CONTEXT
Niger is an emerging democracy landlocked in the increasingly unstable Sahel region. It consistently ranks at or near the bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index. USAID assists the Nigerien government and local partners to create economic opportunities and increase civic and political participation for Nigerien youth to help undermine extremist messages and encourage stability in Niger and the region.
APPROACH
This photo essay was created by USAID in Exposure. It highlights the work USAID’s Office of Food for Peace, which has partnered since 2012 with Catholic Relief Services to improve rural households’ resilience to recurrent shocks, such as droughts and floods, and reduce food insecurity in Niger’s Maradi and Zinder regions. The partnership uses a multi-pronged approach to strengthen agriculture, livelihoods, health, education and other sectors, benefiting about 600,000 people.
Firmly grounded in proven practices, Breakthrough ACTION works in partnership with governments, civil society, and communities around the world to implement creative and sustainable SBC programming, nurture SBC champions, mainstream new techniques and technologies, and advocate strategic and sustained investment in SBC.
REGIS-ER is a five year project financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Its objectives are to enhance the resilience of the peoples of Niger and Burkina Faso, to improve their food security, and to reduce their vulnerability to climate change-triggered events that lead to frequent humanitarian assistance requirements. REGIS-ER addresses the pillars of food security (availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability) as part of the process of reducing vulnerability of populations in marginal agro-pastoral regions of the Sahel.
The Niger Multiple-Use Water Services project, implemented from November 15, 2008 to December 3, 2010, improved the access of rural communities to water for drinking and productive uses through the installation water services (rope pumps, treadle pumps and the rehabilitation of traditional wells) and capacity building. The project also promoted hygiene and productive use livelihood activities such as gardens and fisheries. The project focused on communities in the Zinder Region, Departments of Kantché and Magaria, and Communes of Matameye, Doungou, Ichirnawa, Bandé, and Magaria
The West Africa Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Program (WA-WASH), implemented from 2011 to 2017, introduced innovative and low-cost water and sanitation technologies, and promoted appropriate hygienic behaviors at the community level. The program also developed practical models of sustainable WASH service delivery; and increases the capacity of national and regional institutions to replicate these approaches and models throughout the region.
Global Waters Radio recently spoke with water expert and engineer Eric Viala, who shares examples from Africa’s Sahel region to Cambodia about the powerful ways that strengthened water security contributes to environmental sustainability and improves communities’ resilience in the face of natural disasters.
Context
West Africa’s Sahel is an arid band stretching 1.1 million square miles. Made up of four countries—Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, and Niger—this zone’s mix of deeply rooted chronic poverty, food insecurity, limited rainfall, and recurrent drought drive the same vulnerable communities into crisis year after year.
CONTEXT
Following repeated large-scale humanitarian emergencies in the Sahel, USAID recognized that continuing to treat these recurrent crises as acute emergencies is extremely costly and does not effectively address their underlying causes.
