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Niger: strengthening institutions and supporting the private sector
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From 20 to 22 March, Jérémie Pellet, Chief Executive Officer of Expertise France, made a trip to Niger. The agency has been operating in the country for several years through health, agriculture, economic & financial governance and security projects. This trip was an opportunity to renew Expertise France’s commitment to its Nigerien partners. This was symbolised by the signing of two new projects to strengthen the health system, support the development of women’s entrepreneurship, and strengthen and structure the Civil Protection Service. The CEO’s trip was also an opportunity to sign the amendment to AFD’s Establishment Agreement, allowing Expertise France to benefit from a status and increase its intervention capacity in the country.
Niger is faced with the highest population growth in the world, which poses huge challenges in terms of stability, poverty reduction and health issues. In 2022, Niger experienced the worst food, nutritional and pastoral crisis of this decade. The country’s security situation has also significantly worsened since 2014. In this context, a number of international partners, including France, are supporting Niger.
France shares a longstanding special relationship with Niger. The two countries have signed many agreements in the fields of cultural, judicial and defence cooperation.
In line with the programming of the European Union and AFD, Expertise France’s action in the country mainly concerns security, health, economic and financial governance, and support for youth and women’s entrepreneurship.
Health: fighting pandemics and dealing with the health crisis
Expertise France has been operating in the health sector in Niger for several years through projects supported by L’Initiative. For example, it has been supporting the National AIDS and Hepatitis Control Programme (PNLSH) since 2020 via three technical assistance missions gathering ten experts and amounting to over €650,000, and the Grant Management Unit of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) since 2021 via five expert missions, mainly focusing on improving the quality of its clinical management of HIV, but also for programmatic aspects.
In 2020, in response to the Covid-19 health crisis, Expertise France launched the COVAX project with AFD funds. It aims to provide an inclusive and agile response that can be mobilised in the short term.
The objective of L’Initiative for the coming years is to review our technical assistance methods, with the aim of building sustainable capacities in the entities that implement grants and ultimately improving performance, as well as ensuring that the MSP is confirmed as the principal recipient of the Global Fund.
Mobilisation of domestic resources: improving the performance of the Directorate General of Taxes
Expertise France operates with both AFD and European financing to increase the mobilisation of domestic resources and allow the Nigerien Government to provide sustainable access to essential public services. These activities are implemented by technical assistants deployed directly in the partner administrations. This presence ensures that there is close support for the implementation of the reforms.
Supporting youth and women’s entrepreneurship
Launched in 2023, the project to support youth and women’s entrepreneurship (PEJEF) aims to contribute to the economic empowerment of women and young entrepreneurs in Niger.
To this end, Expertise France will help develop the public-private ecosystem to support women’s and youth entrepreneurship through entrepreneurial initiatives mainly led by women and young people.
The activities will be based on three lines of action:
- Strengthen and operationalise the public and private ecosystem to support women’s and youth entrepreneurship. This involves helping the ministries concerned by the entrepreneurial policy in Niger inform the public about the existing systems, and building the capacities of the Maison de l’Entreprise business centre and the Directorate-General for Private Sector Promotion
- Provide technical and financial support to the women and young entrepreneurs selected to improve their performance and the sustainability of their entrepreneurial project. It involves strengthening the incubation centres and entrepreneurship support structures to enable them to provide quality technical assistance, as well as making credit available to young and women entrepreneurs to start or build their business
- Inform young Nigeriens, especially those who have limited access to information, and encourage them to become entrepreneurs through the existing support ecosystem. A number of activities will be organised in schools, for the general public, and during community events to raise awareness at an early stage among young people and women who do not have access to information.
Increasing the security of people
In the first quarter of 2023, Expertise France launched its KARIYA project in Niger. Financed with €15 million by AFD’s Minka Fund, it aims to strengthen and structure Niger’s Civil Protection Service in three regions (Niamey, Maradi and Zinder). The objective is to facilitate the integration of female personnel and increase the resilience of people to climate change, especially women and internally displaced persons.
Through its support to the Civil Protection Service, it is also contributing to strengthening State intervention in the various territories and to building confidence with communities. KARIYA is led by Expertise France and financed by AFD, with a contribution from the Security and Defence Cooperation Directorate (DCSD) of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. It is a symbol of cooperation with Niger, a longstanding partner, based on a Team France approach.
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