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West Africa Department
DFID, 1 Palace Street, London, SW1E 5HE
Email: enquiry@dfid.gov.uk
Map courtesy of the FCO
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Niger
Niger is the poorest country in the world – last out of 177 countries
in the
 UN
Human Development Report 2005. Over 60% of the population live on less
than one dollar a day (1990-2003 average), and the adult literacy rate is
less than 15% (2003).
DFID fact sheet on Niger (186
kb)
Political and Economic Situation
In 1999 Niger’s voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution that
provided for presidential and legislative multi-party elections. These took
place later in the year and Mamadou Tandja was elected as president. He was
re-elected in December 2004 for a second term with 65% of the vote.
The economy is dominated by rural subsistence agriculture, uranium-mining and
informal trade and services. In recent years GDP growth has been highly volatile
and very low on average. In 2004, it was estimated at 0.9% following the
locust plague and drought. In 2005 the population faced a severe food crisis.
Progress against Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Niger remains behind the average for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) on most social
indicators, but has made improvements in education over the last decade. For
example, primary enrolment increased from 24% in 1990 to 38% in 2002. Education
is a focus of the President’s Special Programme of poverty reduction projects.
In 2002 a ten-year development plan for education (PDDE) was launched in line
with the country's Poverty Reduction Strategy.
DFID Development Programme
DFID assistance to Niger focuses on three main areas – girls’ education,
humanitarian assistance and debt relief:
The joint visit by Hilary Benn and his French counterpart Xavier Darcos to
Niger in February 2005 stemmed from commitments made to strengthen Anglo-French
partnership on development made at the summit in November 2004. During the
visit, the two ministers signed an undertaking to help Niger accelerate progress
towards education and gender MDGs. This represents the first delegated
cooperation arrangement in Africa, and DFID funding will be channelled through
the French Development Agency to Niger in support of the Government of Niger’s
education sector plan.
DFID will provide £7 million over the next three years with the
possibility of further support later.
Extreme poverty, marginal livelihoods, and other chronic issues lie at the
heart of the crisis which affected Niger and other Sahelian countries in 2005,
with inadequate rainfall, and locust infestation the previous year, adding to
the problem in some areas.
The UK was one of the first donors to respond to the crisis in Niger when the
UN launched its
emergency
appeal in May 2005. We provided £3.25 million to the relief effort, and
followed up with a further £2 million to aid the recovery process and ease
further humanitarian stresses. Last year’s crisis had a devastating impact on
more than 3 million people in Niger. The loss of livestock and other assets has
made them highly vulnerable to further shocks.
On the back of reasonable food production, the situation is more stable than
in 2005, with the humanitarian community far better placed, and resourced, to
respond effectively to emergency needs. However, the legacy from the 2005 crisis
suggests that up to 1.8 million people could still face acute food shortages
in the coming months, and up to 380,000 children in Niger could require food aid
this year. In view of this situation we have agreed to provide an
additional £1.5
million
in 2006 to help prevent a repetition of last year’s food crisis. The funding
will be provided through the UN and NGOs who are working on continuing relief
operations in the country.
Additionally, the wider Sahel region, including Mali and Burkina
Faso, will receive a multi-annual budget of £500,000 per year for the
next three years to tackle longer-term nutritional vulnerabilities. DFID
will continue to monitor the humanitarian situation closely in these countries, where current emergency needs and the risk of deterioration are judged to be
more manageable, but where chronic nutritional vulnerabilities pose similar
threats to the poorest through the hungry season.
We are currently reviewing our programme and 2007/08 allocation.
Niger completed the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in
April 2004 and received its binding HIPC debt write off. 100% of its
outstanding bilateral debt to the UK was also cancelled at this time. In
January 2006, Niger received 100% debt cancellation at the IMF under the
G8’s
Multilateral
Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). We are confident similar cancellations will
be agreed at the World Bank and African Development Bank soon. In the meantime,
since January 2005, the UK has agreed to pay its share (10%) of Niger’s debt
service to the World Bank (IDA) and African Development Bank (AfDF). In total,
Niger will receive US$1,387,155 from the UK, and the UK will reimburse Niger for
$74,655 that was paid by Niger on a bilateral loan made through the EU (EEC
Special Action Credit 00430).
News and Events
A DFID mission will visit Niger in July to assess the current situation and
further humanitarian assistance funding needs.
Links
Last updated: 18 April 2007
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