Hazy days

The last few days have seen a change in the weather here, instead of clear blue skies and rising temperatures we've had a hazy sky, which has in turn cooled things down. The haze is apparently due to the Harmattan wind, which brings with it fine dust/sand particles from the Sahara. It’s not windy at the moment, but I guess the wind a couple of weeks ago did its job and now we're left with the dust blocking out the sun, and nothing to blow it away. Anyway it seems to be slowly clearing up, so hopefully back to sunshine in a day or two.

It's hard to believe that in only a few weeks time my assignment here in West Africa will be finished and I'll be back to the more familiar, if more unpredictable, weather of the UK. I read recently a long range weather forecast that suggested a 'Barbecue summer' for the UK, possibly the warmest on record, but I seem to remember the same being said last year, and it was a terrible summer - so who knows what'll happen.

As we get into the final few weeks of my assignment I will start the process of winding down the work here – I’m hopeful that the projects that now have some momentum behind them will continue, particularly the Voucher Track project, but at the moment its not clear who will be taking over after I leave. It’s also not clear what I’ll be doing once I return to the UK, so that’s something else I need to start working on!

Food crisis in Niger

The main focus for WFP within the West Africa region at the moment is on Niger where a severe food crisis is looming. Niger is very poor (174th out of 179 countries on the UNDP's human development index) and also suffers from political instability - with yet another coup just a few weeks ago meaning the country is again in the hands of the military. In addition there has been a poor harvest in the whole Sahel region which has hit Niger particularly hard with the result that 20,000 children in the country are already being treated for malnutrition, and another 200,000 are at risk of severe malnutrition. So while the main focus for WFP continues to be Haiti, it’s important to remember that there are other countries out there that desperately need help.

Here in Senegal I am still working on moving forward with the Food Voucher project. A programme is launching soon in Pikine just outside Dakar to provide 20,000 households with food vouchers to help them overcome the problems of high food prices. The programme will use SMS messaging from the retailer back to WFP as a means of reducing the potential for fraud and to help ensure efficient targeting of WFP’s resources on those most in need. I’m planning to use the experience from this programme, along with similar programmes being run in other parts of the world such as Burkina Faso, Zambia and Syria, to feed into the design of a solution which can be used globally by WFP. At the moment each new voucher programme is developing a new solution – a good way to learn what works and what doesn’t , but not a very efficient use of limited resources in the long run.

On a slightly different note – a happy St Patrick's day to one and all. Its a truth universally acknowledged that every town in the world has an Irish Bar - however Dakar seems to be the exception that proves the rule - or at least I've yet to find it, but maybe I'll do a bit more 'research' tonight.

On the airwaves, but short on gas

The emergency in Haiti continues to dominate the WFP world – it’s a massive operation and people are being pulled in from all over the globe, including some from our office here in Dakar, to help bring it together and get food out to those affected.
On the 'home front' I've been continuing to work on the various IT projects within the West Africa region, with my main focus still being on the Food Voucher project, which I've mentioned in previous blogs. This is becoming an increasingly important means of providing aid, but its still in its early days for WFP. In a recent conference call with some of the WFP IT senior management team in Rome I outlined the proposed solution and I'm hopeful that we can get it adopted as the basis for a global solution for these kind of programmes.
I also spoke about the Food Voucher project in an interview I did back in mid-December with an English journalist based here in Dakar. The interview was for Voice of America and has just been broadcast - you can catch it on www1.voanews.com/english/news/africa/west/. Never having done anything like this before I was unsure what to expect, but it was all quite painless, although the editing process has managed to make it sound like we are already running a pilot with the mobile phone solution for Burkina Faso, which is not actually the case.
Outside of work - well I'm still very busy, although this week I've tried to keep fairly low key. On Sunday my wife, Raksha, and daughter, Naina, are coming over to Senegal. Naina is only here for a short while, so most of the time will probably be in Dakar and around, but then in mid-February Raksha and I are planning a trip down to Casamance in the very south of Senegal which I'm really looking forward to.
On a final note - Senegal has run out of petrol! Apparently a tanker is due in on Friday, but in the meantime if your car or motorbike runs on petrol (as opposed to diesel which is still in supply) then its fingers crossed you don't run out in the next couple of days as there's none to be had anywhere. Luckily I managed to fill up my scooter just before the pumps dried up, but had to drive half way across town to get it and there was a near riot on the forecourt with drivers desperate to fill up before it all disappeared. Oh well, that's Africa I guess.

