Over 18 million people are affected by the food crisis in the Sahel, a dry sub-Saharan belt running roughly from Chad over to Senegal. Think about it. That’s more people than the entire population of the Netherlands who are going hungry, right now.

There are currently 61,000 refugees in Burkina; added to thousands in villages along the Malian border who have a 90% deficit in cereals from harvest.

The thing is that in Burkina Faso and Niger the crisis is a double one – communities are already hungry, but the burden is greater as thousands of refugees cross from Mali.

In one month the rainy season will arrive; when that happens, all access is cut off to these communities. The pressure to get some kind of assistance in place is very much on.

Fleeing to survive

If you were to fly over Burkina Faso in a plane you would spot, perhaps, the jigsaw of tents. You'd miss the make-shift toilets built by Plan whose staff stay up nights to try to help; you’d miss the children playing in the dust.

In April, some of these boys and girls from villages in northern Mali watched as their fathers had their throats cut. Then they fled for their lives. Amadou, 10, now in Mentao camp near Djibo, says: “I would like to return to my village, to see my friends again, but at the moment I have no idea where most of them are. I don't know where my family are either.”

Aisha, from Timbuktu, also in Mentao, says simply: “I saw my husband get shot. And seeing my husband with the blood flowing out of him, I wanted to die too.”

Anyone interested?

Why does it matter, and why does it matter to you? Quite simply, because it keeps on happening; and by necessity, the more we know about it, the less acceptable it will become. Is it, as the foreign editor of The Telegraph recently told me, that “no-one is interested in West Africa, Jane...”? I don’t believe so.

I believe we should be reporting this crisis and making people interested: the public, policy makers, other kids. We should be getting people to act. Then and only then will we make the way for change.

Africa's agriculture potential

It matters because last year, exactly the same thing happened in the Horn of Africa. The question is, why, on a continent where more than half the entire population is engaged in agriculture, does this happen again and again and again?

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson believes it shouldn’t. He said last week, on the eve of the G8 summit: “Africa has enormous promise and potential in the agriculture field, and there is absolutely no reason why Africa should be food deficit...”

Carson believes that President Barack Obama’s new initiative, Feed the Future*, will help create a green agricultural revolution in Africa to end food insufficiency. President Obama pushed the multi-billion dollar initiative at the G8, giving us a vision of how we can lift millions out of poverty.

Taking action now

It is a grand plan and one which, like many, presents an appealing vision. Phew, we think, it will all be alright then... In the meantime, in the field, as we in the NGO world like to call it, there are people from Plan mobilising resources to fight the crisis. They are drilling boreholes by hand in 3 refugee camps.

I’ve long thought that the editors of our international media need to start noticing Africa. If we, and the editors who, whether we like it or not, dictate what we’re interested in, are interested, we give Africa a voice, and it is that which will, in the end, mean that 18 million people go home with some food in their bellies.

Donate to the West Africa food crisis appeal

Find out more about Plan's work in Burkina Faso

*Plan is not responsible for the content on external websites

Nishat dedicated her climb to Plan's girls campaign

19 May 2012: Nishat Majumder today made history as she became the first Bangladeshi woman to reach the top of Mount Everest, scaling all 8,848 metres (29,028 feet) of the world’s highest mountain.

Flying the flag for Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign, the 31-year-old accountant was joined on the climb by Bangladeshi mountaineer MA Mohit.

Although an experienced mountaineer in her own right, the climb up Everest was Nishat’s biggest challenge to date. Nishat had to train hard for the expedition and so dedicating it to Plan’s girls campaign seemed like an obvious choice.

“Taking on this challenge as a woman, I realised just how important it is for girls to be empowered. Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign is all about having a voice and being strong, so I wanted to do this to show girls around the world that nothing is impossible,” said Nishat before the climb.

Journey of a lifetime

The journey began on 9 April and some favourable weather conditions helped the dynamic duo reach Base Camp on 15 April.

