Plan focuses on long term rehabilitation in Niger

Successful food distribution efforts from May to August have helped Plan’s intervention areas of Dosso and Tillaberi avoid famine.

Early action by Plan helped avert an even worse food deficit in Dosso and Tillaberi, two of the communities hardest hit by the food crisis in Niger. The areas received aid for over 250,000 people classified as either severely or moderately food insecure. Thanks to these efforts, neither district ever reached the level of famine.

Plan USA provided $100,000 in support of this effort.

While rains so far have brought promising outlooks on the upcoming harvest season, risks in the areas still exist. Many families have sold productive assets such as animals, and thus have lowered resilience against future disasters. Recent flooding throughout Niger has also exacerbated the situation, causing more families to lose their homes and livestock.

Plan continues to respond to affected populations, providing emergency food aid until the fall harvest season is fully underway. As more and more crops become available, Plan will continue to provide nutritional support, but will also focus on the long term rehabilitation programs needed to help families develop greater resilience and rebuild their lives.

Plan’s long term rehabilitation strategy includes five components:

• Nutrition, including providing nutritional supplements to malnourished children and women, and training health workers in malnutrition case identification and management.
• Assessing the needs of families in terms of lost assets, providing vouchers, and organizing fairs where vouchers can be used to recuperate assets.
• Community gardens, including training for women groups and equipment needed to set up and maintain the gardens.
• Setup and training to create community early warning systems.
• Creation and reinforcement of cereal banks, and food and seed stocks.