Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 7th, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

To our two ambassadors, thank you very much for taking the time once again on short notice to be here.

Ambassador, I see that you have given us the road map in French. We'll have this translated and then get it out to the members as soon as that's done. Thank you very much.

With that, I am going to suspend the meeting so we can get our new witnesses up.

I want to thank our ambassadors once again for being here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

As we start the second hour here, I want to thank our witnesses once again for being here and coming on such short notice as well. I'm going to start over here. We have Jessica Thomson, who is the director of humanitarian assistance and emergency team with CARE Canada. Welcome, Ms. Thomson. We also have Kevin McCort, who is the president and chief executive officer of CARE Canada. Mr. McCort, thank you for being here today. Next to him, we have Bart Witteveen, who is the director of humanitarian and emergency services of international and Canadian programs with World Vision Canada. Next to him, we have Elly Vandenberg, who is also with World Vision. Thank you for being here. On the end, we have Mark Fried, who is with Oxfam Canada. Thank you very much.

Some of you are familiar faces back at our committee. Why don't we just get started? We will start with CARE Canada. For your opening remarks, we will give you 10 minutes for each one. We will try to keep you right on that so we can get some questions in, if that would be possible.

Mr. McCort, thank you for being here. We'll turn the floor over to you. The floor is yours for 10 minutes, please.

[Kevin McCort, President and Chief Executive Officer, CARE Canada]

Thank you very much. It is an honour to be here to give a presentation on Mali. This is a major crisis. Thank you for the invitation.

As mentioned, my name is Kevin McCort. I am the president and chief executive officer of CARE Canada, and CARE is one of Canada's largest international aid and development agencies.

As part of the CARE international federation, we are present in 84 countries, including some of the most volatile areas of the world. Last year we delivered close to 1,000 poverty-fighting projects and helped more than 83 million people worldwide, and we are, as CARE, one of CIDA's largest independent non-governmental organization partners.

A year ago, as you know, a severe food crisis enveloped the Sahel region of Africa, including Mali, affecting close to 18 million people. At the same time, Mali, which was once one of the most stable countries in the region, witnessed a rapid escalation in violence in the northern part of the country, ultimately leading to the recent military actions. Both the food crisis and the increasing violence and insecurity left many vulnerable households in Mali in crisis. Now some 4.3 million Malians are in need of humanitarian assistance. In January alone 18,000 new refugees fled to the neighbouring countries, and another 12,000 internally displaced people were forced to flee within Mali. Many sought refuge within households and communities already overwhelmed by chronic food insecurity. These new displacements are in addition to some 370,000 people who were already displaced due to conflict.

Our colleagues who recently concluded needs assessments in Ségou say that the internally displaced people have nothing and need access to food, water, adequate shelter, and other essential items such as kitchen utensils, blankets, mats, and soap.

The number of people affected in Mali can be overwhelming, but behind them there are individuals such as Rokia, a mother of four who told CARE she had fled her home with her four children. Months before, her husband had to escape from their village in the north after being attacked, and she had not seen him since. She worries constantly about how she will support her children without him, far from home and with only the clothes on her back. She is worried as to whether she will ever be able to return home. CARE recognizes the particular needs of women and girls in times of crisis, which is why we focus much of our response on women like Rokia.

In the last three weeks alone, CARE has distributed food to 54,000 people in two of the five worst-affected regions. CARE supports both internally displaced people and host communities still recovering from last year's food crisis, with programs such as Cash for Work and the provision of tools and seeds to ensure a decent harvest. CARE is also responding to the needs of refugees in neighbouring countries, with support from CIDA, to meet the needs of newly arrived Malian refugees in Niger. Soon CARE and our partners will begin distributing food supplies provided by the World Food Programme to over 130,000 people in Timbuktu.

The consolidated appeals process for Mali was launched two months ago. This appeal summarizes the humanitarian needs across the country, given the current crisis, and is based on assessments by United Nations agencies and international NGOs. In two months, only 2% of the $373 million needed has been received. CARE itself has launched an appeal for $6 million to respond to the most urgent humanitarian needs.