On 20 April, Mohit said in a message from a satellite phone that they were preparing to make their first push to Camp 1 (of 4) and then return to Base Camp, all part of the acclimatisation routine climbers must go through before they reach the top.

Girl power

“What a feat this is!" said Deepali Sood, director of the Because I am a Girl campaign.

"Many congratulations to Nishat who, as the first Bangladeshi woman, has conquered a typically male dominated terrain and I am delighted that she has done this for Plan’s campaign. The message of the campaign reinforces Nishat’s determination and success: unleash the power of girls and women and watch them soar,” she added.

Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign to fight gender inequality and promote girls' rights will be officially launched around the world on the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October.

Join Plan's Because I am a Girl campaign

Find out more about Plan's work in Bangladesh

If, as is expected, a new food security and nutrition initiative is to be announced, then this is the real story, at least for millions of people across the Sahel region currently at risk of chronic malnutrition.

In Niger last year 300,000 children were treated for severe malnutrition – an astonishing 15% of all children treated for malnutrition worldwide.  And that was before the onset of the so-called “hungry season”, which this year has come early due to a complex set of factors afflicting the region that I’ve written about here before.

One million children in danger

UNICEF estimates that across the Sahel, one million children under the age of 5 could need life-saving aid. As I write the figure out in words, I can hardly believe that we are once again facing the spectre of such a catastrophe. That’s a whole generation of children who, if they survive, will more than likely have their physical and mental development irreparably compromised for lack of enough to eat.

This is the Great Silent Tsunami that keeps happening year after year with some years, like this one, worse than others. But who’s listening? Did you know that a severely malnourished child does not cry but instead dies in silence?

Malnutrition impact

The consequences of chronic malnutrition for young children are almost too many to list: an increased likelihood of early death; reduced immunity to life-threatening diseases like diarrhoea; a more susceptible disposition to kidney damage, diabetes and heart disease; stunting; impaired cognitive skills; poor physical coordination; in girls a higher tendency to give birth to small babies when they’re of child-bearing age.

Nutrition is one of the cornerstones of enabling children in countries like Niger to try and break the poverty gridlock that they find themselves born into. But imagine trying to concentrate in class when all you had to eat last night was a nutrient poor “meal” of bitter leaves.

In a report published last week by Save The Children, Niger emerged as the worst place in the world to be a mother. Then there’s the stark fact that nearly one third of Niger's children are malnourished and one in 7 dies before the age of 5. None of which makes for easy bedtime reading.

Plan steps up response

With no fairytale ending in sight and food prices still on the rise, Plan Niger has been stepping up its work to support food distribution, school feeding programmes, the restocking of cereal banks, small scale gardening projects and nutrition counselling. Other international agencies have also been redoubling their efforts and there is greater coordination than at any time previously.

But it will not be enough. We know that for sure. G8 leaders must make fighting malnutrition a priority. Failure to act now will have devastating consequences for a whole generation of children in Niger and across West Africa.

Donate to Plan’s West Africa food crisis appeal

Find out more about Plan’s work in Niger

15 May 2012: Watch this slideshow to see what life is like for families in Niger, which is facing an imminent food crisis.

Narrated by Plan Niger's Hassane Mahamadou and a local village chief, the clip shows families are being forced to scavenge for leaves to eat, while other villagers are selling their animals at low prices to make ends meet. Children are suffering from malnutrition and more than half of pupils are dropping out of school.

Emergency response

The food crisis is threatening millions of people across West Africa. Plan is working to avert a humanitarian disaster in some of the worst hit areas of Niger, Mali, Cameroon and Burkina Faso, by providing:

• targeted food distributions
• irrigation and gardening projects
• school feeding programmes
• malnutrition screening
• cereal bank support.

Plan is also providing emergency assistence to thousands of Malian refugees who have fled violence only to get caught up in the food crisis.

