The FLASH project

Project leader : Danish Refugee Council

Project partners : A2N, ASMADE, UAVES, AMSODE, AREN, ADKOUL

Countries of implementation : Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger in hard-to-reach areas in Sahel hot spots of Liptako Gourma and at the SW Niger in Maradi region

Period of implementation : June 2022 / March 2025

Total budget : 2.894.535 GBP

Project summary : The project intends to launch and support a Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) piloted by national and/or local actors, with operational support from the DRC teams.

The program has been designed to address the increasing need to decentralize power, money and resources and to put the national and local actors at the heart of the humanitarian responses in their countries.  In the inception phase, DRC country teams will work in each country to identify and engage with well-established and reputed national and/or local actors.

The FLASH partners will be in charge to respond to small and multiple displacements in hard-to-reach areas in the Liptako Gourma region. Following contextual assessment, the following areas are targeted in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.  In Mali, AMSODE will be positioned to respond to new displacement in Gao, UAVES in Ansongo.  In Burkina Faso, Asmade will work in the Boucle de Muhon while A2N (Association Nodde Nooto) in the Sahel region; In Niger, AREN is engaged in responding in the region of Dosso, and ADKOUL in Tahoua. 

DRC country teams in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso will ensure the coordination between FLASH partners and other humanitarian stakeholders engaged in emergency activities.  In the framework of the project, DRC will support partner organizations with several activities focusing on increasing learning opportunities and developing institutional networks of its partners.  These activities will contribute to reinforce institutional capacity of partners in terms of emergency preparedness and response while providing learning and good practices.

The inclusive approach to partnership and coordination of the DRC localization project in hard-to-reach Sahel hot spots will directly contribute to SRF strategy to deliver high quality VfM in Sahel hot spots. The project will contribute to the implementation of the localization agenda in Sahel. Additionally, the learning of this project will inform the revision of the SRF strategy and framework to ensure national and local actors can play a more powerful role in the SRF governance structure and can directly access funds.

Programme update April – June 2023

CONTEXT

Insecurity persists in most of the FLASH intervention areas. Between May and June 2023, 399 acts of violence against civilians were reported globally, in the 3 targeted countries (ACLED). Violence is often associated with a burden of human fatalities, and data pulled from FLASH interventions confirm that targeted killings of community members represent one of the main triggers of fear, and the key push-factor for small-scale displacements.

KEY FIGURES

• 26 Displacement alerts
• 20 Emergency interventions
• 10552 Persons reached

ACTIVITY UPDATE

MALI 

• 11 new small-scale displacements from Gao (6) and Ansongo (5) reported to the Regional Displacement Alert Committee (CRVA) in Gao. In total, 9 displacement alerts were validated and followed by cash distributions.
• Between April and May, in Ansongo, UAVES teams completed 5 operations of cash distributions reaching 425 IDPs households in Ansongo (respectively 97, 76, 80, 91, and 81 hh). In total, 2759 individuals received cash in-hands covering basic food and NFI needs.
• Between April and May, AMSODE teams completed 4 operations of cash distribution reaching 342 DPs households in in the town of Anchawadji (259 hh) and Gao (83 hh). In total, 2188 individuals have benefited from cash in-hands covering basic Food and NFI needs.

BURKINA FASO

• 5 new small-scale alerts have been shared with the regional coordination lead and GCORR in the Boucle de Mouhon.
• In the Sahel region, local government persisting restrictions to the use of cash transfers is delaying the positioning and response of A2N Targeted advocacy actions in collaboration with DRC country management team, were directed towards regional authorities, with the objective to build awareness and buy-in on the FLASH scope and modalities.
• Between the end of March and June, ASMADE teams successfully completed 3 operations of cash distributions reaching 385 IDPs households in the towns of Dedougou (85 and 150 hh) and Nouna (150 hh). In total, 3390 individuals received cash in-hands covering basic food and NFI needs.

In June, ASMADE teams have also supported DRC RRM response ongoing in Nouna. Thanks to their presence in the area, they coordinated the targeting and registration of more than 1000 households which are being supported by DRC RRM teams.

NIGER

• 10 new small-scale displacement and cross-border movements alerts were registered and shared with RRM partners and local authorities in Tahoua (4 alerts) and Dosso (6 alerts). Rapid needs assessments have assessed the smaller groups (10-20 households), predominantly with family ties, forced to flee their settlements in other countries due to targeted violence.
• Between April and June, AREN teams completed 4 operations of cash distributions in Dosso reaching 133 IDPs households in the rural towns of Kiéché (40 hh) Matankari (49 hh), and Dan Kassari (19 and 25 hh). In total, 1132 individuals have started to be assisted with 3 rounds of cash transfers covering basic Food, NFI and Water needs.
• Between May and June, ADKOUL teams successfully completed 4 operations of cash distributions in Tahoua, reaching 120 IDPs households in the rural towns of Bagaroua (48 hh), Bangui (48 hh), Illéla (12 hh) and Badaguichiri (12 hh). In total, 1083 individuals have started to be assisted with 3 rounds of cash transfers covering basic Food, NFI and Water needs.