Mapping human resource capacity gaps in the water supply and sanitation sector

Country briefing note Human resource capacity assessment Human resource capacity assessment

Briefing Note • Niger

Key points

w Challenges in Niger: sanitation, particularly in rural and dispersed rural areas • Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world are inadequate with recurring droughts, and a high water scarcity w There is a general lack of hygiene and WASH focus in • The country’s literacy rate is 28.7% which directly public-sector institutions on regional and departmental impacts on the human resources development levels, particularly in the health directorates • Of the total deaths in Niger, 23 % are WASH-related1 w There is a general lack of opportunities for training w Sanitation coverage is low at 38.4% in urban areas specialists in WATSAN and only 6.7% for the rural population according to the w There is very little coordination between NGOs and estimates of the National Programme. government departments in charge of water and w It is extremely difficult to assess the exact HR capacity sanitation working in the NGOs and private sectors w There are very few employment opportunities in the w There are not enough engineers working at regional and WATSAN sector and also very little opportunity for self- departmental levels, because the majority works at the employment central level w Operators working in the wastewater sector are not w The HR competency and capacity to work in hygiene and organised.

Background Africa, the Republic of Niger covers an for livestock and limited agriculture. This Briefing Note summarises the area of 1,267,000 km², making it the Agriculture contributes about 40% of findings of an IWA-led study in Niger, largest nation in the region. The country GDP and provides livelihood for about made possible through the support of the is divided into eight administrative 80% of the population. United States Agency for International regions (Agadez, , Dosso, Maradi, Development (USAID) under the , Tillaberi, and ), The majority of the population lives auspices of their WASH 63 departments and 366 rural districts in rural areas where abject poverty is (WA-WASH) programme and (communes). Niger is one of the poorest widespread and the life expectancy of co-funded by Department for countries in the world with recurring the population at birth is low at 53.8 International Development (DFID UK). It droughts, and a high water scarcity. years. The country’s literacy rate is set out to assess the human resources Ninety percent of the country’s surface 28.7% which directly impacts on the (HR) needs to provide water supply and water resources originate from outside human resources development. Thus, sanitation services in four countries: the country. Groundwater is dependent poverty and geographical impediments Senegal, Ghana, Niger and Burkina on the rainfall that is more and more are the two main reasons for Niger’s Faso. The study was executed by staff erratic and poorly distributed. Access to coverage deficits. Linking to this is the from the Abdou Moumouni University of drinking water and sanitation are among direct impact that this has on human Niamey and the study was supported by the lowest in the world. Environmentally, resources development. Cap-Net who facilitated the connections the country is plagued by overgrazing, with the country study team. soil erosion, deforestation, desertification and droughts. It is landlocked and one Assessment approach Situated in the Sahelian zone in West of the hottest countries in the world. The The main objective of this study was to northern part of Niger is 80% , with assess human resource requirements in 1 Safer Water Better Health WHO, 2008 the southern 20% savannahs, suitable the water supply and sanitation sectors