Last week, at the donor conference in Ethiopia, $450 million was given in support of military operations in Mali. We know that the international community is able to mobilize support rapidly. CARE, and other humanitarian agencies working in Mali, is calling on donors to ensure a similar level of commitment, mobilization and attention to respond to humanitarian needs as well.

Also, the importance of principled humanitarian action and safe and unhindered access to those in need must be emphasized. CARE is a signatory of, and holds itself accountable to, accepted international humanitarian principles, standards, and codes of conduct including the Red Cross and Red Crescent and NGO code of conduct. CARE adheres to the principle of impartiality, so that we provide assistance on the basis of need, regardless of race, creed, or nationality, and is committed to addressing the rights of vulnerable groups, particularly women and children, in times of crisis.

Assistance is targeted at the individual level and seeks to reach those most in need with all necessary steps taken to avoid misappropriation in the delivery of this essential assistance. Ensuring that humanitarian actors are able to uphold the principle of working independently of political, commercial, military, or religious objectives will be of fundamental importance in the coming months.

Humanitarian organizations continue to face significant challenges in accessing areas of military operations and must be permitted safe access to areas where conflict has occurred, in order to assess the needs of civilians and urgently provide humanitarian assistance. French, Malian, and all the other armed actors operating in Mali must coordinate with humanitarian agencies to ensure neutral, independent, and impartial access and assistance is available to vulnerable communities in northern Mali and basic supply routes are not disrupted.

Accessing humanitarian assistance must not be conditional on participation in or support for military operations. A clear separation of humanitarian and military objectives must be ensured, avoiding risks of blurring lines between military and humanitarian actors, which can ultimately put humanitarian actors at greater risk.

All armed actors in Mali must ensure the safety of civilian populations. CARE is urging all forces to take every possible precaution to ensure respect of international humanitarian law and that military operations do not cause further harm to already distressed civilian populations, particularly women and children.

In line with the key provisions of Security Council Resolution 1325 on women and girls, CARE is encouraging all parties of the conflict to ensure that attention is given to the specific protection needs of women and girls in conflict, and a gender perspective is part of the training of military actors.

In conclusion, I just reiterate that Mali is clearly an example of a country where aid has saved—and can continue to save—lives. Even if Mali seems like it's a world away from Canada, we must act now, as it is our humanitarian imperative.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you, Mr. McCort.

We will move to Ms. Vandenberg for 10 minutes as well.

[Elly Vandenberg, Senior Director, Policy and Advocacy, World Vision Canada]

I am very pleased to be here.

My name is Elly Vandenberg. I am the senior director of policy and advocacy at World Vision. I would like to introduce my colleague, Bart Witteveen, director of humanitarian and emergency affairs.

We really appreciate the invitation to appear before the committee. We will tell you briefly about World Vision in Mali and what our experience in the country, as well as in numerous other complex humanitarian environments, leads us to recommend to you as parliamentarians to consider as you discern the best way to respond.

World Vision Canada is a child-focused relief, development, and advocacy organization. World Vision as an international federation first responded to drought in Mali in 1975. Currently World Vision Mali works in six regions with a team of over 300 staff, including technical specialists in agriculture, food security, disaster risk reduction, water and sanitation, health, nutrition, emergency response programming, and particularly child protection.

Last month, World Vision Canada was awarded a $1 million CIDA IHA grant to improve livelihoods of internally displaced persons and to improve access to safe water supply, appropriate sanitation, and knowledge of hygienic practices. We intend to reach over 11,000 people with this grant.

We are also working in partnership with UNICEF and other child-focused agencies to train UN and NGO staff to provide immediate psychosocial support when we come across cases of violations against children. However, much more needs to be done and child protection remains one of the most underfunded sectors.

Canadians feel proud when we commit humanitarian aid. It touches our hearts, it expresses Canadian values, it's direct and has an immediate impact, and has its own complexities. World Vision and our other NGO colleagues here have key learnings from our decades of experience of working in humanitarian situations of conflict. To address this particular crisis in Mali we urge you as parliamentarians to benefit from these learnings and consider five key recommendations, which will be outlined by my colleague, Bart Witteveen.

[Bart Witteveen, Director, Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, International and Canadian Programs, World Vision Canada]

Thank you, Elly.

