovative education responses.

Today's decision is a milestone in the Juncker Commission's commitment to support millions of children whose access to education is being disrupted due to conflict, forced displacement, violence, climate change and disasters. The EU's largest ever humanitarian programme for education in emergencies worth €84 million is currently the Conditional Cash Transfer for Education programme in Turkey that helps put 290,000 refugee children into school.

Background

Across the world access to education is denied to millions of children by conflict, forced displacement, violence, climate change, and disasters. Syria, Iraq, Yemen, occupied Palestinian territory, Afghanistan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo are among some 35 crisis-affected countries where nearly 75 million school-aged children experience disruption to their education. Among refugees, just over half of the children of primary school age attend school, while less than a quarter of the equivalent age group are in secondary school and merely 1 per cent in tertiary education.

The EU has become a global leader in education in emergencies since the global average of humanitarian aid to education is less than 3%. The Commission has consistently stepped up funding. For example, from funding projects in only 6 countries in 2012 from its humanitarian budget, the latter has now reached projects in a total of 52 countries worldwide. Overall, more than 5.5 million girls and boys have benefited from this funding of some €265 million since 2016. In addition, more than € 1.5 billion has been mobilised by the EU in the context of the Syrian crisis since 2011. This has been done through a range of EU instruments and mechanisms (the European Neighbourhood Instrument, humanitarian assistance, the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace, as well as the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, which also ensures educational opportunities for host countries under pressure like Lebanon and Jordan, and the EU Facility for refugees in Turkey). The ERASMUS+ Programme continues to be open to Syrian students for study periods abroad and to Syrian universities for capacity building and modernisation of curricula.

Under today's proposal the EU will strengthen the links between tools and instruments available under humanitarian aid and development cooperation. This will build on the substantial contribution EU development assistance already provides to education projects in fragile and crisis affected countries and regions across the world, including through multilateral financing to global initiatives such as the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait.

This 21-page document provides presentation slides from a course to help participants describe the signs, symptoms, and transmission of Ebola disease; list preventive and control measures; and describe main public health concerns during an Ebola disease outbreak. It also discusses the geographic distribution of Ebola, and Ebola disease laboratory diagnosis.

Depuis le début de l’année 2018, une campagne généralisée d’arrestations arbitraires, suivies d’expulsions collectives et massives, a frappé l’ensemble des migrant-e-s originaires de l’Afrique subsaharienne, se trouvant sur le territoire national. Les migrant-e-s de diverses nationalités africaines (des Guinéens, Burkinabès, Béninois, Maliens, Ivoiriens, Sénégalais, Nigérians, Libériens, Camerounais ou Sierra-Léonais) sont refoulé-e-s aux frontières, sans aucune décision de justice et au risque de leurs vies.

Alors, qu’il n’existe aucun accord de réadmission ou de demandes formulées par les gouvernements de ces pays pour d’éventuels retours de leurs ressortissants, plus de 1500 migrants-es ont déjà été expulsé-e-s juste ces dernières semaines, lors d’opérations entachées d’abus et en flagrantes contradictions avec le droit international des droits humains.

Contrairement au discours officiel qui présente ces opérations en « rapatriements à titre humanitaire » ; les migrants-es ciblé-e-s par cette campagne sont en majorité des « travailleurs migrant-e-s ». Seul le Niger, a sollicité dès 2014 dans le cadre d’un accord "opaque" avec le gouvernement algérien, le retour des ses ressortissant-e-s dont la majorité sont des femmes et des enfants.

Nous, organisations non gouvernementales, défenseur-e-s et militant-e-s des droits humains, journalistes et acteurs de la société civile, signataires de ce présent appel, dénonçons fermement ces opérations d’expulsions arbitraires, ciblant des milliers de migrant-e-s subsaharien-ne-s, parmi eux des personnes en extrême vulnérabilité.

Par conséquent, nous appelons expressément le gouvernement algérien :

1- Au respect, de ses engagements contenus au titre des conventions internationales relatives, aux droits des travailleurs migrant-e-s et aux droits des réfugié-e-s, ratifiées par l’Algérie, ainsi qu’aux recommandations de l’Examen périodique universel et du Comité des Travailleurs Migrants (CWM), formulées récemment par les Nations Unis.

2- À mettre en place en urgence, un cadre légal national respectant les droits des travailleurs migrant-e-s et une loi d’asile à même de permettre l’accès au statut de réfugié-e, et de garantir une protection face à toutes formes d’abus ou d’exploitation.

3- À cesser de faire l’amalgame entre la lutte contre le trafic et le terrorisme, toute légitime quand il s’agit de la sécurité nationale, et respecter les droits des réfugié-e-s et des travailleurs migrant-e-s.

4- À cesser les opérations d’expulsions collectives des travailleurs migrant-e-s et des demandeur-e-s d’asile.

