Niger
Niger is a landlocked country in West Africa facing many challenges, both in terms of development and in terms of security and humanitarian matters.
The country is bottom of the rankings of the Human Development Index of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), despite progress in terms of economic growth and social development in recent years. The food security situation is structurally fragile due to poor harvests linked to droughts and recurrent floods and because of the precarious conditions that large segments of the Nigerian society live in.
Our priorities
In the Sahel region, Niger is a key country for the EU in terms of addressing security and migration issues. The EU has a strong partnership with the government, aiming to achieve long-term development through a comprehensive and integrated approach.
Our development cooperation focuses on 3 priority areas:
- Supporting a resilient economy, new economic opportunities, job creation, private sector development and inclusive growth.
- Reinforcing state capacities for good governance and developing Niger’s human capital and ensuring resilience and security.
- Cooperation with Niger for accelerating efforts to manage migration flows.
Our programmes
The 11th European Development Fund (EDF) National Indicative Programme (NIP) allocated €686 million for the 2014-2020 funding period. The focal sectors are:
Food and nutritional security and resilience –to increase the availability of food and income through the growth of a sustainable community or individual production.
Strengthening State capacities to implementing social policies – by improving the financial capacity for the implementation of public policies.
Security, governance and peace consolidation – to support the reform of the justice system, contribute to the organisation of elections, support the internal security services, and develop the capacity of decentralised authorities.
Road access to areas affected by insecurity and the risk of conflict – to open up areas of agro-pastoral production and improve access to basic social services in the regions.
Besides these 4 focal sectors, some of the EDF funds are earmarked for support to civil society (focus on youth, the fight against radicalisation, democratic values...) and the National Authorizing Officer and a Technical Cooperation Facility.