The initial aim of the club concentrated on facilitating cooperation between Sahel States and member nations of OECD to provide solutions to food security and long-term economic growth.
The club is aligned with the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD).
In 1973 at the height of the Sahel drought, a committee consisting of Senegal, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger initiated the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS).
The concept for founding the club was to improve collaboration between the Sahel states and OECD countries and donors.
[2] In 2001, as a result of the inter-dependence between the Sahel states and the ECOWAS community, membership was enlarged and the objectives of the club was turned to sustainable development, agricultural transformation, peace and security, regional integration and food security for vulnerable households.