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to facilitate achieving MDGs target 7c in the Niger. In addition, and for the Estimate population purpose of comparison, the methodology Current Future also estimated the human resources requirements to achieve universal Calculate WATSAN coverage coverage of water supply and sanitation Current Future for the predicted population in 2015. The study focused on the human resource requirements from the public sector and HR Demand parastatal institutions, and the private Current Future sector (private consultancy companies, individual contractors, etc.), as well as NGOs and CBOs active in the WASH Calculate HR shortages Existing HR sector. and gaps Supply HR capacity Current Future Methodological framework To assess the human resources requirements in WATSAN sector, Recommendations to fill the shortages and gaps in terms of numbers (shortages), skills and competencies (gaps), the Figure 1: Methodological framework to assess human resource shortages and gaps methodological framework, has set the following steps to: 1. Estimate the 2015 population to incorporate growth; Disciplines to map human who is professionally engaged in 2. Determine the current water supply resources capacity management (for instance finance, and sanitation coverage and human resources or strategic calculate the increases needed The study used the following disciplines managers and office managers to achieve a) the MDGs and b) to map HR capacity in the WATSAN fulfilling administrative functions) as universal coverage (access to water sectors: well as persons who procure goods and sanitation for all); • T echnical specialisation specific and services or cost planners. 3. Estimate a proxy of HR demand per to water and sanitation services • Social development: a person who type of service delivery per 10,000 (WATSAN technical field): a person is professionally engaged in hygiene people; who is professionally engaged in a promotion or other relevant water, 4. Determine the existing HR capacity technical field specifically related to sanitation and health professions in the country in terms of numbers the provision of water and sanitation in the social sciences (for instance and skill sets; facilities or infrastructure (for instance health promotion specialist, 5. Assess the HR supply in the years civil/environmental engineers). sociologist, community development up to 2015 in terms of graduates as • T echnical specialisation, not worker). well as vocational training; specific to the provision of water 6. Calculate the HR shortages and and sanitation services (Technical Components of the WASH assess the HR gaps; and field): a person who is professionally service delivery pathway 7. Provide recommendations for the engaged in another technical field The study investigated the capacity way in which training institutions can that is required in the planning, of the employment disciplines, whilst address the shortages and gaps, as design or operation of water and distinguishing the human resource well as provides recommendations sanitation facilities or infrastructure requirements for three different types of for alternative ways to meet the said (such as hydro-geologists, work noted below. shortages and gaps. mechanical/electrical engineers), but • Design and construction; is not water and sanitation sector • Operation and maintenance (O&M); specific. • Community mobilisation/sanitation • Management and finance: a person and hygiene promotion.

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While this study reflects data from the Figure 2: Boundaries of the Niger and areas surveyed water supply and sanitation sectors, the research considered hygiene practices as defined by the WASH sector.

Data collection and Location The study was done considering only data obtained from the water supply and sanitation (WATSAN) sector in Niger through (i) a literature review; ii) through visits to selected institutions (Ministry of Water Resources, National Institute of Statistics) and (iii) field surveys within the headquarters of the eight (see figure 2).

While the bulk of the HR information came from government sources, the researchers collected data from 51 organisations among which are six NGOs, eight private enterprises, nine regional directorates, 24 public sector this study used national coverage • The disciplines in different organisations, and 12 training institutes. figures: WATSAN sectors as mentioned in the methodology did not always Assumptions and limitations a. Water: According to JMP 2010 correspond to Niger graduate types. The study hinged on a number of figures Niger has achieved 100% • Lack of databases of players in the methodological and country-specific urban water coverage and 39% WASH sector; assumptions: rural water coverage, against • Period of field mission (rainy season) • Existing coverage data is sufficiently 73.75% urban coverage and coincided with the period of leave for accurate; 64.25% rural coverage reported business of drilling, so these were • National targets and coverage (MICS through national standards. difficult to include; and MHE) figures are used; • There is an enormous • Some targeted organisations did • Different agglomeration sizes are discrepancy in these figures, not provide useful information, or typically served in each country probably caused by differences were reluctant to provide some by the same water and sanitation in definition. ‘sensitive information’ requested, service delivery mechanism; • This has impact on HR figures such as wages and the age of their a. Settlement sizes above 10.000 required for expansion of employees. in this study are considered access urban. This means that the b. Sanitation: According to JMP methodologically defined sanitation coverage is 34% Sector context settlement size rural village is and 4% for urban and rural In 2011, and as part of government’s incorporated as urban populations respectively while plan to achieve the MDGs, the National • The methodology assesses equivalent figures for coverage of Plan for Water Supply and Sanitation professionals, hence does not sanitation are 38.4 % and 6,7 % (PNEA) was drafted, which serves as the include unskilled labour, household according to national figures implementation framework for drinking and community involvement. • The methodologically defined water supply and sanitation in both urban settlement sizes does not coincide and rural areas for the period 2011- The main factors that were considered with those in Niger, where population 2015. Notwithstanding this plan, Niger as limitations to the study are: figures are available according to can neither provide, implement, operate • Whilst methodology assigns JMP, Administrative Division; and maintain all water and sanitation