First, increase support for humanitarian assistance to meet urgent needs. Funding pledged for the 2013 United Nations consolidated appeal process for Mali is far too low at just 2% of allocated funds. Donor countries, including Canada, need to commit urgent funding to support the provision of life-saving humanitarian assistance, both to the UN's appeal and to NGOs operating in Mali.

Priority must be given to the most critical sectors, such as food security and nutrition, health, water and sanitation, and child protection in both the southern and northern parts of Mali. Many affected children in Mali are at risk of acute malnutrition and lack access to basic education.

Second, ensure children are protected from exploitation and abuse in line with the relevant UN resolutions and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Conflict significantly increases protection risks for children and thus particular attention must be paid to assessing such risks and heightened vulnerabilities.

In recent weeks World Vision has heard reports from displaced communities of forced marriage, rape, and forced recruitment of children into armed groups, corroborating previous reports from other actors. Children are also particularly vulnerable to the effects of displacement, including increased chance of separation from parents and disruption to education. Broad protection concerns regarding their safety must be taken into account with proactive steps taken to monitor and mitigate these protection risks. We should ensure adequate presence of child protection specialists on the ground. Donors, including Canada, should urgently fund critical child protection capacity gaps and interventions.

All military forces, police, and civilians deployed to Mali should receive specialized child protection pre-deployment training, which includes the capacity to prevent and monitor violations against children. Efforts should be made to ensure that child protection concerns are raised early and consistently in ongoing mediation efforts and adequately reflected in an eventual ceasefire and peace agreement. This includes dedicated initiatives for the demobilization of child soldiers, ensuring they receive appropriate assistance.

The alarming reports of sexual violence against women and girls in Mali also call for pre-deployment training of all armed forces, police, and civilians in addressing sexual violence in all phases of the operation, including the earliest mediation and ceasefire efforts. Armed groups must immediately cease recruiting children under the age of 18 and release all children previously recruited into proper care provided by humanitarian agencies.

Third, ensure free and unimpeded humanitarian access to the affected populations as well as free and unimpeded passage of all civilians out of the areas of military engagement and preserve the independent and civilian-led nature of humanitarian access and neutrality of action.

Despite improvements of access to areas in the north of Mali to assess the needs of affected civilians, the ongoing insecurity has forced many humanitarian actors to continue working with a reduced presence on the ground.

We call on all armed and military actors and regional governments to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian personnel and supplies, unhindered access for delivery of aid to persons in need, and free and unimpeded passage of all civilians out of areas of military engagement in accordance with international humanitarian, human rights, and refugee law.

We call on all military actors to maintain a clear separation of military and humanitarian objectives. This requires clear instructions to forces to not engage in humanitarian action unless requested by the UN emergency relief coordinator. Military forces must adhere to the military and civil defence assets guidelines. It is also critical that any military response respect the humanitarian operating environment for independent, neutral, and impartial humanitarian actors to provide assistance to communities and to ensure the right of civilians to receive life-saving assistance. This must apply to all actors, including ECOWAS.

Fourth, continue to strengthen mechanisms for facilitating coordination between the growing number of military actors and organizations providing humanitarian assistance. The increasing presence of multiple military actors in Mali and the speed with which they have been deployed has led to a lack of strategic clarity. This must be urgently addressed to ensure both the safety of civilians and adherence to applicable international humanitarian, human rights, and refugee law.

World Vision welcomes the timely deployment of a civil-military coordinator to Mali by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the establishment of a civil-military coordination cell in Bamako.

World Vision calls for two things: UN member states contributing towards the military intervention to urgently establish an appropriate and effective military-to-military coordination mechanism for all international forces and the Malian army; and development of country-specific civil-military guidelines through a signed agreement to set boundaries between civil and military operations, promote an understanding between the actors, and provide a means of accountability.

Finally, World Vision does not see a military solution to the crisis in Mali. We acknowledge the Malian road map for the transition put forward by the Government of Mali. We advocate that it include real provisions for wide civil society consultations and representation as part of the peace process and recovery efforts. We urge Canada to help support the implementation of this difficult process through diplomacy and ongoing support. Canada needs to promote an inclusive process that adequately takes into account the voice and genuine grievances of all communities, including the unique vulnerabilities of children.