A huge overhaul of Sierra Leone's education system is underway. Broken by the decade-long civil war and then battered by the effects of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, it has been slowly recovering.

Now a raft of reforms have been brought in by new President Julius Maada Bio. A promise of free primary and secondary schooling for all was part of the campaign that helped him sweep to victory last month. Now he has announced that will start in September.

He also revealed that education's share of the annual spending budget will be almost doubled from 11% to 20%.

There was thunderous applause when Bio outlined his plans at the state opening of parliament - and the proposed improvements to education have been widely welcomed across Sierra Leone.

"The amount of excitement and relief families have expressed is beyond imagination. Education is one of the biggest problems that our country is facing," said Bamine Charlie Boye, a Global Youth Ambassador for Theirworld from Sierra Leone.

"This announcement was widely received by all - regardless of political party affiliation - because many parents who can’t afford to pay their children’s tuition fees will now have the opportunity to send their children to school."

Bio's announcement is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals target of every country providing free, quality education for every child by 2030. The increase on education spending to 20% is also what the Education Commission says developing countries should be aiming for.

As well as free schooling and increased budgets, the president said there is a need for more qualified teachers in Sierra Leone, where only 42% of primary teachers are qualified.

A global fund that provides rapid humanitarian aid for overlooked crises, is marking the second anniversary of the World Humanitarian Summit by sharing the impact of its 4th year, through its new annual report released today.

The Start Fund fills a critical gap in humanitarian financing. It pools funding from donors for immediate release for underfunded small to medium scale crises, spikes in chronic humanitarian crises, and to act in anticipation of impending crises.

In its fourth year alone the Start Fund spent over £8.8 million responding to the unmet needs of 2,050,546 people across 44 crises in 31 countries.

Examples of Start Fund projects implemented in its fourth year (April 2017 to March 2018), include:

• Building infrastructure to alleviate the severity of anticipated flooding in Tajikistan
• Providing safe spaces in evacuation centres for children displaced by volcanic activity in Vanuatu;
• Enabling people with disabilities to regain their freedom to move by providing immediate mobility aids after flooding in Nepal.
• Sending money quickly to help people after mudslides devastated communities in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where, despite receiving a high level of media attention, international funding was slow to arrive.
• Awarding funding to three agencies to implement life-saving rapid response programmes, after cases of cholera in Yemen led to authorities announcing a state of emergency.

The Start Fund also responded to five of the world’s 12 most forgotten crises in 2017. One such response was in the Philippines where violent clashes began in Marawi in May 2017 leaving 100,000 people in urgent need of assistance. Within days the Start Fund was alerted and a local project selection committee in Manila awarded three agencies a total of £257,721 for immediate response. The Start Fund was faster than any other funding mechanism.

In 2017 the Start Fund launched the Start Fund Bangladesh – the first national Start Fund – and this was activated three times within its first four months.

Key stats from the Start Fund’s 4th year include;

• It took on only average 65 hours from crisis alert to the award of funding, which makes the Start Fund the fastest humanitarian pool fund in the world.
• The number of crises receiving funding in anticipation of crises increased by 67%
• 30% of projects delivered cash programming
• 39% of projects were implemented with at least one local partner

Ciarán Cannon, T.D. Ireland’s Minister of State for International Development and the Diaspora, said: “Ireland is proud to have been the first donor to the Start Fund. We are also proud of the Start Fund’s enabling of frontline organisations to deliver aid to overlooked crises quickly and effectively. The Start Network helps to convert the Grand Bargain commitments, made at the World Humanitarian Summit by Ireland and other stakeholders, into real tangible support for the world’s most vulnerable people.”

Christos Papaioannou, Head of Funds at Start Network, said: “All data and evidence show that the Start Fund works. Start Network members and their local partners have provided fast and effective humanitarian aid to over two million people last year. As we will be expanding our network, the humanitarian crises that the Start Fund could support will likely increase. I can only think of how many more people this highly effective and efficient mechanism has the potential to reach in times of humanitarian emergencies. We want more humanitarian donors to join and invest in this vital global public good.”

The Start Fund is an initiative of the Start Network, a global network of aid agencies working to deliver more effective aid, harnessing the power and knowledge of the network to make faster and better decisions to help people affected by crises. It is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and the European Commission.

Read the Start Fund’s Annual Report 2017-2018.

Ends

Notes to Editors

For further information contact:
Helen James, Head of Brand, Communications and Digital, Start Network, +44 (0)7887853071 Helen.James@startnetwork.org

Start Network www.startnetwork.org Twitter: @startnetwork
The Start Network is made up of 42 national and international aid agencies from five continents. Their aim is to deliver effective aid, harnessing the power and knowledge of the network to make faster and better decisions to help people affected by crises.

