focus on niger:

ADF e-news, August 2005
Table of Contents

Stories of Hope: The Koulbaga Gardeners Cooperative and MECREF
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Support for Women's Small Enterprise in Matameye
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Helping Small-Scale Pastoralists Weather Niger's Environmental Challenges
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Helping Onion Growers Capitalize on the Power of Purple
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Facts on Niger
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About This Issue:

The United Nations Development Program’s 2004 Human Development Report identifies Niger as the world’s second-poorest nation, just ahead of Sierra Leone, which is recovering from a decade-long civil conflict that claimed 200,000 lives and destroyed much of the country’s social and economic infrastructure.

ADF has supported more than 50 community-led economic development projects in Niger over the past 20 years.

Last year, Niger’s agricultural sector was devastated when two seasons of good rainfall in the Sahel region stimulated the migration of massive swarms of locusts that consumed as much as 25 percent of total crop production. This year, poor rains have limited the growth of millet and other staple grains, placing 3.6 million of Niger’s 11.7 million citizens at severe risk of famine. The United Nations estimates that 800,000 Nigerien children under the age of five need to be fed urgently, and international relief efforts have been stepped up over the past three weeks to deliver cereals and enriched milk to at-risk populations.

As the world learns of Niger's crisis, the August 2005 issue of ADF e-news highlights Stories of Hope from Niger - stories that show the creative and positive steps that two Nigerien community-based organizations - the Koulbaga Gardeners Cooperative and the Women's Mutual Credit and Savings Society (MECREF) - have taken to enhance food security and provide some of Niger's poorest citizens with sustainable access to economic opportunity.

We also present three new ADF projects that have been designed in close partnership with community-based agricultural producers and pastoralist associations. ADF has always operated with the principle that African communities are filled with local development experts - people who know their environment, know what works best for them, and know what they need to achieve a better future for themselves and their families. Profiles of new grants to the  Matameye Women's Cooperative, Eléveurs Sans Frontière, and the Gaya Onion Growers Cooperative provide information on their best practices and lessons learned, and details on the steps that these community-based organizations are taking to respond effectively to Niger's current crisis.

Finally, we present Facts on Niger , which has been designed as an information resource for students and teachers seeking essential information on Niger and its environmental and economic challenges.

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