Luxembourg's development cooperation - Annual report 2015

Population 18,5 million
Surface area 1 267 000 km2
GNP per inhabitant (PPP in $) 908
Classification in HDI 188/188

In 2015, all the projects and programmes underway in Niger as part of the Indicative Cooperation Programme (ICP II) initially covering the 2008-2012 period, then extended to the 2013-2015 period, did indeed enter their final year of implementation, with a view to their closure in mid-2016. The first half of 2015 was given over to identifying activities for a new ICP.

Following a participative strategic dialogue between Luxembourg and Niger to identify the sectors and principles to be chosen, and taking them into account, in accordance with the principle of the division of labour and the future joint programming of the EU Member States with a presence in Niger and the interventions planned by Niger’s other technical and financial partners (TFP), it was agreed that the focal sectors under the ICP 2016-2020 would be:

• primary education and vocational and technical training (including for young people in rural environments – a massive pool of unemployed young people of both sexes which could be either an opportunity or a regressive time-bomb for the country. We must also consider these young people in the context of migration);
• rural development;
• water and sanitation, a sector taken over from Danish development cooperation, which has withdrawn from Niger but still had a programme running which it handed over to Luxembourg.  

Therefore, the 2016-2020 ICP will provide continuity and consolidate the knowledge gained so far, in the light of the progress and relevance of the programmes currently being run under the ICP II. It has been granted a provisional budget of 67 million euros for the period covering the duration of the programme. This budget enables jointly agreed actions to be financed in line with the priorities of the post-2015 development agenda, especially the Sustainable Development and Inclusive Growth Strategy (SDDCI - Niger 2035: Stratégie pour un Développent Durable et de Croissance Inclusive) and the 2016-2020 economic and social development plan (Plan de développement économique et social - PDES)

The 2016-2020 ICP was ultimately signed on 26 September 2015 outside the UNGA in New York. The general aim of this ICP is to contribute to capacity-building which accelerates inclusive growth, social development and the sustainable management of natural resources within the context of good governance and security, in accordance with the priorities of the future five-year plan and the long-term development strategy currently being drawn up in Niger.