Thank you again for inviting World Vision to present. We welcome the opportunity to share with your our experience and recommendations, and will be pleased to take any questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

We will now move over to Mr. Fried from Oxfam Canada.

The floor is yours, sir.

[Mark Fried, Policy Coordinator, Oxfam Canada]

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here.

I will make my comments in English, but I will be pleased to answer your questions in either official language.

Oxfam is present in over 90 countries in the world, and has been present in Mali for many years, Mali being one of the most vulnerable populations in the world as I'm sure you know. We follow the developments there closely, and we're concerned primarily with two things: that the swift escalation of fighting could heighten existing restrictions on humanitarian access, that is access for humanitarian actors such as the organizations you have here; and that it's going to increase the humanitarian needs of the population across the country and in neighbouring states.

I'll tell you a little bit about the situation in Gao in northern Mali. I'll give you details. Food is already quite scarce there. Stocks are likely to be depleted in a few weeks if the Algerian border remains closed and the roads to the south remain closed. Staple foods trade from the south of the country was severely disrupted over a year ago in October-November of 2011, and staple cereals such as millet have not been available in local markets for nearly a year. They've been replaced since early 2012 by rice, couscous, and wheat flour coming from Algeria. Oil and sugar are also imported from Algeria, but with the new fighting that is also disrupted. The main road to the south is closed, and the Algerian border is closed. There is very limited cross-border trade with Niger.

Many of the traders have fled the region with the advancing French troops. When they left, whatever stocks they had left were looted. Right now for the first time all of the major traders in Gao seem to have left the country.

In the main markets in Gao town three-quarters of the shops selling food are now closed. These shops supply rural markets in the area and are crucial for the survival of the rural population not just for the town, particularly for the herders, the pastoralist communities who are the vast majority of northern Mali's population outside of the main cities along the Niger River.

As is natural when food is scarce, food prices have risen by about 20% since the military intervention began in early January. Before the intervention a 50-kilogram bag of rice cost about $34 U.S. Two weeks later it rose to $41 U.S.

At the same time there is very little money around for people to buy these things. The banking system has been shut down since last year. Traditional methods of bringing cash into the country and to the northern part of the country, including remittances from family members, have all been disrupted. The herders whose only source of income is to sell their animals really have nothing to rely on.

Gao was already classified as one of the most food-insecure areas of Mali before the military intervention began. It's one of the areas with the highest rates of malnutrition. Malnutrition among children under five before the intervention was at 15.2%, which is the emergency threshold set by the World Health Organization. As we say, families mostly buy most of their food, but their income has been disrupted, and their coping strategies such as selling off their assets or going into debt have really been exhausted.

So there's the essential role of humanitarian relief in a situation like this. And sadly, as with many conflict situations, access for humanitarian organizations has been restricted. There are security risks for our organizations. We've had to pull our staff back into safer areas, and so a major ask we would have of the Canadian government is to use your diplomatic clout in order to encourage the Malian government and all the active parties of the conflict to allow access for humanitarian relief.

Oxfam is currently providing humanitarian assistance in northern Mali as well as to Malian refugees in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. We provide basic food, clean water, public health-related assistance, and we're reaching about 60,000 people in Gao and nearly 150,000 refugees outside the country.

I think one of my colleagues mentioned that nearly 350,000 people have been forced from their homes since January 2012 last year, and additional thousands have had to flee their homes in the last few weeks because of the renewed fighting.

Most of the people who are internally displaced are living in extremely overcrowded and difficult conditions in urban centres with host families who are already poor also. Overseas, it's a similar situation. They're in host communities that are still recovering from the food crisis of the past year.

Of course, the economy is in a terrible situation. With the freeze in aid to Mali that most donor countries put in place after the government changed, overall government expenditures have been cut by 38%. That includes the education expenditure, which is down by 17%, health spending, which is down by 35%, and investments in water and sanitation, which are down by 94%.

We're concerned that the impact of the suspension of bilateral aid and some development aid has caused a shortfall in funding for social services and could have a serious impact on the local population, not only in the conflict area.

As far as recommendations go, certainly we second the recommendations made by World Vision and CARE regarding respect for international humanitarian law and human rights law, and we'd be happy to get into details in the question period. We would ask that Canada communicate this desire to France and other allies that are actually fighting on the ground.

