Visit Swiss Cooperation Office websites.
Niger
Website of the SDC in Niger: www.cooperation-suisse.admin.ch/niger/
 Niger is a priority country for Swiss development
cooperation. SDC has been working in this Sahel country since 1977 and concentrates its operations on three geographical areas: the Gaya region in the southwest (bordering on Benin and Nigeria), the
Maradi region (centre of agricultural production) and the Tillabéri region (in the northwest). SDC pursues several objectives: to help improve the quality of life and the living standards of Niger's
people by reducing poverty (targeting the mechanisms which generate it, in line with the National Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper) and by supporting the emergence of a constitutional state and more
gender equality by encouraging a local development approach.Faced with a structural food supply problem, Niger is regularly confronted with emergency situations requiring Swiss assistance, as in the last food and nutrition crisis in 2005. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Development Cooperation: Priorities
Priority areas
- Decentralization: applying the experience gleaned in promoting local governance to the new communities created by the decentralization process. This consists of arranging activities in civic education, organizational and institutional development as well as informal education.
- Local infrastructures: developing and using the skills acquired, especially in the fields of water power and country roads, by initiating activities focusing on water, social and local infrastructures, and establishing companies.
- Agro-sylvo-pastoral production: stressing the specific skills acquired in animal husbandry, and more generally, implementing activities concerning herd management, agriculture and breeding, biodiversity, rural land tenure, water and soil conservation and decentralized financing systems.
Transversal themes
- Gender: influencing the determination and ability of men and women so as to contribute to reducing inequalities in their relations, and promote women's participation in family and community decision-making bodies and their access to political institutions while respecting the values and the pace of change in Niger society.
- Good governance: promoting coordinated management of resources in the population, civil society and state institutions, based on the principles of the primacy of law, participation, transparency, accountability, equity and efficiency.
Partnerships
Swiss cooperation encourages dialogue and concerted action among different groups of players (horizontally) and various organizational levels (vertically) and involves:
- local organizations (community structures and volunteers)
- decentralized structures (municipalities)
- decentralized state services
- companies, consultancy firms and other service providers
- associations, unions and NGOs
- ministries
- the United Nations system, financial institutions and other donors
Humanitarian Aid: Priorities
The aid strategy for the pastoral regions of Filingue and Dakoro was decided as long ago as January 2005. The first support operations were carried out from May to June of that same year and were
extended until the end of July to make up for the late arrival of international aid. In parallel, an emergency aid programme for the Tera region was carried out from March to July 2005.
These activities were undertaken to allow beneficiaries to get through the most difficult period. In Tera, four operations were pinpointed out of a whole array of needs expressed by the
population:
- Distribution of manioc cuttings and seed for out-of–season growth (in March);
- Labour intensive land terracing work was carried out to improve difficult sections of rural roadways and to provide income for a maximum number of people, thus improving buying power in the area;
- Distribution of seed for the present growing season; and
- Sale of cereals at reduced rates. This programme helped limit the population exodus from Gorouol and reached 70'000 inhabitants.
In the pastoral region (Dakoro, Filingue and part of Guidan Roumji), sale of reduced price cereal and animal fodder was organized. The operation helped to save part of the livestock population and
to start migratory herding northwards with the first rains, thus freeing land for cultivation. 17'000 families were affected by this activity.
For Guidan Roumji, the goal was to reduce the effects of the famine during the crucial period of starting work in the fields through the sale of low-priced millet and rice. 5000 families in the
farming area were assisted under this programme.
Background information Niger
| Facts and Figures | |||
| Area | 1'267'000 km2 | ||
| Population | 13 million | ||
| Annual population growth 1975-1999 | 3.3% (2003) | ||
| Under-five mortality rate | 26.2% | ||
| Life expectancy | 44.3 years | ||
| Illiteracy (>15 years) | 85.6% | ||
| Gross national product GNP |
2.7 billion US$ |
||
| GNP per capita |
232 US$ |
||
| Source: World Report on Human Development 2003, UNDP | |||
Background information provided by the BBC
Local SDC contact address:
|
Niger (Niamey) |
|
|
Bureau de la Coopération Suisse au Niger |
|
| Phone | +227 207 3 3916 |
| Fax | +227 207 33313 |
| niamey@sdc.net | |
| Website | www.cooperation-suisse.admin.ch/niger/ |
 |
Additional Information and Documents Here, you will find more publications, links, documents and articles about Swiss development cooperation and humanitarian aid in this country. |