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infrastructure nor can it meet the needs Table 1: Population distribution according to settlement types of the population pertaining to hygiene Type agglomeration Number Population and sanitation education without external 2010 2015 2010 2015 technical and financial assistance. No No Pop Pop City (> 500 000 Habitants) 1 1 1,164,061 1,453,410 Institutional framework for Large town (100 000 – 500 000 4 4 627,954 784,044 service delivery inhabitants) The drinking water sector falls under the Small town (50 000 – 100 000 3 4 210,738 263,121 auspices of the Ministry for Hydraulics inhabitants) and Environment (MHE). However, the Rural villages (10 000 – 50 000 44 49 805,951 948,004 state has privatised the abstraction, inhabitants) reticulation and the sale of drinking Dispersed rural communities 27,854 27,838 12,398,361 14,583,638 (< 10 000 inhabitants) water in urban areas (cities, large and TOTAL 27,904 27,896 15,207,065 18,032,217 small towns and rural villages) and authority was contracted to SEEN, a private company directed by the French in charge of the design, coordination, Existing coverage company Véolia Eau. Drinking water control and monitoring of the national According to the yearly MHE report, the management in rural environment is town planning policy, sanitation, rate of access to potable water in 2010 delivered by private operators and cartography and land property. was estimated at 64.25% in rural areas communities. and 73.75% in urban areas. The types of The Ministry of National Education technologies with which the population is Sanitation is the responsibility of (MEN), through the School Health Office served is mainly of cemented or modern a multitude of public sector actors is in charge of the coordination of all well (PC), boreholes equipped with hand including the MHE, several ministerial activities dealing with school health, pumps (FPMH), stand posts, private departments are active in the sector, especially health, water-hygiene- connections, autonomous water stations being the Ministry of Public Health, the sanitation-nutrition-supplementation and (PAE), mini water supply system (mini - Ministry of Urbanisation, Habitat and TSI/HIV/AIDS. AEP), water supply system (AEP) and Sanitation and the Ministry of National dams. Education. Population The latest general census dates back to In rural areas, cemented wells and The Ministry of Water and 2001 when the population of the Niger boreholes with hand pumps, are Environment (MHE) defines, was 11,060,291. It was estimated that predominantly community managed implements and regulates all aspects the population increased to 15,207,065 (55%), while the delegation of of WATSAN and hygiene policies, inhabitants in 2010. This signifies a management to a private operator, strategies, laws and regulations. It national growth rate of 3.3%, which option of the Ministry of hydraulics since also develops and implements the would provide a projected population for 1999, represent only 43%. National Integrated Water Resources 2015 of 18,797,709 inhabitants which Management Plan (PANGIRE). will be distributed as follows: 8.1% in the According to the third demographic and city, 4.3% in large towns, 1.5% in small health survey MICS in Niger: The Ministry of Public Health’s towns, 5.2% in rural villages and 80.9% • 78.8% of the urban population have (MSP) Directorate for Public Hygiene in dispersed communities. latrines, including traditional latrines. and Health Education (DPH/HE) is Only 38.4% have improved sanitation responsible for the promotion of hygiene facilities and sanitation. It consists of several divisions including public hygiene, health 2 education, police health and the public Table 2: Growth rate hygiene laboratory. Area Growth rate (%) Rural population growth 3.30

The Ministry for Town planning, Urban population growth 4.54 Housing and Sanitation (MULA) is 2 National Institute for statistic (INS, 2001)

