A major partner country for EU development cooperation, Niger achieves development despite challenges

Together with its Member States, the European Union is the world's largest donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA). In this third article in our series on EU development cooperation, Olai Voionmaa, Head of the Political, Press and Information Section at the EU delegation to Niger, tells us about the EU’s activities in Niger.

Located in the Sahel region, Niger unequivocally counts as a developing country. For the past ten years, it has ranked among the least developed countries (LDCs) in the annual Human Development Index (HDI) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

“A lot remains to be done,” says Olai Voionmaa, who heads the political section of the EU delegation and acts as Deputy Head of the Delegation in the Nigerien capital, Niamey.

While Voionmaa himself is not directly involved with development cooperation proper, his job has a clear link with development issues since Niger’s political situation and the preconditions for the country’s development are closely interlinked. The Republic of Niger faces major challenges in the economic, social, political and security spheres.

“In all the above sectors, the EU is Niger’s primary development partner. For the EU, Niger is one of the main recipient countries” Voionmaa says.

The EU’s development cooperation budget for Niger amounts to roughly EUR 1.5 billion for the period 2014–2020.

In Niger, the EU is mobilising all the available instruments. Over 50 % of the funding, or – depending on the calculation method used – as much as over 80 % of it – consists of direct budget support to Niger. The EU moreover carries out extensive projects with a focus on good governance, infrastructures, but also immigration and the improvement of the local security situation, among others. In these fields, cooperation with the EU involves the different administrative branches and the civil society of Niger, while in security issues the main cooperation partners also include security actors from the EU Member States.

On the EU side, these activities are led by four development cooperation teams with budgets that may amount to hundreds of millions of euros. Recruiting staff for the teams has proven difficult because of the challenging field conditions, and consequently some teams are still half manned.

“There are now job openings also for young Finnish experts,” underlines Voionmaa.

“Niger is a place where you get to do a lot, such as setting up programmes to support the local police department or health sector. Another positive thing for the development partner is that Niger’s government knows what it wants and it will not say yes to everything. We are in a relationship of partnership.”

Development challenged by population growth

Olai Voionmaa thinks that the demanding future prospects for young Nigeriens are the country’s greatest challenge. Due to rapid population growth, Niger has a large young population.

“At the current rate, the population will double every 16 years. This trend has dramatic consequences for the education and job opportunities of local people, for their access to clean water and for the hopes they have for the future. That is why we as the EU must work very hard to give these people information and knowledge and provide them with health services and education.”

The greatest wish of the Nigeriens is to be able to work, Voionmaa says. Another objective of the EU is job creation, which is pursued through cooperation with the private sector.

“The weakness of the business climate is a major challenge, but we’ll be able to reverse the trend for the better by using all possible means. Still, even in such difficult circumstances, technological innovations are made and there is potential for growth,” Voionmaa says.

How Niger will manage to respond to climate change is also key for the country’s future. EU development cooperation seeks, among other things, to electrify villages and encourage intelligent farming, for Niger continues to be an agriculture-intensive country.

No further deterioration: a success of sorts

What, then, has been achieved through EU support in Niger? Looking at the achievements, Voionmaa concludes that it can be regarded as a kind of success that despite all the challenges Niger faces it has stood up for itself in a difficult security environment.

“The security situation has been poor for many years, for there is Mali in the west, Libya in the north and the Lake Chad region in the east. Most of the threats have so far been kept beyond the borders of Niger, which has effective government structures. We must, of course, give the Nigerien Government and the Nigeriens credit for this, not forgetting that the EU has been training the country’s security forces and supporting its government financially, politically and otherwise. However, the recent attacks are a real challenge, and we must closely monitor the evolving nature of this conflict.”

“To this end, we have designed a number of measures to contribute to the stabilisation of the crisis-ridden regions, in particular in the so-called three-borders area. We are supporting local administrations, civil societies, security forces and enhancing social cohesion through facilitation. Basic social services such as schooling and health, need to return, or be enhanced. There is a lot to do.”

The EU has also made achievements in curbing migration. Previously as many as 90% of the migrants heading for Europe across the Mediterranean via Libya travelled through Niger. As Niger has taken the initiative to tighten its legislation in cooperation with the EU, the EU in turn has supported the creation of new trades and small businesses in the Agadez Region where the transport of migrants across the border to Libya has traditionally been a key source of livelihood. As a result, the number of migrants has fallen by 80–90% as compared with the figures for 2014–2015. This trend has also brought new challenges that need to be addressed.

In spring 2020, the EU helped Niger to respond to the coronavirus crisis. When the pandemic started, there were only ten ventilators in the whole country, with no guarantees that they would actually work.

“We managed to rapidly direct funding and activities to the fight against the coronavirus by redirecting the use of nearly EUR 100 million. It allowed the country to import masks, ventilators and other equipment and also enabled indispensable support for the country’s health services. Much of this was done in collaboration with Member States and various other actors. It tells lengths about what the EU countries can achieve together in the TeamEurope spirit”, notes Voionmaa.