Please make a donation to Plan's West Africa food crisis appeal

In Mangaize, Niger, some 3,000 refugees have settled close to this bustling market town. The refugees are a mix of Touareg nomadic herders and town dwellers fleeing Timbuktu south across the border.

Another 7,000 people now inhabit a no-man’s land near the border with Mali, near Ayourou. The landscape here could be mistaken for the moon, except I understand the moon is cold. Here, the temperatures on this rocky plateau reach 45°C around 3 o’clock every afternoon.

Nomad camp fears

Haroun, an old man and obviously the respected elder, explained: ”We are nomads. To be in a camp would be like a prison. We are still close to the border; we don’t feel safe here (in Ayourou). If we all move close together and are attacked, we will all die. If we spread out, at least some will have a chance to flee.”

Near the town of Djibo in Soum province, Burkina Faso, there are about 10,000 refugees between 4 camp sites. Further to the north, after getting lost a few times in the desert, we managed to find a smaller camp or settlement of 2,000 refugees in Damba.

We are chased and have to run

A refugee family from Mali find shelter in Niger but food is scarce

Oumar, a refugee in Djibo for 2 months, was very frank about the situation of his people:

”We are nomads. We are tired. This happens too much. We are chased and we have to run. It is not just this year. If we go back we will be chased again eventually. Our numbers are shrinking. If we go back soon we will be no more.”

The story in each place is remarkably similar, but small, important differences exist.

The refugees assembled in Mangaize, Niger and Mantau, Burkina Faso, have settled into well-ordered camps. In Ayourou, Niger and Damba, Burkina Faso, the refugees arrived seeking shelter with large herds of animals – goats, camels, cattle – and have settled far from the organised camps and communities in what is possibly some of the most inhospitable topography in all of Africa. Why?

Strife and struggle

The answer concerns not only individuals seeking shelter, but also different tribal groups maintaining a way of life and surviving. While all nomadic, each tribe has different customs and behaviours they want to preserve. This strife and struggle for survival adds yet another layer to this complex crisis and one that could sprout violence between refugee groups.

Sidi, a herdsman arriving in Niger explains: “We have a lot of animals. They need water and food. They are our bank, we fear moving any further without them. We also fear the people there will fight us because they are afraid we will damage their crops with our animals.”

Reaching all refugees

Back in Ayourou, Haroun is adamant. His group is not for moving. They appreciate any help from non-governmental organisations like Plan, but they would not move into a camp to get it.

In both places, water and animal fodder were already difficult to find. Water and food, for any living thing, are in short supply.

Plan is working with our partners to provide assistance to all refugees.  In addition to supplemental food distributions, Plan will install latrines and wells, ensure children are safe from exploitation and have access to basic preventative health and education.

Donate to Plan’s West Africa food crisis appeal

Find out more about Plan’s work in Africa

Early marriage often deprives girls of their right to an education

3 May 2012: Plan is deeply concerned at new proposals by the Egyptian parliament to reduce the legal age for girls to marry to 14 – just 4 years after a successful campaign increased the age limit to 18.

Early marriage can have a devastating impact on girls’ lives – they are more likely to be forced out of school, live in poverty, have early pregnancies and endure health complications or die during childbirth.

Legal protection

Ayman Zadek, Plan’s programme area manager in Assiut, Egypt, said: “Plan Egypt strongly promotes child rights and according to the Child Rights Convention, any person under 18 is considered a child. Plan Egypt was actively involved in the process of amending the country’s Child Law in 2008, when the legal marriage age was increased to 18.

“Despite the improvements on the law, early marriage is still a widespread social phenomenon in Egypt. Plan Egypt, through its programmes and involvement in the Child Protection Network, continues to advocate against this issue.”

Staggering global problem

If Egypt’s parliament goes ahead with the move it will contribute to an already staggering global problem: more than 100 million girls under 18 across the world are expected to marry in the next decade.

“Exposing young girls to marriage has a very negative impact on their physical and psychological health. It reduces their chances to complete an education and negatively impacts their ability to participate at the economic and social levels," adds Zadek.

