Author Description

West Africa is one of the poorest regions in the world. A full fifty-four percent of West Africans live below the poverty line, and if present trends continue, there will be more poor people in West Africa in 2015 than in 1990.1 At present, no West African state, except Ghana, is on trend to meet the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty and malnutrition by 2015. Approximately 37 percent of children five years or younger in West Africa are under height for their age; 28 percent are underweight; and 10 percent of children are affected by acute malnutrition. Nutritional deficits are more common in women and children, and, geographically, in the Sahel states and the drier northern areas of coastal countries. USAID is committed through the Feed the Future (FTF) Initiative to regain momentum in addressing persistent poverty and hunger. USAID/West Africa's overarching FTF goal is to assist countries in West Africa in achieving MDG 1, Eradicating Hunger and Extreme Poverty. To achieve MDG 1, West Africa would need to annually reduce poverty by 5.2 percent. If the region's agriculture was to grow at 6.8 percent annually, West Africa as a whole would be able to halve poverty by 2015. Such rapid growth will require a substantial increase in public and private investments to transform production for West Africa's food markets and widen access. This document represents the U.S. Government's (USG) Multi-year Strategy under FTF. It reflects a highly integrated approach spanning the areas of Agriculture, Environment, Health and Trade and Investment, which accounts for its multi-faceted nature. USAID/West Africa (WA) will avail itself of the staff, expertise, and financial resources of these four offices to design and implement an interdisciplinary program that attacks poverty and food insecurity from a variety of angles.