The population of Mauritania suffers from multiple vulnerabilities caused by the superposition of security, social and economic crises that the region is experiencing. The effects of climate change, particularly drought events, exacerbate these vulnerabilities. Almost a third of the population lives below the poverty line and between 450 000 and 1 000 000 people are food insecure each year, particularly during the agricultural lean period.

Based on an early warning system (EWS) of drought conditions, a part of the Social Safety Net System Project II (SSNSP) helps the Mauritanian Government to implement cash transfer programmes in response to climatic shocks, mainly during the lean season and possibly also when floods and bushfires occur. The project developed a predictive model to anticipate drought risk and food security needs during upcoming lean seasons. The model uses remote-sensing data (the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and biomass, as well as historic household-level data from the Food Security Monitoring Survey (FSMS)) collected every six months in Mauritania. The Elmaouna programme,129 implemented by the Mauritanian Food Security Commission (CSA), provides direct support to poor and vulnerable populations in the event of a shock, in particular, drought (emergency transfer during the lean season), and upstream support before the impacts are felt when the EWS allows it. During the lean period, targeted households receive a cash transfer of 75% of the average food basket for four months which helps to eradicate hunger and malnutrition and increase resilience.

The aim was for the CSA to deploy emergency aid within a very short time frame, based on data from the social register integrated with analyses from the Food Security Observatory (OSA, part of CSA). The programme allowed households affected by hazards to become solvent, and thus prevented recourse to harmful adaptation measures (such as the sale of livestock at low prices, marriage of young girls and so forth). During the 2022 lean season, the Elmaouna shock response programme reached 69 074 food insecure households – 47 000 of which were supported through the project.

During the 2022 lean season, the Elmaouna shock response programme provided malnutrition prevention, treatment and assistance to 47 000 food insecure households.