Attachments
Overview
The political crisis that unfolded in Niger since July 2023 led to additional contextual and operational challenges. The sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), border closures, and suspension of developmental aid resulted in a deterioration of socioeconomic conditions which compounded pre-existing complex and large-scale humanitarian needs. These measures alongside the evolving political context also impacted the operating environment for actors in Niger. Food security and nutrition responses were rapidly adapted to prioritize the uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian, development and social cohesion assistance to vulnerable populations. WFP overcame additional access restrictions, supply chain challenges and resourcing constraints, to deliver a wholistic package of life-saving humanitarian assistance and resilience building support. Overall, WFP assisted 3.1 million people [1] with food and nutrition assistance (versus 3.6 million planned) while advancing national objectives towards sustainable food systems.
During the 2023 lean season (June-August), 3.3 million people were classified as acutely food insecure, the second-highest level since the Cadre Harmonisé analysis commenced in 2012 [2]. The global acute malnutrition rate stood at 12.2 percent, above the World Health Organization’s ‘serious’ emergency threshold of 10 percent [3]. The main drivers of food insecurity in Niger included high food prices (above the five-year average), localised climate-related shocks, including drought and floods (which were exacerbated by extensive land degradation), and conflict-induced forced displacement. These factors were aggravated by the socioeconomic impacts of the political crisis, disrupting economic growth, heightening inflation and leading to increase in extreme poverty rates.
As part of its crisis response interventions, WFP provided food, cash, and nutritional assistance before, during and after crises to 1.2 million people affected by sudden or protracted population displacements, seasonal food insecurity and climate-related shocks (versus 1.5 million planned). At the peak of the lean season, WFP assisted one third of the country’s acutely food insecure population. However, limited resources forced WFP to adopt strict prioritization measures, including reductions in caseloads, rations and the duration of assistance.
Through the integrated resilience programme, WFP supported 1.9 million people (versus 2.1 million planned) across 2,053 villages, including 53 newly supported in 2023. WFP’s resilience approach in Niger provides an integrated package of activities that included land rehabilitation through food assistance for assets (FFA), school feeding, targeted and preventive MAM supplementation programmes, and support to smallholder farmers. In line with its resilience progression strategy, 60,000 former FFA participants progressed towards receiving technical assistance only, linked to improved access to markets.
In 2023, WFP expanded its resilience activities into fragile areas with high concentrations of displaced people, contributing to the operationalisation of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. By combining the integrated resilience programme with social cohesion-building activities, WFP facilitated an effective transition of internally displaced persons, refugees and host populations out of prolonged humanitarian assistance towards more durable solutions to address their needs. WFP also sustained investments in the national social protection system to protect vulnerable populations from climate-related shocks, expanding the reach of national shock-responsive safety-nets by assisting 112,325 drought-affected people with year-round transfers.
In 2023, WFP injected significant resources into Niger’s economy, transferring USD 53.2 million via cash transfers and procured a total of 39,300 mt of foodstuffs locally (equivalent to USD 21 million). WFP also purchased USD 682,000 of millet and cowpeas directly from 37 farmer organizations (including women organisations) in resilience areas.
Wherever possible, these organizations were linked with WFP-supported schools as part of the home-grown school feeding approach.
In 2023, resilience programmes were critically important in reducing humanitarian needs in Niger. Results from post-distribution monitoring surveys conducted in December 2023 found that food security levels among recipients of resilience activities continue to improve dramatically. Encouragingly, the same trend applied to households that graduated out of FFA support in 2022 in line with the resilience progression strategy. The percentage of these households that had an acceptable Food Consumption Score increased from 56 percent (2021) to 68 percent (2022), to 76 percent in 2023. Eighty-three percent of WFP resilience villages located in the most food insecure municipalities that were prioritised by the Government for the 2023 emergency lean season response plan, encompassing 560,000 people, did not require humanitarian assistance. These examples illustrate the sustained impact that investment in resilience programming is having, even after direct food assistance stopped and despite major shocks, such as the 2021 drought or 2023 political crisis.
To support vulnerable children and improve their access to education, including those in conflict-affected regions, WFP provided school meals to 314,000 students in 1,612 schools. In addition, 34,807 adolescent girls received attendance-based scholarships to help address gender inequalities seen in adolescent students’ retention rates. WFP delivered targeted supplementation to address moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) among 465,000 children aged 6 to 23 months, and supported 76,300 mothers of children treated for MAS complications in hospitals with assistance aimed at preventing acute malnutrition. These interventions saw a recovery rate of 96 percent. Border closures imposed following the political crisis that started in July 2023 resulted in significant supply chain disruptions, severely delaying the arrival of large quantities of food and nutrition commodities into Niger. Nutrition interventions were consequently impacted, with 240,000 malnourished children left unassisted from September 2023 onwards.
Despite financial and operational constraints, WFP made marked achievements throughout 2023. Investments to secure impactful partnerships and collaboration with the Government, non-governmental organizations, United Nations agencies and partners such as the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ, in German) were prioritized [4]. WFP enhanced mitigation measures against fraud, corruption and diversion risks with the launch of a comprehensive action plan under the corporate global assurance project. The reach and effectiveness of WFP’s community feedback mechanism was strengthened and its toll-free hotline expanded to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) transported 13,900 passengers in 2023, despite disrupted operations due to limited jet fuel and difficulties in obtaining flight authorisations by authorities following the political crisis. Gender and protection analyses were mainstreamed throughout WFP’s programme design and implementation.