Distribution of food vouchers in Ouagadougou

WFP’s mission is to provide food aid, and traditionally this has meant the direct provision of basic foodstuffs to those in need. However alternative methods of providing assistance are now being developed, including the provision of vouchers which can be exchanged for food at local stores. This is useful where the problem is high food prices rather than a shortage of food. Burkina has been running such a programme since earlier this year and yesterday I went to see the programme in action in Ouagadougou (the programme is also running in Burkina’s second city Bobo-Dioulasso). First we went to a distribution centre, where the beneficiaries come to collect their vouchers from a WFP partner. On arrival we found a busy atmosphere, with people queuing up to receive their vouchers. The process was all very smooth and efficient, but rather labour intensive, with documents being checked and information being entered on forms at various stages, following which the beneficiaries must sign (by thumbprint) that they have received their vouchers. In most cases the beneficiaries then go straight to one of the designated local stores where they can exchange their vouchers for staple food items and soap. Each voucher is worth 1500 cfa (about $3 US). We then visited one of the designated stores which was again very busy, with people queuing, first to hand in heir vouchers, and then to collect and take away the food. It was noticeable how busy this little shop was compared to others in the area – accepting the WFP vouchers is clearly good business for the shopkeepers!



In the evening a WFP colleague, Romuald, took me to a local restaurant. This was set up in the car park of the football stadium (Stade Municipal) – the setting was a bit bizarre, but the food was very good. It took about 45 minutes to prepare the meal, so after ordering we went for a drive around some of he sites of Ouaga. When we got back the meal was all ready, but there were no tables - this was soon sorted and we sat down toour meal of fish (Carp I think) with peppers and a side plate of Yam - delicious. See pic of Romuald about to tuck in.

I’m now back in Dakar after a long day’s traveling via Abidjan. The trip to Burkina was not only interesting but also very enjoyable and I hope I’ll have the chance to visit again sometime.

First impressions of Ouagadougou

On Saturday evening I dropped Raksha off at Dakar airport at midnight, and then a few hours later I was back there to fly out myself to the capital city of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou. I arrived mid- afternoon in blistering heat and then a short drive later was in the downtown hotel. A quick swim in the pool quickly cooled me off and then set off to have a look around town. First impressions are that Ouagadougou ('Ouaga', pronounced 'Waga') is much quieter than Dakar, it has the feel of a relaxed town rather than a bustling city like Dakar. Burkina is one of the world's poorest countries - its 177th out if 182 countries in the UN Human Development Index. However Ouaga doesn't feel any more run down and poor than many other cities in the developing world and there's a lot less hassle from street vendors and beggars etc. than you get in Dakar. The main roads are busy (and well maintained), but not choked, and once off the main roads its all very quiet and peaceful.

On Monday morning I was picked up by he UN driver to take me to the office - about a two minute drive, so I think I'll be walk it from now on. It's so hot here that they have a long midday break, from 12.45 to 3pm - it makes for a long day overall, but its very nice to be able to really relax at lunch time, rather than having a quick break and straight back to work.

The main purpose of my visit is to find out more about Food Voucher Programmes and I'm hoping to be able to go and see vouchers being distributed in the next couple of days. I'm working with the head of IT here in Burkina on a proposal to use mobile phone or radio technology to support these programmes, so it will be really useful to see how they work at the moment.