The Sahel Alliance was founded on July 13, 2017 and today includes Germany, the African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the West African Development Bank, the World Bank, Canada, Denmark, Spain, the United States, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Nations, Norway, the United Kingdom, Sweden and the European Union as full members.
Nine countries or organizations have also joined the Sahel Alliance as an observer member: Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, the International Finance Corporation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Ireland and the International Organization of La Francophonie.
Each full member organization has the possibility of including in the Sahel Alliance project portfolio, development projects meeting the following criteria:
- Implemented in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and/or Chad;
- Relating to one of the key or transversal sectors of the Sahel Alliance;
- The implementation of which was not completed as of January 1, 2017.
The projects that fall into the portfolio are then labeled “Alliance Sahel”.
For greater accountability, a harmonized database of Alliance Sahel labeled projects has been developed. This tool allows detailed monitoring of projects with a particular focus on disbursements already made. Portfolio data is updated annually to monitor and analyze changes in commitment and disbursement rates and enable increased transparency with sahelian countries, beneficiaries and members of the Sahel Alliance.