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
The Niger is facing a combination of acute and chronic humanitarian crises. About 2.9 million people, including 1.6 million children, require humanitarian assistance, and many of those in need are hard to reach. Increasing attacks on civilians in the Lake Chad region have prevented 263,000 people in Diffa from returning home. Mounting insecurity along the borders with Burkina Faso and Mali has exacerbated needs in Tillabéri and Tahoua, where 111 schools are affected and over 80,000 people are displaced – 51 per cent more than in 2018. A new crisis erupted in July 2019, with over 35,000 people fleeing atrocities in northern Nigeria and arriving in Maradi.
Conflict and insecurity have exacerbated existing vulnerabilities and suffering caused by natural disasters, health emergencies and structural issues. Over 260,000 people have been affected by flooding; 380,000 children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition (SAM); and 600,000 children are threatened by epidemics. Girls are at risk of abduction, forced marriage and survival sex, and boys are being exploited for work and recruited by armed groups. Humanitarian needs are expected to increase in 2020, especially in regions bordering Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria, and household livelihoods and coping mechanisms will be further stretched.
Key planned results for 2020
381,700 children under 5 years affected by SAM admitted for treatment
110,000 children aged 6 months to 14 years vaccinated against measles
415,000 people at risk of waterborne diseases have access to hygiene kits and sensitization
Funding requirements for 2020
Country strategy
In 2020, UNICEF will pursue a three-pronged humanitarian strategy in the Niger:
- First, UNICEF will work with national actors to strengthen countrywide health and nutrition systems and increase national capacities to mitigate risks and respond to cyclical and chronic emergencies, including flooding, malnutrition, disease outbreaks and epidemics. This includes SAM prevention and treatment, vaccination campaigns, cholera preparedness and health care.
- Second, UNICEF will respond to acute emergencies, including new population movements in Diffa, Maradi and along the Burkina Faso border. UNICEF and partners will increase in-country response capacities, including through the Rapid Response Mechanism, for which UNICEF provides technical leadership and centralizes the procurement of non-food items. Complementary operational strategies will focus on accessing vulnerable communities in insecure and hard-to-reach areas.
- Third, UNICEF will facilitate preparedness and contingency planning, while further integrating humanitarian action and development programming and emphasizing quick transitions to durable solutions.
Across all pillars, the response will increase access to and quality of education for crisis-affected school-aged children. Conflict-affected children will receive comprehensive child protection services, and communities affected by population movements will access safe water and sanitation facilities. UNICEF leads the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), education and nutrition clusters/sectors and the child protection working group.
Programme targets
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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.
