The theme of the 2010 Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC/OECD) Forum, to be held in Accra (Ghana) in early December, will be “Regional Solidarity to Address Food Crises: South-South Cooperation and Regional aid Effectiveness”.

Countries in the Sahel and West African region wish to increase regional solidarity in face of regularly occurring food crisis situations. In cooperation with regional partner organisations (CILSS, ECOWAS, UEMOA), they aim to mobilise the network of companies and offices responsible for inventory management of food security in the Sahel and West Africa (RESOGEST) or to establish emergency financial reserves as a demonstration of regional unity in the fight against food insecurity.
The 2010 Forum is an opportunity to explore, discuss and draw lessons from similar initiatives that have been implemented in other regions throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America.  In particular:

• The Regional Food Reserve Facility developed by the SADC based on a system that combines physical food stockpiles with financial reserves.
• The successive experiences in establishing emergency rice reserves in ASEAN countries expanded to include South Korea, China and Japan (ASEAN Emergency Rice Reserve within the East Asia Emergency Rice Reserve Pilot Project; ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve); and
• The Latin American and Caribbean Emergency Response Network – a joint collaboration between governments and the World Food Programme to create sub-regional food depots in Barbados, Equator and Salvador.

While there is no doubt that these three examples have been evaluated, other innovative projects could be presented and analysed at the Forum. To this end, the Secretariat of SWAC/OECD is actively seeking examples of best practices to discuss.

We would be grateful if you could send any examples you may have to

Mr. Sibiri Jean Zoundi (sibirijean.zoundi@oecd.org),

Tel:  +33 1 4524 19 82,

and Ms. Adeline Borot de Battisti (adeline.borot@gmail.com),

Tel: +33 6 64 33 36 12.