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• 6.7% of the rural population has Table 3: Future HR demand to achieve the national MDGs access to sanitation FUTURE HR DEMAND WATSAN Other Management Social FOR WATER to achieve technical technical & Finance development MDGs field field The choice of the technology depends Water delivery: dispersed 5,262 4,935 1,645 1,097 on comfort level chosen, availability of rural communities water and density of population. Sludge Water delivery: rural villages 91 61 61 0 management is generally not controlled Water delivery: small towns 26 17 17 0 and organised with the exception of Water delivery: large towns 78 52 52 0 Ecosan latrines. In the major urban Water delivery: city 144 96 96 0 centres, a few private companies offer Total 5,600 5,161 1,871 1,097 sludge removal services, but these FUTURE HR DEMAND WATSAN Other Management Social services are not controlled. FOR SANITATION to technical technical & Finance development achieve MDGs field field Sanitation delivery: 0 102 51 197 In dispersed areas, sanitation dispersed rural communities technologies are Sanplat ameliorated Sanitation delivery: rural 40 56 27 99 latrines and Ecosan latrines. In densely villages populated areas, the sanitation Sanitation delivery: small 108 111 45 58 towns technologies used are VIP latrines with Sanitation delivery: large 321 332 134 172 double pits. towns Sanitation delivery: city 601 630 254 339 National MDG targets Total 1,070 1,232 512 866 The principle objectives of the National Programme for Potable Water and Sanitation Provision between 2011-2015 Table 4: HR demand for water and sanitation to achieve universal coverage (PN-AEPA 2011-2015) are to increase: FUTURE HR DEMAND WATSAN Other Management Social FOR WATER to achieve technical technical & Finance development • The rate of coverage in potable water UNIVERSAL COVERAGE field field in rural area to 80% by 2015; Water delivery: dispersed 6,577 6,169 2,056 1,371 • The rate of access to the basic rural community sanitation infrastructures in rural area Water delivery: rural village 114 76 76 0 to 50% by 2015; Water delivery: small towns 32 21 21 0 • The rate of coverage in potable water Water delivery: large towns 94 63 63 0 in urban area to 82. 5% by 2015; Water delivery: city 174 116 116 0 • The rate of access to the basic Total 6,991 6,445 2,332 1,371 sanitation infrastructures in urban FUTURE HR DEMAND WATSAN Other Management Social FOR SANITATION to technical technical & Finance development area to 50% by 2015. achieve UNIVERSAL field field COVERAGE Sanitation delivery: 0 204 102 394 Human resources in dispersed rural communities Sanitation delivery rural 80 112 54 198 the WASH sector villages Sanitation delivery: small 216 223 90 116 Future HR demand towns For this study ‘demand’ refers to the Sanitation delivery: large 643 664 269 345 ideal HR required to service the current towns and future populations for universal Sanitation delivery: city 1,202 1,260 509 679 coverage or MDG target coverage. The Total 2,140 2,463 1,024 1,731 basis of this approach estimating future HR demand is to use an estimate of HR employed to serve 10,000 people (HR be installed was determined to serve to construct this infrastructure per year, demand ratio). Per size of settlement 10,000. Then it was calculated how the number of professionals required to the number of main technologies to many professionals would be needed operate and maintain and the need for

