Niger
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Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps
Our strategy
Provide emergency relief to populations struggling through the region's food crisis and create opportunities for economic development and long-term recovery.
The context
Niger is one of the world's poorest countries, with annual per person income less than $200. Over the past ten years, the country has experienced significant social and political instability that has left millions unable to adequately respond to chronic drought and malnutrition. Additionally, climate change has led to increasingly erratic rain patterns. A lack of precipitation led to a failed harvest at the end of 2011, leaving the entire Sahel region of West Africa in the grip of a dire, ongoing food crisis.
Our work
- Emergency response: Distributed emergency cash and provided cash-for-work opportunities to families to buy food
- Agriculture & Food: Restoring livestock herds and helping pastoralists access fodder and veterinary services
- Water: Preparing the land to absorb rainfall and developing irrigation techniques to help farmers withstand drought
- Health: Supported nutritional screening centers and trained health workers to treat malnourished children
- Economic opportunity: Distributing goats to women to start dairy production businesses
All stories about Niger
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Niger: Meet our field staff: Ibro May 20, 2013
After leaving a job in radio journalism, Ibro is turning the message of resilience into reality for drought-stricken communities in Niger.
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Niger: A goat for Santou December 3, 2012
Feeding six children has not been easy for Santou — especially as a hunger crisis took hold of Niger and the entire Sahel region of West Africa this year.
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Niger: Women farming more food November 16, 2012
In the Djolley Fandou village in the drought-stricken Tillaberi region of Niger, women are in charge of the farming; most of the men left early on during the hunger crisis to find work in the city.
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Niger: One more meal November 9, 2012
At the second of three cash distributions in Niger, Mercy Corps staff heard that families have been able to eat one additional meal every day thanks to the support.
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Mali, Niger: What you want to know about the Sahel hunger crisis August 16, 2012
The hunger crisis in the Sahel is not an immediate emergency that gets splashed across the evening news. Instead, the tragic circumstances of drought and failed harvests have been building since the beginning of the year.
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Niger: Feeding families in the Sahel July 12, 2012
As the hunger crisis continues to worsen across the Sahel, even emergency food for malnourished children is not going far enough.
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Niger: Harvesting hope in the Sahel June 16, 2012
The hunger crisis is devastating families across the Sahel, and our emergency response work is crucial to averting famine here. But so are long-term solutions that help people withstand the cycles of drought and hunger that plague this region.
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Niger: Payday brings smiles and hope to hungry families June 14, 2012
I had the chance to see payday in Niger a couple weeks ago. Visiting Mercy Corps’ programs that are helping people survive the current hunger crisis, I had seen barren fields, dusty skies, and hungry faces.
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Niger: Life without rain June 11, 2012
“It’s hot!” I said. “No it’s not," replied one of our Niger team members. "You should have been here in late March or April. That’s when it was really hot.” “Really? So 106 degrees Fahrenheit isn’t as hot as it gets?”
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Niger: Children suffer most in hunger crisis June 6, 2012
Lauretta dreams of becoming a teacher. But she hasn’t been to school since January, when she had to drop out in order to help her family at home.