In July 2017, France, Germany and the European Union, along with the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), launched the Sahel Alliance, an international cooperation platform to do more and better in the Sahel region. Since its launch, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Denmark, the European Investment Bank, Norway, Sweden, the United States and Canada have joined the initiative as full members.
The Sahel Alliance has also 9 observer members: Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, the International Finance Corporation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Ireland and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.