The World Food Programme (WFP) in Niger welcomed an additional €24 million contribution from Germany to scale-up resilience building at a time when Niger is facing the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 health pandemic on food security and nutrition of vulnerable rural and urban families.
Niger continues to face chronic vulnerabilities caused mainly by poverty, regional insecurity, demographic pressure, economic and climatic shocks, chronic food insecurity, and persistent gender inequalities. About 6.8 million people, representing one third of Niger’s population, are recurrently food insecure and struggle to nourish themselves and their families.
”Germany’s support is a demonstration of a long-term engagement to improve livelihoods and improve people’s food insecurity and nutrition in Niger, and to invest in equipping communities with the right set of means to be able to withstand shocks,” said Sory Ouane, WFP Country Director and Representative in Niger.
”The COVID-19 pandemic adds to the nutritional vulnerability of Niger’s population. It is with this important contribution that Germany supports the efforts to protect the population from additional food insecurity in these challenging times. Germany is making its contribution to this struggle as part of the European response “Team Europe” to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Hermann Nicolai, German Ambassador in Niger.
Since 2018, the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and WFP have worked to scale-up resilience activities in areas prone to recurrent climate and other shocks in the Sahel. With the generous support of BMZ, over 650,000 people have been supported in more than 360 villages in Niger alone, focusing on three priority regions of Maradi, Zinder and Tahoua. Greening degraded lands, supporting education (via school meals) and nutritional assistance to women, men, youth and children are key elements of this integrated approach.
The additional contribution from Germany will allow WFP to sustain assistance to these vulnerable communities, further investing in their education and health, strengthening their livelihoods and asset base. It will also enable and expand capacity strengthening for personnel of national technical services to promote inclusive, accountable and efficient services to communities across the country.
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