Anticipatory Action: Seeds and Cash Transfers to Protect the Dignity and Resilience of Rural Women in Guidimakha, Mauritania

19/08/2026

As the Guidimakha region faces increasing risks of drought and food insecurity across the Sahel, the FAO Representation in Mauritania, with support from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), implemented a targeted Anticipatory Action intervention in the Guidimakha region, specifically in the moughataas (departments) of Wompou and Sélibaby under the project Anticipatory Action to Reduce the Impact of Droughts on the Most Vulnerable Populations in the Guidimakha Region – OSRO/MAU/051/CHA..

In these vulnerable areas, women bear the primary responsibility for household well-being and much of the daily agricultural work. For this reason, the intervention placed women's empowerment and gender equality at the heart of its implementation strategy.

The operation combined direct support for agricultural production with emergency social protection by linking agricultural self-reliance to financial inclusion for vulnerable households. On the one hand, the distribution of 12 tonnes of locally adapted traditional sorghum and cowpea seeds to 750 households enabled women farmers to anticipate climate shocks, secure the upcoming cropping season, and preserve their local seed varieties. On the other hand, cash transfers totaling MRU 2.7 million were provided to 517 households—benefiting more than 5,400 people—offering women heads of household the financial resources needed to meet their families' most urgent needs, including food, healthcare, and education, without resorting to harmful coping strategies.

To ensure full accountability and equitable participation, Complaint Management Committees (CMCs) were established in all beneficiary communities. These mechanisms provided safe and accessible channels for addressing grievances while ensuring that the specific needs of women were heard and that access to agricultural inputs and financial assistance was transparent, secure, and free from discrimination.

"By receiving these seeds before the peak of the drought, we are not only protecting our future harvests—we are preserving our ability to feed our families and remain resilient in the face of climate change," shared one beneficiary during the seed distribution.

Through this anticipatory action, FAO Mauritania reaffirms its commitment to transforming emergency interventions into lasting opportunities for the empowerment of rural women, who are indispensable pillars of food security and community resilience across the Sahel.