About Project 21

The regional, inter-agency project harmonizes Protection Monitoring in the Sahel, providing standardized tools and methodology to support evidence-based analysis and decision-making. Project 21 monitors are conducting monthly interviews with key informants and households in displaced and host communities, face-to-face in most of the covered localities, and via phone in physically inaccessible areas.

Since the start of the project in 2021, geographic coverage and volume of data collection have significantly increased. Project 21 is fully rolled out in the Central Sahel and Chad. In 2023, partners gathered data from 2,500 communities, conducting more than 25,000 interviews. More recently, P21 tools have also been introduced in Cote d’Ivoire and Benin, and are planned to start in Mauritania.

@Projet21

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THE GOAL

Through coherent datasets and joint analyses across the region, Project 21 supports humanitarian, development, and peace actors to effectively address protection risks and needs of the people in the Sahel.

Strengthening coordination and cohesion of protection monitoring

Generating analyses at national and regional level

Supporting evidence-based programming

Strengthening a common narrative and targeted advocacy

How we work

In areas affected by insecurity in the central Sahel and Chad, the volatile context and dynamics of forced displacement are presenting major challenges to all humanitarian actors, including for data collection activities. Project 21 addresses gaps in protection data and analysis.

Project 21 is being implemented in areas affected by forced population movements. Covered areas correspond to those defined as priorities by the Protection Cluster, in particular on the basis of the severity of protection needs and risks, as well as operational capacities of data collection partners. The methodology used consists of a two-stage stratified cluster sampling, using a descending sequential sampling to establish the list of localities to be targeted within the covered administrative level 3 zones, and a random walk to target households to be monitored within these localities.

The applied methodology was therefore designed to be adaptable to the context of humanitarian emergencies. The volume, thematic diversity and regularity of the data and information collected make it possible to analyze the impact of the crisis on the protection environment of the monitored populations, in areas that are difficult to access and for which few, if any, other sources of reliable data are available.

The harmonization of the data collection tools and coordination of actors, trained to collect protection data in accordance with established standards, enable Project 21 to achieve comparable results across the different operational contexts of its coverage.