UNICEF handed over vehicles to the regions of Tahoua, Maradi and Zinder

NIAMEY (Niger), 28 September 2021 - Thanks to funding from the German Cooperation (through its Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development - BMZ), UNICEF handed over vehicles to nine municipalities in the regions of Tahoua, Maradi and Zinder to strengthen their capacities in the implementation and monitoring of the "Building resilience in the Sahel" initiative that they are piloting in their respective area.

These are the communes of Mayahi, Guidan Amoumoune, Kornaka in the region of Maradi, Kantché, Yaouri, Kollerman and Gaffati in Zinder and Bagaroua and Tabalak in Tahoua.

"The initiative aims to strengthen the capacity of children, women, communities and systems to absorb, anticipate, prevent, adapt and recover from the successive shocks and crises they face, while strengthening the empowerment of young people and their participation in decision-making" explains Stefano Savi, UNICEF representative in Niger.

The initiative "Building resilience in the Sahel" supports the Government and UNICEF programme of copperation whose approach is based on building the capacity of local authorities to provide and manage quality social services and to encourage behavior and social change based on positive social norms. Children, adolescents and women are at the heart of this approach.

"In our commune, the construction of a multi-village water system has had a strong impact on the life of the population, whether in the field of education where the school enrollment rate has increased or in the field of health, where there are fewer children suffering from common diseases such as diarrhea" says Mr. Abdoulaye Gousmane, mayor of the rural commune of Tabalak, Tahoua region, upon receipt of the vehicle.

"This is a great day in the history of our commune. Having a vehicle of this quality will allow us to accelerate our efforts in the field, to ensure the follow-up of our interventions in a systematic way and to mobilize additional resources for the commune itself" he explains.

"Young people, women and communities are today at the heart of the development strategy of our municipality. In addition to the regular consultations that we carry out with young people and women, community engagement has enabled us to mobilize additional resources for our social and economic development projects in the commune" says Mr. Mahamadou Assoumane, mayor of the rural commune of Bagaroua, in the region of Tahoua. "Our commune was the first one in the country to have succeeded in ending open defecation," he adds.

The "Building resilience in the Sahel" initiative has enabled UNICEF to accelerate its program on several priority fronts, in the areas of education, water, hygiene and sanitation, social protection system, child protection, health and nutrition, adolescents and youth participation, decentralization and local governance.