“Plan Egypt will continue to advocate for the enforcement of the current Child Law - where marriage is not allowed for any child under 18 years old.”

Girls campaign

Ending child marriage around the world is a main priority of Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign, which will be launched globally on 11 October - the first International Day of the Girl Child.

Join Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign

Read about Plan’s gender and empowerment programme in Egypt

Children hide under desks as part of a Plan-supported earthquake disaster preparedness session

3 May 2012: Plan has just launched a child-friendly version of a report prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which helps children learn how to prepare and reduce the risks they face when disasters hit their communities.

The report, Climate Extreme, presents examples of crucial roles children have played in disaster preparedness, community education, hazard identification and evacuation and first aid during disasters.

Reaching children

At 28 pages, the learning tool is a more digestible version of the 594-page Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation*, produced by a panel of climate experts.

“Children and young people have the right to information that is tailored to them. Even complex scientific reports should be converted to child and youth appropriate versions, if the information is likely to affect them,” said Amalia Fawcett, the author of the youth-friendly version and Plan Australia’s senior child rights specialist.

Taking the lead

The child-friendly report helps children to protect their communities from disasters

There are many examples of girls and boys becoming actively involved in disaster risk reduction activities. Young people have lobbied their governments to get schools moved out of the path of potential landslides in the Philippines.

A school safety programme in India involves children in conducting risk and vulnerability assessments in more than 2,000 schools, while in Thailand youths are actively engaged in revising community-based disaster risk management plans in flood affected areas.

Children key

“Children are so often referred to as ‘future decision makers’ at best and ‘victims of disasters’ at worst. While we must be sure they are appropriately supported and protected during disasters, part of that should be to recognise their role in the present, rather than continually looking solely at their future potential.

"Children and young people can make a difference now; they are not just the future, but the present as well,” added Fawcett.

Along with the IPCC report, Climate Extreme was launched at an event in New Delhi, India, on 3 May.

Read the Climate Extreme report

Learn more about Plan's global emergencies work

* Plan is not responsible for the content on external websites

A family with a bed net - one of millions distributed by Plan in partnership with the Global Fund

25 April 2012: This World Malaria Day Plan is calling for more investment to fight the disease, which globally kills a child every minute of every day.

Although malaria deaths have been cut by a third in the last decade, millions of children are still at risk.

Plan West Africa’s Regional Director Adama Coulibaly said: “Over 90% of all deaths from malaria are in Africa. Just by scaling up efforts to prevent the disease, including universal coverage of mosquito nets, we will save the lives of an estimated 3 million African children by 2015.”

Millions of bed nets distributed

Malaria is a preventable disease that is spread through bites from infected mosquitoes. The most severe form of malaria - cerebral malaria - causes convulsions, coma and death in 93% of children affected.

In partnership with the Global Fund, Plan is currently distributing millions of anti-malaria bed nets across West Africa – as well as raising awareness of malaria prevention and treatment.

Over 5 million bed nets have already been distributed to communities across Cameroon. Plan aims to reach almost half of the country’s population in total this year.

In Burkina Faso, Plan has supported the distribution of 7.6 million long-lasting, insecticide-impregnated bed nets across the country, a ratio of one net for every 2 people.

In Liberia, Plan is working to scale up prompt and effective treatment with Artemisinin-based Combine Therapy (ACTs) to at least 80% of all those with malaria.

Play our mosquito game

To mark World Malaria Day, Plan Canada has launched an online Mosquito Masher game, where you get the chance to squash infected bugs and raise funds for our life-saving work.

For every 10,000 points earned by a player, Plan Canada and its partner Spread the Net will donate an insecticide-treated, mosquito-repellent, anti-malaria bed net to an African family.

Play Mosquito Masher and share with your friends.

Learn more about Plan’s partnership with the Global Fund to tackle malaria.

