Mauritania

CISP has been operating in Mauritania since 2016, where it is officially registered. The organization works in the Hodh el Chargui region in the areas of food security, natural resource management, and conflict prevention between host communities and refugees, who are primarily Malian. Interventions are carried out in close collaboration with competent authorities, humanitarian aid coordination actors (i.e., UNHCR), and target groups. 

Approach

In Mauritania, CISP applies a Triple Nexus approach (Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus), integrating emergency interventions and responses to the humanitarian crisis affecting the Malian population—as well as the climate crisis affecting the host population—with resilience building, the promotion of durable solutions, and conflict prevention and resolution actions among refugees, returnees, and host communities. In all its interventions in Mauritania, CISP adopts a gender-transformative approach aimed at strengthening women’s capacity and self-determination in generating income and producing highly nutritious agricultural products for their families. The organization promotes the valorization of local experience and knowledge, the leadership and ownership of target communities, and the active involvement of municipalities and local technical services. 

Other Important Information

In the field of Agriculture, Food Security, and Natural Resource Management, interventions aim to promote greater ownership of local resources, particularly in the sectors of fisheries (fish farming and processing), agro-pastoralism, and grain storage through grain banks. CISP supports the development and dissemination of innovative solutions and climate-sustainable technologies in local contexts, such as hydroponic fodder production and fish smoking using highly energy-efficient ovens. Special emphasis is placed on strengthening women’s cooperatives involved in the production and processing of agricultural goods. 

In the field of Social Cohesion, CISP supports processes for building peaceful coexistence among refugee communities, returnees, and host communities through: i) the creation of conflict resolution mechanisms by training specialized committees; ii) the identification of transhumance routes through boundary marking and signaling activities, in order to better guide herd movement and ensure the equitable management of natural resources (wells and pastures). 

In the field of Emergency Response, interventions aim to strengthen the resilience capacity of populations living under stressful conditions through Multi-Purpose Cash Transfers, a tool recognized internationally for its effectiveness and based on the principles of the Sphere Project. Multipurpose cash transfers, carried out in accordance with the guidelines of the Cash Working Group, enable beneficiaries to independently meet their priority needs—such as food, health, housing, or protection—while fostering local economic recovery and reducing negative coping mechanisms.