Senior officials meeting on the Sahel and Lake Chad

On 6 October 2025, the EU and Denmark co-organised a Senior officials meeting (SOM) on the Sahel and Lake Chad.

The objective of the meeting, which was held in hybrid format from Dakar (Senegal) and hosted 164 participants was twofold:

• to validate a shared diagnosis of issues at stake in the region (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Togo)
• to formulate recommendations for a Ministerial Roundtable, taking place on 19 November 2025

The SOM was opened by Commissioner Hadja Lahbib via a pre-recorded video message. The participants were split into 4 discussion groups covering the following topics:

1. Humanitarian space
2. Fragility and Nexus
3. Protection and IHL
4. Effectiveness of humanitarian aid

In each group, the panellists were a mixture of representatives of humanitarian partners (NRC, ICG, FONGA, WFP, IRC, UNHCR, ICRC, TinTua, OCHA), of donors (Denmark, Ireland, Spain, WB, INTPA), and of national authorities (Mauritania, Burkina Faso). Each discussion started with a presentation of the results of field consultations with humanitarian actors in the region, which took place during the summer of 2025.

The following key messages came out from the thematic discussions:

• there is a strong need to remain engaged - through dialogue and funding
• against a reality of shrinking humanitarian space and reduced funding - there is a need to adapt the way of working, improving the coordination among the various actors operating the regions
• there is a need to ensure continuity of development activities and there are possibilities to do so
• it remains imperative to put protection of civilians in the core of all interventions and to ensure respect of IHL
• it is important to continue and strengthen the support to the authorities in their efforts to build more sustainable protection environment

The SOM concluded with the announcement that the recommendations from the thematic discussions will be used as a basis to formulate for policy commitment during the Ministerial round table on solutions proposed.

For more information, please consult the chair's summary (FR Version).