Read about Plan’s work in Africa

* Facts from WHO. Plan is not responsible for the content on external websites.

West Africa is not a place that many people in Ireland are too familiar with. People have heard of places like Liberia and Sierra Leone, primarily for negative reasons such as war and child soldiers. But how many know where Niamey is? Are there many who can pronounce Ouagadougou?

The world will soon find out. Niger and much of the Western Sahel basin, stretching from Senegal to Chad is approaching a food and nutrition crisis. Around 13 million people are already affected by food insecurity and more than 1 million children under 5 years are expected to suffer from moderate acute malnutrition.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and the Gambia have declared a crisis and called for international assistance.

Mali refugees

Mali refugees registering for Plan food aid in Niger

In Tillabéri, Niger,  I talked to one village leader who simply said there is little they can do. The rains were poor last year and very little grew. The people in the village don’t have money, or animals to sell since they sold most in 2010 to get by the last time the rains failed.

That is bad enough, but now an armed conflict in Mali has provoked the displacement of over 220,000 people from their homes.

About 95,000 of these remain in the north of Mali, currently unable to receive any assistance because of the conflict, while about 130,000 have fled to Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Niger - countries already in crisis.

Waiting for the shock factor

The worst of all this is that those fleeing the fighting have sought refuge in places that are likely to suffer the worst effects of the food crisis. Fighting and refugees often generate media attention, but there is not yet the shock factor of emaciated babies to illustrate the looming food crises.

To date, less than 35% of the funds needed to manage, or possibly avert, a full-scale crisis have been provided.

About 150km from Niamey, around Ayourou - very close to the Malian border, Plan in Niger has been trying to provide basic assistance to over 10,000 Malian refugees. The complexity of international law means that because they are only 5km from their own border, they are not actually classified as refugees.

Million children face malnourishment

This means that under the eyes of international law, the Niger government could legitimately turn a blind eye,  but they choose not to.

The local government in Tillabéri has been working hard to do what it can for the refugees, whilst also addressing the looming food crisis for its own people. The local Prefect has ensured that the refugees have land to stay on and has supported organisations such as Plan to provide food, healthcare, water and shelter.

Morally, given that 5 million of Nigerien citizens are struggling to meet their basic food needs, and 1 million Nigerien children could be malnourished in a few short months, the government could hardly be criticised for saying it has enough to do. But it hasn’t.

The rest of the world has to make that choice too.

Make a donation to Plan’s West Africa food crisis appeal

Find out more about Plan’s work in Niger

Tens of millions of children across the world live on the streets

12 April 2012: The world is ignoring the plight of children living on the streets, writes Plan global press officer Davinder Kumar on International Street Children Day.

They have no Twitter army, no righteous war being waged for their rescue. They are visible, they are out there on the streets. From ruthless lanes of Dhaka to dangerous dark alleys of Rio, tens of millions of children the world over are daily fighting hunger, violence and abuse just to survive and scratch a living on the streets.

As the world marks the International Day for Street Children today, children in street situations serve as a grim reminder of how one of the most marginalised and vulnerable groups in the world continues to be deprived of their basic rights; failed by governments, institutions and societies.

Unknown numbers

The overwhelming neglect of street children is evident by the fact that we do not even know how many of them exist.

The frequently cited UN global estimate of 100 million children growing up on urban streets is now outdated and widely disputed.

Many believe the real number to be much higher and rising due to rapid urbanisation, migration and general growth in world population. Add to these socio-economic, political or cultural factors that also push children on the streets.

Violence risk

Girls in a Plan-supported drop-in centre for street children in Delhi

According to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, children in street situations are at high risk of suffering violence, particularly torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. You only need to ask.

"No one treats us like human beings - they are always trying to punch and kick us," says 11-year-old Opu who ended up on Dhaka's streets when he was 8 to escape beatings of his stepmother.

