Our Approach

The Sahel Analysis, Monitoring and Learning Platform (PASAS)

The Sahel Analysis, Monitoring and Learning Platform (PASAS) is a tool for the production, capitalization and dissemination of knowledge, aimed at informing the strategic and operational decisions of local and international development actors, with regard to the challenges of fragile areas in the Sahel and Lake Chad basin countries.

The Sahel and the Lake Chad basin present deep vulnerabilities and major security, political and socio-economic challenges that have been reinforced in 2017 and 2019. The gradual spillover of the Malian conflict into Burkina Faso and Niger has been matched with an upsurge in forced displacement. According to OCHA, the number of displaced persons in the sup-region increased fivefold in 2019 alone (including more than 700,000 people displaced by insecurity in one year in Burkina Faso). As a result, nearly 13 million people were affected by critical food insecurity in 2020.

Intervening in the context of crisis basins requires development actors and their partners to rethink their means of action in order to reduce vulnerabilities to crises and strengthen the resilience of territories and societies.

However, when implementing crisis response interventions in the region, the AFD, development actors and their partners are faced with increased volatility and complexity of situations, demands for speed, flexibility and quality, and limited information due to the lack of operational analyses.

The need for tools allowing a better understanding of the dynamics of crises and their evolution to guide the design of development projects adapted to the needs of the states and populations of the region and sensitive to conflict, has proved to be indispensable.
Thus, PASAS carries out situational reports, context analyses on future prospecting areas or areas not well known to development actors and comparative or capitalization studies to strengthen the operationalization of development interventions.

It also incorporates a logic of observatory of the evolution of situations and risks through contextual analysis, in order to feed effectively the decision-making aid of local and international development actors. PASAS focuses on the capitalization and production of quality studies around key issues : (1) governance and inclusive development, (2) socio-economic and political integration of marginalized groups, (3) population security and human rights promotion and (4) mediation and conflict management.

It is implemented by the IRD-ICE group whose role is (1) to produce quality knowledge in response to operational peace-building issues in the region and (2) to valorize this knowledge through two main tools: this digital platform which hosts all PASAS productions, but also those of AFD partners and actors in the Sahelian zone, and exchange conferences with development actors around the results of the studies.
 

The French development agency

The French development agency (AFD) is a public and solidarity-based financial institution and the French development policy’s central actor. It is committed to support projects that tangibly improve the daily lives of populations, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the priorities of France's external action. AFD is present in 115 countries through a network of 85 agencies and currently supports more than 4,000 development projects.

In the Sahel, AFD operates within an integrated territorial approach aimed at providing a coherent response, at the territorial level, to the multiple factors of crises and violence that affects the region. The stake is that of a spatio-temporal coordination between the different actors in order to build a common vision on targeted territories. Elaborated with the members of the Sahel Alliance and the French team within the framework of the Coalition for the Sahel, launched at the Pau Summit on 13 January 2020, this approach relies on in-depth diagnosis of local dynamics, specific assets of territories and their interdependence, as well as reinforced dialogue between different actors – which PASAS supports.

The AFD Group mobilizes its full range of tools (grants, loans and guarantees) to support economic and social development, fight against fragility in crisis contexts, and strengthen the central state and its territorial representations. Proparco, AFD's subsidiary dedicated to private sector financing, also supports the region's economic development. Expertise France is also increasingly sought after in the appraisal and implementation of the Group's projects.

All of AFD's actions in the Sahel are in line with its Grand Sahel Regional Strategy 2020-2024.

For more information : https://www.afd.fr/fr/sahel-projets-images-resultats
 

The Minka Sahel Initiative

PASAS is a platform of the Minka Sahel Initiative, launched in May 2017, as part of the Minka Peace and Resilience Fund. The Minka Sahel Initiative is France's development tool that supports peace-building efforts in the G5 Sahel countries.

It provides funding for development projects that serve the most vulnerable populations, with the objective of equitable and inclusive access to natural resources and essential services; socioeconomic integration of vulnerable groups; and support for fair, transparent and citizen-friendly institutions.

Through the Minka Sahel Initiative, AFD works in partnership within an integrated approach, in conjunction with humanitarian and development actors. This partnership dimension is essential to PASAS, which was developed in response to a request from the G5 Sahel and in connection with the members of the Sahel Alliance.

PASAS is helping to strengthen collaboration and synergies between technical and financial partners in the region in the realm of analytical production, with the aim of strengthening the coherence of actions and building resilience to recurrent crisis in the Sahel.

For more information : Minka : Fonds Paix et Résilience | AFD - Agence Française de Développement

The IRD-ICE group and the PASAS project team

PASAS is implemented by the IRD-ICE group, which benefits from varied and complementary know-hows, renowned scientific expertise, a unique network of partners and historical knowledge of the Sahelian environment and actors.

The Research Institute for Development (IRD) is a multidisciplinary French public institution under the dual tutelage of the Ministries of Higher Education, Research and Innovation as well as Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Its mission is to promote and carry out scientific research that contributes to the economic, social and cultural progress of developing countries and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals set out in the 2030 Agenda. PASAS has been steered from the IRD Representation in Mali.

International Consulting Expertise EEIG (ICE EEIG) is a European Economic Interest group specialising in institutional support in several areas, with complementary expertise across Europe. Within the grouping, ICE France is the one in charge of the inception and implementation of international cooperation projects in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa and in the Maghreb. ICE France currently successfully manages several international cooperation programmes in the areas of justice, public administration, support for civil society and good governance, which are long-term, multi-actor and include large budgets, in the Sahel region.

The PASAS project team relies on a pool of experts and partners in the covered countries, identified according to their experience of the topic, knowledge of the environment as well as their availability and responsiveness. It then defines answers adapted to the needs within very short deadlines, and supports the valorization and appropriation of the work produced.

For more information : Page d'accueil | Site Web IRD et Welcome - ICE-FRANCE.EU (ice-france.eu)