Malnutrition in the OIC Member
Countries: A Trap for Poverty
1995. The aims of the nutrition forum are to bring together all stakeholders working on
nutrition issues from the 15 member states of ECOWAS.
The Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) is
supposed to be the technical arm of ECOWAP, however because CILSS has two member states
(Chad and Mauritania, both OIC countries) who are not members of ECOWAP they have sought
to maintain their autonomy so they can also act on behalf of member states who are not part of
ECOWAP. CILSS specifically focuses on ensuring collective food security within the region
(Notenbaert, Massawe, and Herrero 2010). CILSS is largely dependent on donor funding (in
2015, 94% of its budget came from donor funds) (Crola, de Miguel, and Cortes 2015).
Community ofSahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD)
OICMember countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt. Guinea-Bissau,
Ivory Coast, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Togo,
Tunisia.
The objective of CEN-SAD is to provide an economic union for its members and to adopt
measures to support the economic integration of the region including free movement of
people, goods and services. The focus of the community grouping focuses on free trade and
harmonisation of sectoral policies security and the environment rather than nutrition or
health policies (“CEN-SAD - Harmonisation of Sectoral Policies, United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa”2016].
The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) has a 10-years programme of
Agricultural Transformation for Food Security and Nutrition (PCD-TASAN). This draws on
analysis of previous initiatives and suggests a “change in paradigm”. The new programme aims
to cluster family farms in order to improve integration within the agricultural sector. This new
policy makes almost no mention of ECOWAS's policies even though the projects cover the same
areas (Crola, de Miguel, and Cortes 2015).
Assessment ofWest African Nutrition Policies
A recent (2016] assessment of ECOWAS's implementation of the regional agricultural policy
sought to understand the impact of the regional policies on nutrition. The review found that
the policy had been effective in reducing levels of food insecurity in the region. More remains
to be done, however, as at least 25 million people in the region are still food insecure. Current
causes of food insecurity include increased demand for food due to population pressure and
increasing urbanisation and a growing middle class, leaving the poor more vulnerable to food
insecurity and undernutrition (Seki, Sablah, and Bendech 2016). Poverty is declining, but
remains high in the region. There is strong evidence that agricultural development is
particularly linked to poverty reduction and increases the incomes of the poorest. Agricultural
investment has helped with poverty reduction but more needs to be done.
While ECOWAS, as a region, met MDG1, with a decline in rates of undernourishment from 24%
in 1990 to 10% in 2014, only seven out of fifteen countries have met the MDG1. These
statistics also hide important variations within countries and at household level, where food
insecurity remains a major problem in several OIC/ ECOWAS countries including Burkina Faso
and Senegal (Seki, Sablah, and Bendech 2016).
55