Girls, though less in number than boys, often face far worse conditions on streets. A UN report on violence against children refers to a study in Rwanda where three-quarters of interviewed girls in street situations - a third of them under the age of 10, admitted they were sexually active. A shocking 93% of such girls reported having been raped.

Driven to the streets

A recent report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on street children says in addition to economic poverty and family breakdown or abandonment of children, harmful practices such as early and forced marriages, natural disasters, war and internal displacement are also some of the reasons that children end up on the streets.

Contrary to popular belief, street children are not restricted to the developing world alone. They are present in all countries. The particular problems children in developed countries face might differ to those encountered by street children in a developing country but they all still have connections to the streets and their hostile environment.

Birth registration key

They are so many and so prevalent yet the street children have merged like lifeless features into the landscapes in which they exist. Street children around the world go unnoticed, uncared for and worst still - they remain unaccounted for.

With no registration and identity documents, they often have no access to basic services such as schooling and healthcare to which all children are entitled. They suffer routine violation of their fundamental rights and are left vulnerable in situations that risk their survival and infract their dignity.

Plan believes that registration of every child is a key first step in addressing the complex issues affecting the lives of children, particularly those in challenging circumstances such as street children.

Invisible children

If children are not recorded, they remain invisible to authorities. Therefore, the causes that drive them to streets and factors that severely compromise their rights in a life connected to streets remain uninvestigated and unmitigated.

As governments and the world in general ignore their plight, for most children extricating themselves from the morass of street existence is a lonely, losing battle. They are up against all odds.

There is traction in waging a war for the invisibles but there are not many takers for the visible street children few want to see.

Watch video on Plan’s work with street children in Bangladesh

Sign Plan’s birth registration petition to the UN

12 April 2012: See the difference Plan-funded drop-in centres are making to thousands of children living on the streets of Bangladesh this International Street Children Day.

There are 680,000 street children in Bangladesh and nearly half of them are aged under 10. Many of these children struggle to find food, suffer from abuse and have no access to education or health facilities.

Since 2002, Plan's drop-in centres have been helping children to escape life on the street by providing a secure and healthy living environment where they can stay. In addition to general support, the centres run classes in subjects such as literacy, music, art and drama, while older children receive vocational skills training.

International Street Children Day

International Street Children Day is marked on 12 April each year to give a voice to some of the most disadvantaged and invisible children of this world.

The day aims to raise awareness and recognition of this global issue and put pressure on policy makers to create an environment in which street children's rights are realised.

Learn about Plan's global child protection work

Find out more about Plan's work in Bangladesh

6 April 2012: Dona Tchamo, a 67-year-old mother from Guinea-Bissau, used to carry out female genital mutilation (FGM) on young girls. Today she explains what made her stop and why she now works with Plan to advocate against the practice.

For many years, I practiced female genital mutilation on girls. Sometimes, I would travel far from my village to perform ceremonies on girls, as far away as Senegal or Mauritania. FGM can mean the partial or total removal of all external genitalia as part of the process towards womanhood.

Being subjected to the knife is viewed as proper; a good tradition and a rite of passage and acceptance by many communities. I am Muslim, and for many years this practice was forced upon Muslim women.

But now many see it as part of their tradition and culture; they accept it, proudly subjecting their young daughters to the knife.

Knife ceremonies

When I was a girl, the knife ceremonies were always looked forward to in my village. There would be great festivities when a girl was to enter womanhood that would culminate by a girl having her genitals cut so she could be clean and ready for motherhood.

A woman who had not undergone the knife was not clean to prepare the food for her husband. She would not be accepted by her community, or that of her future husband. I remember my own ceremony like it was yesterday. I was so proud for myself, and my family, to know that I was carrying out tradition.

Being accepted

The evening begins with people dancing and singing until early in the morning. Then breakfast is prepared, rice with yogurt. For the girls about to undergo the ceremony, they eat 2 spoonfuls and then take a third which they would throw onto the roof of the house. This is called the Nhirri Chonli or “birth food”.

