The World Africa  Ousmane Diagana, World Bank Vice President for West and Central Africa, justifies the "record financing" of $8.5 billion granted to the region over the next three years. Rostrum.

"Terre des hommes" par excellence, to borrow the name that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry gave to my country, Mauritania, the Sahel region has been since the dawn of time a space for meetings and mixing of peoples; trade and exchanges; production and dissemination of knowledge. It would be very reductive, even unfair, to talk about it only as some do, from the point of view of the difficulties that assail it.

Let's note that the Sahel has been integrated since the seventh century in trade with Europe and Asia. That the thousands of manuscripts in timbuktu's family libraries, some of which date back to the thirteenth century, enrich the memory of the world.

Let's not dissociate this region from the remarkable works of art it has produced and which have found their place in the world's greatest museums. Finally, let us remember that in 1236, the Charter of the Mande set out the principles of individual freedom and social peace five centuries before the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

Mentioning these few historical facts is necessary not to remember a glorious past, but to remind us that the development trajectories of nations are not always linear. Therefore, there are reasons to hope for development that brings peace and stability to the Sahel despite numerous and complex challenges.

Some, conflicts are increasing and making the bed of terrorism. Last year, the region stretching from Mauritania to Chad through Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso saw more than 1,000 violent events that claimed the lives of nearly 8,000 people and forced more than 1.5 million people to flee.

A situation aggravated by coronavirus

So remember that in this region where 80% of people live in extreme poverty (i.e. on less than $1.90 a day) and work in agriculture, the temperature rise caused by climate change, which is one and a half times faster that in the rest of the world, has dramatic consequences? More than 11 million Sahelians are threatened by famine and 40% of children under the age of 5 are stunted.

In addition, with an average of 6.4 children per woman and a population that is expected to more than double by 2050, half of whom will be under 15 years old, economic growth remains insufficient to provide adequate education, provide jobs for all, quality public services and improve the daily life of Sahelians.

The coronavirus is aggravating this situation. While the health consequences of the pandemic have so far been limited, its economic and social impact risks reversing five years of development progress in all Sahel countries. It is estimated that more than 1.3 million more people will fall into extreme poverty in 2020.

This situation weighs on the already fragile public finances of governments, which have had to increase their security spending at the expense of social services. Especially since remittances from the diaspora to Africa are expected to decline by 9% in 2020.

For all that, let's not lose sight of the daily advances that do not make the front page of newspapers. We see, for example, States mobilizing and collaborating to strengthen security, but also to preserve and share their natural resources, in particular by having set up a regional system for monitoring, alerting and responding to drought episodes.

We see more and more women taking their destiny into their own hands, accessing vocational training and working in promising sectors, such as those tractors and electricians who are shaking up the codes in villages in Chad. We see religious leaders and new laws opposing early marriage in Burkina Faso, for example, which revised its Penal Code in 2018 to end the practice.

We are encouraged by the decline in the infant mortality rate and inspired by the incredible resilience and sense of innovation of young women and men who are starting their start-ups or embarking on the food industry. Some countries are facing cyclical political crises, but elsewhere in the region, the democratic process is underway and governance is improving.

It is to support this reality and to reduce the root causes of fragility that the World Bank plans to scale up its action in the Sahel over the next three years, providing a record $8.5 billion (about $7 billion) in financing. 'euros) through its International Development Association, which helps the world's poorest countries with grants and loans at low or no interest.

This unprecedented mobilization is in addition to the exceptional financing mobilized in response to Covid-19 and the temporary suspension of debt payments facilitated by the G20. Because the World Bank will not be able to fulfill its mission to eradicate extreme poverty in Africa if it does not give priority to the Sahel.

Ensuring equitable access to vaccines

How can we ensure that these resources will be used to accelerate climate resilience? By injecting them into the modernization of agriculture and irrigation, especially in rural areas. We are funding projects in the five countries of the region with the aim of enabling 10 million farmers to use climate-smart technologies and irrigate an additional 60,000 hectares of arable land.

How to manage the current emergency caused by the pandemic while preventing conflict and fighting exclusion? Investing in social protection and food security, especially in the most critical areas, to reach the most vulnerable populations, including internally displaced people, women and youth.

How can we ensure that all these efforts are not unsustainable population growth? Continuing to fund women's empowerment and girls' schooling.

How to ensure stable jobs for the approximately 1.2 million young people who enter the labour market each year? By focusing on improving the level of education, by contributing to the development of infrastructure essential to economic activity. In particular, access to electricity and digital technology, as well as opening up the region through the substantial improvement of means of transport.

And also, supporting the development of private companies and guaranteeing the risks they take with the support of the entire World Bank Group. Of course, it will also be necessary to mobilize for equitable access to vaccines for the countries of the Sahel and their distribution as soon as they are available.

But the World Bank is only a partner and the future of the Sahel lies first and foremost in the hands of the Sahelians, especially its youth. It is together, with the support of the international community – including the Sahel Alliance – the private sector and civil society, that we will succeed in rebuilding a better future. After all, development requires constancy and willpower. He must accept to take risks and cannot do without collective action.