Canada's diplomatic efforts could focus on ensuring access for humanitarian assistance and ensuring that neighbouring states keep their borders open for refugees to flee and also for commerce to occur with an unhindered passage, particularly in trade in food.

As far as overall funding goes, Canada could make a key contribution. As my colleague mentioned, until very recently, less than 1% of the UN consolidated appeal had actually been fulfilled by donors. The European Union came through with 20 million euros just last week, which brought it up to under 2%, but there's still a huge shortfall in the needed funds.

In the longer term—we don't want to lose sight of the longer term before I finish—even if an intervention is successful and the integrity of the country is restored, there's still the major challenge of creating the conditions for a lasting peace. Any military intervention cannot take the place of a longer-term political strategy, a broader political strategy aimed at building social cohesion and inclusive governance with all communities across the country. I hope we won't lose sight of that.

I would be pleased to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much, Mr. Fried.

We will start with the opposition and Mr. Dewar, please.

You have seven minutes.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I thank our guests for their presentations today.

All of you had a similar message with regard to humanitarian assistance and the fact that the world in general has not stepped up to the plate. As Oxfam has suggested, just recently we met the 2% threshold. Before the EU intervention, it was 1%.

What are you looking for in terms of amounts? Just give us a dollar amount.

Mr. McCort, maybe you can tell us what is the actual amount of what's missing, or in other words, the 98%. What dollar figure is needed right now that hasn't been committed to?

[Kevin McCort]

The appeal was for $373 million, as I understand it. I'm not exactly sure. Maybe my colleagues have the total that has been provided through the consolidated appeal, but $373 million was the amount that I saw as originally requested by the UN for the consolidated appeal. We can work backwards and find 2% of that. There's a substantial gap remaining.

Our general estimation usually is that Canada covers about 4%. That's a rule of thumb that we use, so Canada's $13-million contribution is within the range, but there are some technicalities in terms of what's in the consolidated appeal and what's outside. So there's the $13 million, plus Canada has been a very good supporter of Mali over the years, and we encourage Canada to do as much as possible to meet the appeal or even exceed it.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I want to follow up quickly on that.

On the $13 million that was committed, your understanding is that it is separate from the funds that were committed to Mali before, but is it coming out of the money for the region? Do you know?

[Kevin McCort]

I don't know the specifics. My understanding from reading other people's testimony yesterday is that it's within the humanitarian budget of CIDA for the year, so it was unallocated money that has now been allocated to the conflict.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

That is an important point because we know that there was a freeze on bilateral direct aid. Moneys had been committed prior to Mali. We're running up to the end of the budget year. We'd want more clarity from the government on that so we could understand how much has been committed and how much was coming out of money tagged for Mali.

I want to touch on the way in which aid can be provided. One concern we've had on this side is that our capacity has been lessened in Africa, and in this region. Recently, there was some confusion with the government on whether we had closed our embassy, our desk, our office, in Niger. The bottom line—and they'll get their stories straight at some point—is that we do not have the same capacity in the region.

Mr. Fried, what does that mean in terms of your being able to deliver to the people on the ground? As mentioned, this is a regional issue. This was a major food crisis before this most recent conflict. If we have more capacity in the region, what does it allow us to do? Conversely, when we take capacity away, what challenges do we face in helping people on the ground?

[Mark Fried]

As you know, Canadian diplomats are not in the business of delivering humanitarian assistance. Humanitarian agencies do that, and United Nations agencies in particular.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

The government tells us that the CIDA office was closed in Niger. We also hear from the government that it was an embassy, and that's theirs to sort out. But when we take away the capacity on the ground and in the region, such as an office in bordering Niger, what are the challenges that people face to helping in the region?

[Mark Fried]

Certainly, if we're coordinating—your own intelligence and understanding of the situation would be limited if there aren't Canadian personnel providing that to you. We're doing our best to bring our partial understanding of the situation to you today.

I don't know exactly—and perhaps my colleagues could help—what it means that there's no CIDA office in Niger for this particular crisis. Certainly, if CIDA is going to be distributing assistance and making connections for assistance, it's always helpful to have CIDA personnel in the field.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

We’ll go to World Vision Canada on that question.

