Accra, GHANA (via Zoom) - On Monday, June 22, 2020, the USAID West Africa Regional Feed the Future (FtF) team virtually launched their newly published Global Food Security Strategy West Africa Regional Plan. The Feed the Future West Africa Regional Plan, covering 2019-2024, presents a five-year strategy for West Africa to achieve the initiative’s goal of reducing poverty, hunger and malnutrition. This plan reflects an evidence-based, integrated, interagency and regional approach to pursuing the three objectives of sustainable agriculture-led growth, resilience, and nutrition while positioning the region and its countries to become self-reliant. The meeting was opened with remarks from USAID West Africa Mission Director, Daniel Moore; USAID Bureau of Resilience and Food Security Deputy Assistant Administrator, Greg Collins; and ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, Sékou Sangaré, with more than 140 participants joining from across West Africa and the United States.

The Launch included an array of activities, including three plenary sessions. The first plenary session was a presentation of the three Development Objectives of the FtF strategy, including ongoing and planned regional interventions. The presentations highlighted the need for partnerships and collaboration with the private sector, regional organizations and USAID bilateral missions in the achievement of the objectives of the Strategy.

The second plenary session focused on the presentations by representatives from USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security on the areas of synergy between the USAID West Africa FtF Regional Strategy and priorities of the Bureau.

The third plenary, a panel discussion, focused on effective ways for maximizing the impact of USAID/West Africa interventions and partnerships with West Africa regional organizations, including private sector associations, and USAID bilateral missions. Panelists concluded that USAID FtF investments in West Africa are yielding tangible outcomes by leveraging private sector agriculture and trade initiatives, catalyzing increased commercial investments, and strengthening agricultural research institutions to increase the adoption and scaling up of improved techniques and technologies, in addition to expanding market linkages for agricultural inputs in the West Africa and the Sahel. For more information about the Feed the Future West Africa Regional plan, please contact Catherine Hamlin (chamlin@usaid.gov).