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community mobilisers. This formed the for community mobilisation and hygiene the equalisation and harmonisation HR proxy per 10.000. On that basis and promotion. of salaries as there are significant using future population figures, the HR differences in the average basic salaries demand was estimated. Existing human resource between people involved in the WATSAN capacity sector and between the different staff To reach the MDG targets (based The majority of enterprises, research levels. Salary levels also differ between on national definitions of access and departments and NGO in the research personnel working in the urban and rural targets not on JMP definitions), a sample stated that they are satisfied areas. total number of approximately 17,400 with the quality of the human resources professional human resources are in their sectors. They concluded that NGOs needed to implement new infrastructure there is a good balance between the Only a few international NGOs, such as and maintain the existing systems. theoretical knowledge that they receive World Vision, Catholic Relief Service Approximately 38% of this HR demand through training and its application. (CRS), WaterAid, Service Néerlandais will require skills particularly designed Young graduates need to work under de développement (SNV), Eau et for the water and sanitation sector, supervision for at least one year and Assainissement pour l’Afrique (EAA) an thus fall in the WATSAN technical the reason for this is that more and have permanent personnel working in field discipline. In general, technical more education and training institutions the WATSAN sector. specialisations are highly demanded accentuate the theoretical aspects of the to reach the MDG target, which will WATSAN training. National NGO staff is mainly social likely have to do with the large need for development agents recruited on additional construction of infrastructure. As table 5 indicates, activities in the a contract basis and on short-term To reach MDG target for rural water field of drinking water and sanitation are contracts and most of them, 95%, work 15,75% of the population still need carried out by private sector (companies, in rural areas as urban water provision access, and for urban systems 8.75% consultants, NGOs, etc.). The public is secured by SEEN. Sanitation in these increase is needed. sector’s role is resource mobilisation, urban centres is provided by the MULA. coordination and monitoring. Thus, all When looking at sanitation, considering physical infrastructure tasks, including National NGOs pay low salaries the relatively low targets, an additional operations and maintenance, are and international NGOs pay more of 11,6% and 43,3% increase is needed performed by the private sector. competitive salaries but often work on to reach urban and rural MDG targets. a project-basis only. People working for A larger number of other technical field Public sector national water associations do so as personnel is needed to help achieve The public sector is primarily involved in volunteers and do not get paid. this. This indicates that, in comparison to resource mobilisation, coordination and the water sector, less sanitation sector monitoring, and not for implementation Private sector personnel have to have sanitation- of infrastructure or operation and An estimated 16,629 people work specific education. maintenance. In 2011, there was 354 in the private drinking water and staff working in the Department of sanitation sectors. These companies are The predominant HR demand is within Hydraulics (MH), 81% senior and mid- responsible for the full service provision the technical fields, where more than level managers with 63% working in cycle. 85% are demanded for water provision the decentralised services and 75% in 1. The SEEN is run as a business primarily in the rural dispersed areas, as rural departments. There are 589 people and it provides drinking water to this is still where 81% of the population working in the sector of potable water 52 urban centres. It has sufficient resides. To achieve universal coverage and sanitation in the public sector. human resources to manage and (table 4) an approximate of 17,000 operate the full water cycle, except workers are needed in the water sector, In the public sector, WATSAN sector the company does not have any of which 16,000 in dispersed rural salaries are governed by government personnel that deal with hygiene and areas. To reach universal coverage in decree. For the past five years, the state sanitation and it is not involved in sanitation the HR demand is much less, has focused on a number of sectors wastewater management. but there is a higher demand for staff including waters and forests, public 2. Since the beginning of the 1990s, within the social development category health, justice and finance to ensure with the dissolution of the Office

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Table 5: Existing HR water and sanitation capacity surveyed in this study were positive Water sector WATSAN Other Management Social about the HR quality and noted a good technical technical & finances development balance between theoretical knowledge field field Total NGO 48 30 60 90 received by students during their training Total Private Sector 4,982 4,717 5,068 141 and its practical application. However, Public 257 91 69 25 young graduates require supervision TOTAL 5,286 4,868 5,167 256 of at least one year because training Sanitation sector WATSAN Other Management Social institutions focused primarily on theory technical technical & finances development rather than practical application. field field Total NGO 55 68 34 103 Universities and technical Institutions Total Private Sector 698 686 174 163 Several tertiary education institutions Public 84 63 0 0 and vocational training centres are TOTAL 836 818 208 265 involved in training WATSAN personnel. Table 6 shows the current capacity and of Exploitation of Subsoil Waters Gender inequality projections to 2015 of certain institutions (OFEDES), a number of drilling Male/female proportions in the sector are training HR for the WATSAN sectors companies were established and disproportionate.Indications from sample and the estimated absorption rate. currently only two companies exist organisations are: WATSAN specific related courses are that specialise in complex drilling • H R in NGO: nine women (11%) producing fewest outputs, and of those projects. out of 81 staff members, mostly in only 25% are estimated to be absorbed leadership positions; in the water and sanitation sector. The Salaries in the private sector are • HR in the private sector: 85 (9.8%) absorption in the other disciplines is significantly lower compared to those women out of 861 staff members much lower. of the public service which explains working mainly as accountants or the large number of job applicants cashiers in the SEEN agencies; The main institutions that produce competing for public sector jobs. • HR in the public sector: 39 (8.1%) graduates for the WATSAN sector are: However, they compensate by offering women out of 481 staff members • Université Abdou Moumouni generous incentives, such as a monthly working mainly as assistants, rural in Niamey (UAM): four faculties, productivity bonus; awards on the basis development and engineering namely science and technology, of annual income; participation in the technicians. agricultural science, arts and capital of the company; 13th month humanities, economic and legal cheque; and allowances. The application Salaries sciences produce graduates in of these measures depends on the Salaries of all personnel working for the hydrogeology, electrical engineering, financial health of the enterprises and public and private sectors, including chemistry, agronomy, environmental applies only to permanent employees. companies, research organisations protection, rural economy, and NGOs are governed by the Inter- sociology, geography and business Education levels professional Collective Convention, management. About 80% of the WATSAN public which sets a minimum wage without • School of Mines and Geology service officers are senior and middle capping it. (EMIG): trains engineers and managers. 40% of HR that works in technicians in electro-mechanical, the NGOs sector has a higher level of mining-geology, electrical training, and 60% have medium and Human resource supply to the engineering and civil engineering. low levels. Overall 14% are trained water supply and sanitation Fifteen graduates enter the job senior technicians (Baccalaureate plus sectors market annually in each of the noted three years); 61% have an average categories. education (BEPC) and the remainder Type of training and education • Maradi and Tahoua and Zinder: are have elementary education. Personnel institutes public training institutions that offer is young and 90% are aged between 32 Most of the organisations, companies, two-year certificate training of senior and 44 years. education institutions and NGOs technicians.