The Start Fund is the first multi-donor pooled fund managed exclusively by NGOs and was created in April 2014 to fill a gap in humanitarian funding. The Start Fund is backed by UK aid, the UK Department for International Development, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Irish Aid, the Irish Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Belgian Development Cooperation and the European Commission's Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department.

Members of Start Network: Action Against Hunger (ACF); ACTED; Action Aid; Adeso; Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA); ARDD-Legal Aid; CADENA; CAFOD; Care International; Caritas Bangladesh; Caritas Sri Lanka; Catholic Relief Services (CRS); Christian Aid; Community World Service Asia; Concern Worldwide; Cordaid; Doctors of the World; Dorcas; Goal; Humanity & Inclusion; Help Age International; International Medical Corps; International Rescue Committee (IRC); Islamic Relief Worldwide; Mines Advisory Group; Mercy Corps; Muslim Aid; Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC); Oxfam; PARC; Plan International; PRO-VIDA; Qatar Charity; Relief International; Save the Children; Solidarites International; Tearfund; Trocaire; War Child; Welthungerhilfe; World Jewish Relief; World Vision

Dakar, May 23 (BNA): The embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Senegal has distributed more than 10,000 food baskets for eligible families and needy segments of society in Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leon, Cape Verde and Cote d'Ivoire.

Part of the embassy's annual Iftar Saem Programme, the food parcels are funded by the Khalifa bin Zayed AL Nahyan Foundation, Emirates Red Cross, Dubai Charity Association, Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, Dar El-Ber Society and Ahmad bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Charitable and Humanitarian Works.

The aid has been funneled out through municipalities, mosques, orphanages and schools under the supervision of the UAE Ambassador to Senegal Mohamed Salem Alrashdi, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

F.K.N.

This Annual Report highlights the impact of the Joint UNDP-DPA Programme on Building National Capacities for Conflict Prevention. In 2017, the Joint Programme provided support to more than 60 countries, including through the deployment of Peace and Development Advisors. Peace and Development Advisors are at the forefront of the Programme’s efforts, they support the UN system to effectively adapt and respond to complex political situations and identify areas for preventive action. The Joint Programme is widely recognized for providing thought leadership on conflict prevention, and is considered a unique example of how the political and development pillars of the UN can successfully work together in pursuit of preventing violent conflict and sustaining peace.

This report provides an overview of the variety of contexts in which the Programme has engaged in, with notable results achieved strengthening the role of local actors in mediation and dialogue in El Salvador, Nigeria, and Ukraine; supporting local stakeholders to prevent violent extremism in the Philippines, and Tunisia; enabling conflict prevention efforts across borders in the South Caucasus, Bangladesh and Myanmar; as well as establishing and consolidating national infrastructures for peace in Malawi and Lesotho.

Summary

Wars destroy more than physical capital. When neighbours fight neighbours, this severs social ties, undermining social capital within the community. To recover from wars and rebuild social capital, many countries undertake truth and reconciliation efforts. We examine the consequences of one such programme in post-conflict Sierra Leone, which was designed and implemented by a non-governmental organisation called Fambul Tok.
The programme sets up forums in sections, or groups of 10 villages, where victims detail war atrocities and perpetrators confess to war crimes. We use random assignment to study its impact across 100 sections, surveying 2,200 individuals in these areas. The short-run effects are measured nine months after the forums are held, as part of the intervention. In a subsample of sections, we are also able to gauge longer-run effects, 31 months after the forums take place.
We find that the reconciliation programme had both positive and negative consequences.
On the one hand, the programme led to greater forgiveness of those who perpetrated violence during the civil war. Furthermore, respondents were found to be more trusting of ex-combatants, and social networks became stronger as people sought more help and advice from each other. Individuals residing in treated villages also became more community oriented in their behaviour: they joined more organisations like parent– teacher associations and contributed more to public goods.
On the other hand, the reconciliation process undermined psychological well-being and left lasting psychological damage. In particular, individuals in treated communities scored worse on three psychological measures: anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, all of these effects, both psychological and societal, persisted for nearly three years after the intervention. These results suggest that confronting past war experiences may prove traumatic by reopening old wounds.
Taken together, our findings show that reconciliation can promote forgiveness and bring community members together, while also reducing psychological well-being. Our findings suggest that reconciliation processes should be redesigned in ways that reduce their psychological costs, while retaining their positive societal benefits.

IOM works with national and local authorities and local partners to identify and understand migration movements in West and Central Africa. Population flow monitoring (FMP) is an activity that quantifies and qualifies flows, migrant profiles, trends and migration routes at a given point of entry, transit or exit.
Since February 2016, IOM Niger has been monitoring migration flows at two points in the Agadez region of Niger. Flow monitoring points are found at two points in the region of Agadez in Niger,Séguédine and Arlit. The data collected provides an overview of migratory movements in the region. The information is collected from primary sources. However, this monitoring of migration flows does not replace border surveillance. Similarly, the results presented in this report do not reflect the total flow through the Agadez region due to the vastness of the Sahara Desert which covers more than 700 000 km2 and has a multitude of roads crossing the region.

