From June 2023 to December 2024, Groupe URD carried out the study "Strengthening coordination and safe spaces for humanitarian and stabilisation action in the Central Sahel" which aims to analyze how to mitigate and resolve tensions between humanitarian and stabilization approaches in the central Sahel, and to provide recommendations. The work was commissioned by FCDO, the (British) Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. The geographical coverage of the study includes Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mauritania, Senegal and the countries of the Gulf of Guinea.

Indeed, « Stabilization » raises many questions, as well as concerns about the unintended consequences of the various approaches implemented. These questions also concern the impact of these approaches on humanitarian action and the perception of aid actors by armed groups. This work has enabled us to analyze these difficulties in detail, and to identify ways of improving the coexistence of stabilization and humanitarian interventions.