Men and women across West Africa practice some form of genital mutilation - the old perform it on the young. It is the way of being accepted into the community.

Death risk

For most of my life, I believed in this practice. Then, last year, I left the knife. I met a woman in Bafata, Adamaia, who worked with Plan. She shared with me the health risks of FGM and how it can harm women and girls - even kill them.

She helped me understand that to be a woman, one didn’t have to change your anatomy to earn respect, be a mother and take care of your family.

Speaking out

I wish I knew all that I know now, earlier. This would have changed the lives of so many girls. I wouldn’t have put them at such a risk. I feel lucky because I haven’t suffered as some women do from FGM with infertility, infections, pain and discomfort in relations with their husbands and in child birth. I see now how this is not a ‘good tradition’ but one that hurts women and can even cause death.

Now, I no longer wield the knife. Instead, I help others understand why they should stop the practice of FGM. I can speak as someone who has experienced the knife in 2 ways - receiving it and applying it to young girls.

I tell them: FGM doesn’t help you, your village or your family. Don’t subject your little girls to the knife.

Find out more about Plan’s work in Guinea-Bissau

But 18-month-old Ibrahim isn’t even crying, he’s bleating. No tears fall. He doesn’t have the energy. He is a bundle of skin and bones in his mother’s arms. His eyes barely open.

Severely malnourished, Ibrahim is now in the Intensive Therapeutic Feeding Centre, Tillabéri, Niger, and should recover. Hadija is humiliated, blaming herself for taking her baby to the brink of death by not feeding him adequately.

Brutal scenario

She’s unaware that there are hundreds of thousands of mothers like her in Niger – last year 300,000 children were treated for severe malnutrition here – a shocking15% of all children treated for malnutrition worldwide.

Every year Niger has a “hungry season” beginning in June. An over-reliance on 3 months of rainfall to grow one crop - millet - has been compounded by years of drought and pest infestations.

But this year all the signs are pointing towards a more brutal scenario as people are already finding it hard to feed themselves.

The Nigerien government warns that soon more than a third of the population – 6 million people – will only have enough food to last 6 weeks.

Time to act

Halima holds up some cattle feed - it's all her family have left to eat

I am here in Niger making a film for Plan – like many other agencies Plan is asking governments to act now, rather than wait for famine to spur them into action.

Hassane Mahamadou, Plan’s head of Tillabéri office, explains to me that last year’s drought was just “one too many failed harvests” for Nigeriens to bear – they have no reserves to fall back on.

“This year we’re coming out of several crises, so people have accumulated debts,” he says. “Since 2005 people have kept on borrowing in order to pay back their debts so people’s purchasing power has fallen.”

In desperation, villagers are heading abroad in search of work. In Ibrahim’s village, 300 out of 1,000 people have left with promises of sending money to those left behind.

Surviving on animal feed

Halima Younoussa’s husband joined the exodus to Nigeria but has yet to send money home. So she is left trying to feed her 4 children, all under 5. She pounds millet for other families - when she sieves the powder, she is left with the residue as her payment. Normally reserved for animals, Halima and her children are living off this twice a day.

But they don’t care – the children are so hungry, as soon as she takes the bowl away from the fire they stretch out their cupped hands as if begging for the food.

“I’m scared we won’t be able to find other food and we’ll just eat millet residue and one of my children will die,” she said.

Room for optimism

I feel guilty that I can leave, while they are stuck in the hell of heat and hunger. On the road back to Tillabéri, I stop to interview Plan’s Mahamadou and ask him if he has any reason for optimism. Smiling, he explains that the longer-term work of Plan is beginning to bear fruit.

Plan has set up small gardens, encouraging villagers to diversify their crops and use irrigation for watering rather than rely on rainfall. The results have been encouraging.

In Dessa school garden, the children planted potatoes and have just  harvested enough to feed the entire school twice and send the 200 pupils home with 1.5kg each. They sold the rest  and earned about £180.

