Last Tuesday in Zinder, a town in one of Niger’s main agricultural regions, I met a 23-year-old woman named Sueba, who had carried her two-year-old daughter, Zulayden, more than 50 miles to reach emergency food assistance. Sueba had already lost two children to hunger, and her remaining child weighed just 60 per cent of what a typical two-year-old weighs. She worried that, at worst, her little girl would not survive, or, at best, would live throughout her life with the same hunger and deprivation to which she herself had long since become accustomed.With a look I will never forget, she pleaded with the world to respond to her cry for help, not just today but in the months and years ahead.

The people and government of Niger are grappling with a devastating array of challenges, including hunger, prolonged drought, accelerating desertification, infestations of locusts and regional market failures. Government and civil society groups alike have now mobilised to deliver help to those who need it most, especially children. I saw profound suffering in Niger but I also saw signs that the country can come through this crisis, with lessons for all of us.