Context:
Niger’s municipalities have neither the financial resources nor the qualified human resources they need to promote local development. Since the military coup in July 2023, the Republic of Niger has been in the process of transitioning towards re-establishing governance. The country’s democratically elected local councils and mayors were removed from office and replaced with mostly inexperienced municipal administrators. The poor security situation and the need to provide services for displaced people created additional challenges for the municipalities. Added to that, terrorist groups increasingly began to recruit young people. As a result, the municipalities have not been able to establish a citizen-oriented administration and drive forward local development.
Objective:
In a number of municipalities in Niger, administrations are working in a more citizen-oriented way, social cohesion has improved and public services are working better.
Approach:
The project provides technical advice to government and civil society actors in the municipalities. Their skills, administrative procedures and participatory management processes are improving. The project focuses here on three aspects:
1. It supports the municipal administrations in working more reliably.
2. It consolidates cohesion within the population.
3. It expands municipal waste management services with a view to protecting the environment and public health.
The target groups are the local population – in particular women, young people and displaced people – along with municipalities, local NGOs, representatives of the private sector, the Association of Niger Municipalities (AMN) and Niger’s National Agency for Local Authority Funding (ANFICT).