The Sahel region, or the Sahel (Arabic ساحل “coast” or “shore of the desert”), describes the transition zone between the Sahara in the north and the wet savannah in the south. A large part od the Sahel is formed by the states of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

The Sahel is full of history, culture, dance, music and above all, full of people who love, laugh and celebrate. However, the inhabitants of the Sahel also have to cope with difficult circumstances and political tensions.
Due to the geographic location of the Sahel, special climatic conditions prevail. The characteristic long periods of drought and infrequent heavy rainfalls, which cannot be absorbed by the dry and hard soil, make agriculture difficult. Due to non-existent or unreliable, expensive water pumps, rain-fed agriculture is often the only option. This is a form of agriculture in which the water for the crops is provided by the rainfall and no additional artificial irrigation is used. As a result, farmers are forced to move every 2 years to avoid overuse of the soil. This is usually not possible for financial reasons and lack of food, so after a few years of use the field becomes ‘dead’. Thus, the productive and is not only subjected to severe circumstances, but also becomes less and less. In addition, according to FAO, about 40 percent of fruit and vegetable harvests spoil due to lack of refrigeration possibilities. As the climate crisis continues, so does desertification. Desertification describes the spread of the desert, which affects many people in the Sahel. In the course of this, an area of land roughly the size of Baden-Württemberg is lost every year.

For the steadily growing population – having many children is a kind of old-age provision – this not only causes a poverty problem, but also a great shortage of food. As a result of the existence-threatening circumstances and the hopeless future, some people see themselves forced to earn their living through criminal activities, such as illegal cigarette, drug and human trafficking. Various terrorist organizations also operate in the Sahel, taking advantage of the unstable government situation and ethnic tensions. Thus, assistance from non-governmental organizations is often blocked or even prevented.