The daily average of the number of individuals observed at the two Niger flow monitoring points increased by 14% compared to March.

During this month, Agadez, Sebha, Arlit, Assamaka, Tamanrasset, Nguezzam and Algiers were the main departure cities of flows transiting through Niger's two FMPs, while Arlit, Agadez, Sebha and Assamaka were the main destination cities.
The number of individuals in the outgoing flow has known four important peaks during the month.

Individuals transiting through the FMPs travelled mainly by car (71%), as well as by bus (18%), by truck (7%), or by other means of transportation, including motorcycle or by camel (5%). Nigeriens, Nigerians and Malians were the main nationalities observed during this month

METHODOLOGY : Population Flow Monitoring (FMP) is an investigative work that aims to highlight areas that are particularly vulnerable to cross-border and intraregional migration. Areas of high mobility are identified across the country. DTM teams then conduct assessments at the local level to identify strategic transit points. Enumerators collect data from key informants at the flow monitoring point: they may be staff at bus stations, police or customs officials, bus or truck drivers, or migrants themselves. A basic questionnaire mixed with direct observations makes it possible to collect disaggregated data by gender and nationality. In Niger, the flow monitoring points were chosen after consultation with national and local stakeholders involved in migration management, according to the locations and characteristics of the flows transiting through the Sahara Desert. The data collection is done at times where the flows are the most important.

LIMITS : The data used in this analysis are estimates and represent only a part of the existing flows on these axes : Agadez - Arlit - Assamaka, and Agadez - Séguédine - Sebha. The spatial and temporal coverage of these surveys is partial and, although the collection is done daily and during periods when flows are important. Finally, no information is collected on existing flows outside the time slots covered. Vulnerability data is based on direct observation by the enumerators and should be understood only as an indication.

Freetown – IOM, the UN Migration Agency in Sierra Leone, together with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), last week presided over the graduation ceremony of the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) course designed by the Infection Control Africa Network (ICAN) and funded by USAID.

The objective of this first university-level IPC course in West Africa is to ensure that clinical students receive a government-approved course before they embark on their practical experience. The need for such training was widely acknowledged as a significant constraint when combating the Ebola virus.

From 2014 to 2016, the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak weakened the healthcare system in Sierra Leone. As a result of exposure to this disease, 436 of the 3,956 EVD fatalities were healthcare workers, a significant blow to the country’s struggling healthcare workforce while battling other diseases such as malaria, cholera, typhoid, STIs/HIV/AIDS, respiratory tract infections, Lassa fever, maternal and child mortality, and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

“I strongly encourage this first class of clinical graduates to multiply what you have learned in this course and use it in your everyday work and in all aspects of community life,” said Sanusi Savage, IOM Sierra Leone Head of Office.

As part of the USD 3 million contribution by the US to help strengthen Sierra Leone’s healthcare system, US Ambassador Maria E. Brewer said at the graduation ceremony that her government has contributed to “strengthening the healthcare system and supporting the people of Sierra Leone to protect them from any disease outbreak through preventative measures such as IPC.”

Brewer congratulated the 130 alumni and encouraged them to use this training “to promote simple, but lifesaving health practices” for themselves, their patients and their communities.

“This training has given me the confidence and authority to be an ambassador of infection prevention and control, not only in my community but all of Africa,” declared alumnus Kumba Moiwo.

For more information please contact Florence Kim, IOM Regional Office for West and Central Africa, Tel: +221 78 620 62 13, Email: fkim@iom.int

The United States Agency for International Development / Food for Peace (USAID / FFP) supported Cash Transfer Programming (CTP) response to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone and Liberia greatly contributed to the recovery of affected communities and households. The CTP response provided a safety net to assist targeted communities to deal with transient food insecurity and went beyond achieving this objective by also contributing to the recovery of livelihoods eroded by the Ebola crisis.

Over a period of six to approximately 31 months, and in a highly challenging context of poor road and telecommunications networks, seven USAID / FFP implementing partners in Sierra Leone and Liberia came together with Government focal points, service providers and community leaders to successfully provide monthly or quarterly cash payments to over 120,000 households.

This analytical document takes a consolidated and comprehensive look at the food security and livelihood outcomes of the CTP Ebola response, especially from the perspectives of the communities that benefitted from the cash transfers. It seeks to examine the short and medium term impacts of mainly unrestricted and unconditional cash transfers and complementary activities on household food security, livelihoods, and resilience, and identifies critical lessons to inform future programming decisions in similar contexts.