Context

Following the coup d’état on 26th  July 2023, the Economic Community of West African States imposed severe sanctions on the country. These sanctions, which were lifted on 24th February 2024, had a profoundly negative impact on the population, particularly through the increase in the cost of living and the shortage of electricity. 

The security situation in Niger remains fragile due to the presence of armed groups, particularly in the Liptako Gourma area and in the Lake Chad Basin, where there is a high concentration of displaced persons. The same area is severely affected by the effects of climate change, water scarcity and the food crisis.

In 2023, 4.3 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance. In January 2024, Niger hosted nearly 690,000 refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons, most of them in the regions of Tillaberi, Tahoua and Diffa.

INTERSOS’ intervention

For asylum seekers, the humanitarian crisis affecting the country makes it difficult to meet basic needs. With a multi-sectoral approach, INTERSOS assists asylum seekers by providing a range of protection services in response to rights violations: from legal assistance in obtaining civil documents to access to basic services, psychosocial support, and economic assistance for refugees, whether they are in refugee camps or urban refugees. In the Agadez camp, we provide educational and recreational activities for children and child protection services. 

Part of our protection work involves creating safe spaces for women and girls. These spaces are particularly important in Niger, a country with one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world. 

To integrate sub-Saharan migrants who have no job opportunities or access to education, INTERSOS provides training in personal skills development, non-formal education activities, and language courses.

Community protection structures, community leaders, and administrative and local authorities have benefited from capacity building on child protection and gender-based violence issues, to raise awareness in the communities where they are based and to facilitate the identification of cases of child protection and gender-based violence.