Niger - Project to support climate-change-resilient drinking water and sanitation services in Niamey and Tillaberi (PASEPA)

Background: The development of the drinking water and sanitation (WATSAN) sub-sector in Niger is based on the Politique et stratégies pour l'eau et l'assainissement of 1999 and the Plan d'Action National de Gestion Intégrée des Ressources en Eau (PANGIRE) adopted in 2017. The implementation of these policy and strategy documents has led to major reforms, including the development of public-private partnerships in urban water supply, with the creation of two companies: Société de Patrimoine des Eaux du Niger (SPEN), a public company in charge of infrastructure, and Société d'Exploitation des Eaux du Niger (SEEN), a private operator responsible for running drinking water networks in urban areas and in the 55 centers conceded to SPEN, through a leasing contract. In addition, several planning and programming tools were adopted, such as the Integrated Platform for Water Security in Niger (PISEN) program, which aims to overcome the challenges of integrating fragility and climate resilience into the WATSAN sub-sector, and the PROSEHA water, hygiene and sanitation sector program, which aims to provide sustainable access to drinking water and sanitation for all by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Objectives: The project's development objective is to improve the living conditions and climatic resilience of poor and vulnerable urban populations in three districts of the city of Niamey and in the Tillabéry region. To this end, the project is structured around three components: (i) immediate priority interventions to extend/rehabilitate the water supply network and strengthen resilient sanitation facilities in the city of Niamey, (ii) preparation studies for an investment project in the Tillabéry region and the development of tools for integrating climate resilience into WATSAN, (iii) capacity building and project management.

Beneficiaries: The direct beneficiaries are the poor and vulnerable urban populations of the three districts of Niamey's Commune II (Koara Tagui, Dan Zama Koara and Banifandou), the Commune II mayor's office, and the populations of Say, Torodi, Makalondi, Tapoa and Tamou in the Tillabéry region. Other beneficiaries of the project are local authorities (communes), NGOs, youth and women's associations and government departments in the Tillabéry region. In the short term, the beneficiary population will be around 12,500 people (including 52% women and 109 internally displaced persons) in the three districts of Niamey's Commune II. Hygiene and sanitation conditions will be improved for around 1,500 people, 52% of whom will be women, and for over 1,000 schoolchildren. Around 3,300 people (including at least 52% women) in Commune II will be educated and sensitized to change their behavior with regard to water, hygiene and sanitation. Nearly a thousand women and girls will benefit from awareness-raising and information on menstrual hygiene, as well as social (family planning, GBV) and technical (leadership, negotiation, networking) training. A gender action plan is presented in Appendix 6. In the medium term, if the funding for the new project has been mobilized and the investments made, the total beneficiary population will be much higher, in the region of 100,000 people, at least 50% of whom will be women.