“When the rest of the village saw what the children had done, they were really motivated - if children can do this much, can you imagine what adults could do?!” said headmaster Diallo Soumana.

His enthusiasm is infectious, and I leave feeling that Mahamadou was right - there is room for optimism in Niger.

Watch Mary's film and support the West Africa food crisis appeal

Note some names have been changed

Nishat's journey to the top of Everest should take 2 months

28 March 2012: Nishat Majumder will fly the flag for Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign as she attempts to go into the record books with her bid to become the first Bangladeshi woman to scale Mount Everest.

The 31-year-old accountant, who will be joined on the climb by veteran Bangladeshi mountaineer MA Mohit, is set to begin her 2-month adventure on 9 April.

With a solid resume of expeditions already under her belt, Nishat’s latest challenge will be her biggest test yet as she tries to tame all 8,848 metres of the world’s highest mountain. Nishat has been training hard and with her eyes set firmly on the top, dedicating the climb to Plan’s girls campaign seemed an obvious choice.

“Taking on this challenge as a woman, I realised just how important it is for girls to be empowered. Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign is all about having a voice and being strong, so I wanted to do this to show girls around the world that nothing is impossible,” says Nishat.

The long, steep road

It was 2003 when Nishat first discovered her passion for hiking up mountains and since then she’s been no stranger to overcoming the odds, having already been crowned the first Bangladeshi woman to conquer 3 Himalayan peaks higher than 6,000 metres.

The journey to become the first Bangladeshi woman to beat Everest faces some stiff competition, though, as another Bangladeshi - Wasfia Nazreen - began an attempt on 11 March. But none of that will be on Nishat’s mind as she begins her own test of endurance.

Also up for the challenge is Nishat’s climbing partner, Mohit, who is the only Bangladeshi to make it to the top of Everest, Manaslu and Cho-Oyu - 3 summits higher than 8,000 metres.

Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign to fight gender inequality and promote girls' rights will be officially launched around the world on the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October.

To get the latest news about Nishat's journey, follow the hashtag #NishatClimbs on Twitter.

Join Plan's Because I am a Girl campaign.

A farmer from Niger standing in a field of failed crops

27 March 2012: A study carried out by a coalition of 7 leading aid organisations*, including Plan, has found that between 70 and 90% of people from communities in western and eastern Niger fear their food stocks will run out before the next harvest, creating an imminent 'hunger gap'.

All families surveyed said they had already reduced the amount of food consumed each day because they did not have enough to eat.

It is the latest in mounting evidence pointing to a potentially massive humanitarian disaster in the Sahel region of Africa, where some 13 million people are at risk from a food crisis - including one million children at risk of severe malnutrition.

Erratic rains and an attack of pests and locusts destroyed entire harvests in 2011, leaving families with nothing to eat. High food and fodder prices are giving people few options.

Urgent need for action

In Niger alone, more than 6 million people are at risk of hunger; nearly 2 million of those urgently need food assistance.

Rheal Drisdelle, Plan’s country director in Niger, said: "Young children are at greatest risk of acute malnutrition, which can lead to developmental delays, stunt growth and make them more vulnerable to infections and disease. Failure to act now will have devastating consequences for a whole generation of children in West Africa."

Emergency appeal

Plan has launched an emergency appeal and is providing vital supplies to affected families.

We have already started targeting more than 158,000 vulnerable people in Niger's Tillabéri region and will shortly be expanding our response to 474,000 people in Dosso region.

Our activities include food distribution, school feeding programmes, and support for cereal banks, small gardening activities and nutrition.

Please support Plan’s emergency work by making a donation to the West Africa food crisis appeal today.

Download a full copy of the study via the ACAPS website**

* The study was conducted by the Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS) and the Emergency Capacity Building Project (a coalition including CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, Plan International, Save the Children and World Vision), with input from the World Food Programme and the government of Niger.

** Plan is not responsible for the content on external websites