At a glance: Niger

The big picture

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This map does not reflect a position by UNICEF on the legal status of any country or territory or the delimitation of any frontiers.

Sixty-three per cent of Niger’s population lives below the absolute poverty level, with women making up two-thirds of this figure. The situation of women and children is characterized by women’s high fertility rate, a wide gap between men and women in terms of health, education and literacy and high maternal mortality.

UNICEF continues to improve coordination with the Government and other development partners. UNICEF Niger has ensured that a child rights approach forms the basis for the development of the new country programme of cooperation.

The basic education programme continues to focus on promoting girls' education and improving school environment, curricula, equipment, furnishings and education innovations. Girls' education and women's literacy now constitute the launching points for community-based initiatives targeting women. UNICEF is working towards further involving traditional structures in conducting rapid assessments, appraisals, in-depth surveys and studies to collect data on child protection for policy purposes and consolidating and enhancing positive behaviour changes in the area of child and women's rights. This includes increasing awareness of birth registration, discouraging early marriage, promoting nutrition and girls' education. 

Community-based programming is also significantly advanced by the Integrated Basic Services (IBS) Programme. Education priority areas include: enhancing partnerships within the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and other collaborative strategic frameworks such as the Education Platform grouping multilateral, bilateral and non governmental organizations (NGO) and developing new strategies to boost education in nomadic zones.

The health and nutrition programme consists of immunization campaigns (particularly polio eradication), nutrition, malaria control and HIV/AIDS activities. The promotional sale of mosquito nets has been instrumental in preventing malaria outbreaks while Local Immunization Days (LIDs) and National Immunization Days (NIDs) are proving effective in several regions. Promoting household food security and administering micronutrients continue to be an effective strategy in improving the nutritional status of children and women and the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) strategy is being expanded. UNICEF has also made important progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS, including contributing significantly towards the adoption of a national strategic framework.
 
The Integrated Basic Services (IBS) programme attempts to ensure better service delivery to the beneficiary population. In health, IBS interventions include immunization, training health staff in integrated early childhood (IEC) and strengthening regional and district health planning. In education, IBS supports primary education activities, such as the African Girls Education Initiative (AGEI), special tutoring for girls, schools pharmacies, school management committees and the monitoring of the education programme. Other inputs included the training of teachers on gender, HIV/AIDS and income generating activities (to enhance the attendance of nomadic girls). IBS also supports the Tibiri psychosocial project for children affected by severe fluorosis and provides quality water to communities in order to prevent further cases.

UNICEF's government counterparts now recognize community-based development as a participatory planning process that is critical for the empowerment of communities to develop coping strategies tailored to address their needs. Through effective advocacy at the highest levels of Government, UNICEF has successfully overcome obstacles impeding NGO involvement as key partners in delivering community-based action. As a result of UNICEF interventions and increased NGO partnerships, promising results are evident in HIV/AIDS public awareness, behaviour change, care for infected persons, and also, the introduction of a programme to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.