It's really a question of access. You're having challenges, for obvious reasons right now, in terms of the access under the present circumstances. What kind of support from our government do you need to do your work on the ground? If we have infrastructure on the ground, obviously it helps you with access. When we have a presence on the ground, be it in Mali or Niger, how does that help you to do your work?

[Bart Witteveen]

In responding to the crisis evolving before our eyes, our key concerns are, on the one hand, resources, and, on the other hand, access. I think Canada can play a role in both of those. For resources, we're talking about funding so we can develop the humanitarian response adequate to the situation.

In terms of access, political engagement can be helpful, underscoring that the message provided facilitates independent, neutral, and impartial access to the vulnerable populations. I would assume Canada could play a role in that.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Absolutely. In fact, in the past we've had resources on the ground throughout the continent of Africa, particularly in Sudan, where we trained women to help with peace and security issues. We had policewomen here go to train women in Darfur. My point is that, for all of the things you've asked for, particularly civilian military oversight, it’s hard to just climb in. It's better when you have a presence on the ground. From what we're hearing from you, my appeal to the government is that it's one thing to react to a crisis when it happens and put foodstuff in the region, but it's another to commit in the long term to the humanitarian crisis, the food crisis, and the political crisis. To do that, you need to do more than just write cheques when a crisis happens.

What I'm hearing from all of you is that this isn't a crisis to be dealt with by simply sending more food aid. I guess my question—

How much time do I have?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You're just over time, now.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I'm just over time. I'll follow up, but I've left my appeal to the government to put more infrastructure on the ground to help you do your work.

Thank you for your presentation today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you, Mr. Dewar.

We're going to move over to Ms. Brown, please, for seven minutes.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you to each of you for being here. Elly, it's nice to see you. Kevin, it's nice to see you. Mr. Fried, welcome. I don't know that we've had the opportunity to meet, but I'm delighted to have you here.

I'd like to do a little bit of math here first, just to help the opposition out. First of all, Mr. McCort, you said that about 2 % of $373 million has been received out of the call for funding. Mr. Fried, you said that the EU has just committed 20 million euros last week. If I do the math on the number of people who live in Europe and the fact that Canada has committed $13 million of new money—please opposition, hear that, it's new money—on a per capita basis, Canada is punching way above its weight on this.

One of the things that Canada has a history for under this government is that we pay what we pledge. When we have said that we are going to commit the money, we've given the money, and that's part of the problem that the international community has to come to grips with. When they say they're going to come to the table with money, they need to put the money on the table and not just sit there and spout off all kinds of dollars because that's not what really helps. It's getting the money in hand. We've put our money into the global fund. We've increased our contributions there. We gave to the GAVI Alliance. In fact, we increased our contributions to the GAVI Alliance.

All of this is real money that Canada has contributed, and the fact is that Canada is not new to the scene in Mali. We've been there with $110 million per year since 2009. That's money that your organizations have been using to put in place the kinds of programming that needed to be there to ensure safety for girls and women, to ensure opportunities for education, to ensure good governance, and to look at the food security issues.

On top of that, Canada came to the table before the Sahel problem became a global issue. We were there, and we put $56 million into the Sahel in order to ensure that food security would be available. I wonder, first of all, if you can talk about pro-active food security? What kinds of programs have been put in place to help? Nobody saw this conflict coming. This was not something that was on the radar because Mali has had a history for 20 years of good governance and stability. This is kind of out of the realm of what anybody anticipated happening.

Can you talk about proactive food security? What programs are you working on to ensure that Mali, given its history of recurring drought that's been ongoing for decades...? This is not new. What were your organizations doing to help with that? If you talk about the success of the Sahel contribution, what projects were undertaken? That was a specific initiative outside of the other projects that humanitarian agencies were undertaking.

I put that on the table.

[Elly Vandenberg]

I'll let Bart speak to your specific questions around the proactive food security programs and also the success we've had through the Sahel contribution.

I do want to respond to the points about the 2 % and the needs. We welcome Canada's role and the leadership role that you've played. We would like to see you as a lead donor to encourage others to come to the table and respond to that pledge. Yes, we acknowledge the Canadian government's commitment. We think there's a further role that you can play as a lead donor to encourage others.

Bart, could you speak to the other specific issues around food security programs?