Niger Appeal
Humanitarian Action for Children
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it
provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition,
education, health and protection services. Return to main appeal page.
Niger snapshot
Appeal highlights
- Niger is facing a combination of quick onset and protracted humanitarian crises. Increasing insecurity is leading to population displacements, in a country highly vulnerable to climate-related disasters, affected by multiple epidemic outbreaks and by nutritional crisis. A total of 3.8 million people, including 2.1 million children, will need humanitarian assistance in 2022.
- The burden of malnutrition will persist, while the lack of predictable funding to ensure medical and nutrition supplies over the long-term remains a major concern.
- UNICEF will provide a timely, coordinated and multi-sectoral humanitarian response, focusing on the needs of children and women. A systematic gender lens will be applied to all analysis and programme design.
- UNICEF requires US$82.4 million to provide life-saving, multi-sectoral assistance to vulnerable children and women affected by humanitarian crises in Niger with a focus in the areas of nutrition, education and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
Key planned results for 2022
432,804 children admitted for treatment for severe acute malnutrition
152,118 children vaccinated against measles
500,000 people reached with critical WASH supplies
378,000 women and children accessing gender-based violence mitigation, prevention, response
Funding requirements for 2022
Country needs and strategy
Humanitarian needs
Conflict, displacement, malnutrition, recurrent disease epidemics, cyclical floods and droughts in Niger have placed more than 3.8 million people, including 2.1 million children, in need of humanitarian assistance, in a context characterized by deep structural challenges and the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19. Many of those in need are located in hard-to-reach areas with limited humanitarian access, which remains a major bottleneck to the delivery of assistance.
Insecurity is spreading at a rapid pace in Niger, with heightened incidence of grave violations against children. Attacks in the Lake Chad region have prevented nearly 235,000 people in Diffa (eastern Niger) from returning home. Nearly 157,000 people are displaced in the regions of Tillabery and Tahoua, in western Niger. 16 Over 77,000 refugees who have fled community-based violence in northern Nigeria are currently living in Maradi region (central Niger), together with more than 21,000 internally displaced people (IDPs).
In 2022, an estimated 2.7 million people will experience food insecurity; an estimated 1.3 million children under 5 years of age will suffer from malnutrition, including over 432,804 children who will suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM); and nearly 1.3 million people will require access to emergency WASH services. Nearly 400,000 children may remain out of school due to insecurity or damage caused by flooding in educational institutions.
The country remains highly vulnerable to climate-related threats, including floods and drought. In 2021, 200,866 people have already been affected by floods, while the country has recorded 5,070 cases of cholera (including 1,765 children under 15 years) and 154 related deaths (of which 28 were children).
UNICEF’s strategy
In 2022, UNICEF's strong field presence and technical expertise will facilitate rapid deployment of emergency responses in line with the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action. UNICEF will respond to acute emergencies by improving cross-sectoral approaches, integrating a risk-based approach, and consolidating support to emergency cash transfers, which complement ongoing investment into national safety nets that is now more strongly anchored in UNICEF’s non-emergency programming.
Within the Rapid Response Mechanism, UNICEF will continue to lead technical coordination and procurement, transport and pre-positioning of contingency response stocks to meet the vital needs of the affected population. UNICEF will also expand humanitarian cash transfers to improve adaptation, flexibility and effectiveness of response; strengthen emergency preparedness; and integrate humanitarian action and development programming.
UNICEF will deliver SAM treatment and strengthen the health system and community platforms to ensure early detection and quality care for children suffering from severe wasting. To contribute to preventing wasting, stunting and micronutrient deficiencies, infant and young child feeding counselling interventions will be integrated both at health facility and community levels.
UNICEF's health strategy aims to support access to and continuity of health and immunization services through surveillance, immunization, case management, and the organization of mobile clinics in remote and hard-to-reach areas. This strategy is based on the training of health personnel, the provision of medicines, emergency consumables, supervision and monitoring in the field.
WASH interventions will strengthen the resilience of vulnerable populations through the promotion of good hygiene practices, improved access to basic sanitation and safe drinking water in communities, schools and health centres. UNICEF will also facilitate cholera prevention and response and contribute to the reinforcement of local WASH stakeholders' capacities.
UNICEF will support the continuity of learning in safe and inclusive environments, while providing adequate instructional materials for teachers and children affected by humanitarian crises. Furthermore, skills development programmes for adolescents will be provided, including mentoring programmes for girls.
Crisis-affected children will receive comprehensive child protection services. The basic needs of affected children and their families will be addressed, including through psychosocial support. Gender-based violence risk mitigation will be prioritized through interventions related to prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse and survivors' assistance.
To coordinate efforts on humanitarian response, UNICEF leads WASH, education and nutrition clusters/sectors and the child protection sub-cluster, in close collaboration with government counterparts,32 at the national and decentralized levels and, participates in the multi-sectoral cash working group.
Programme targets
Find out more about UNICEF's work
Highlights
Humanitarian Action is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate to realize the rights of every child. This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the ongoing crises affecting children in Niger; the strategies that we are using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.