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Table 6: HR supply over 5 years departments. HR Supply WATSAN Other Management & Social • National Schools of Public Health technical technical Finance Development (ENSP) of Niamey and Zinder field field annually train about 20 senior Total estimate of HR supply 54 86 80 11 that enters WATER sector technicians in hygiene, sanitation per year and bio-chemistry. Total estimate of HR supply 268 428 398 57 • Vocational and Technical Training in that enter WATER sector to 2015 Centres (CFPP of Niamey, CFPA of Total estimate of HR supply 11 29 80 6 Zinder, do Pat SNP, Sara-Issa Beri, that enters to SANITATION etc.) focus on training persons under sector per year 18 years in professional occupations Total estimate of HR supply 54 143 398 29 that enter SANITATION such as electricity, building, sector up to 2015 plumbing, mechanical auto-diesel, forge welding, etc. • University of Zinder: provides • P ractical Institute of Kollo Rural • The Regional Centre of Hydrology bachelor-level education in sociology Development (IPDR-Kollo) is a and Applied Agro-meteorology and geography. The first students will secondary technical vocational (CRA) is an establishment of the graduate in 2013 and will include 176 school and trains technicians in Inter-state Committee to Combat sociologists and 170 geographers. rural development and rural socio- Drought in the (CILSS) economy. and includes the seven Sahelian Technicians and higher education • E cole Nationale Administration countries. It provides training and Although most of the WATSAN and Magistracy (ENAM) focus retraining of managers (technicians, engineers in Niger are trained outside on training middle and senior supervisors and engineers) in the country, the local training institutions managers in general administration, hydrology, IWRM and natural provide education in social mobilisation, management and accounting. The resource management. management and finance and WATSAN training is suitable for WATSAN jobs • Le Centre de Formation engineering. in the administration and finance Professionnelle (PSC) of the SEEN

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to achieve the MDGs and universal coverage, and considering the yearly supply and uptake by the sector, there is a higher shortage for technical fields in the sanitation sector. This is due to the insurmountable coverage deficit that is still challenging the country, particularly when looking to achieve universal coverage for sanitation. Only in the category of management and finance does the sector seem to have a surplus, although investigating universal coverage for sanitation will require additional management personnel.

It is envisaged that the relatively smaller percentage increase needed in water coverage, will require a larger pool of professional human resources, especially when targeting universal coverage.

Public training institutions • Seventy percent of WATSAN engineers are trained abroad • There are insufficient training was created in 2005 for the training general ecology, hydrology and hydro- facilities, such as premises, and retraining of its agents to ensure geology, rural sociology, general equipment and laboratory quality service and infrastructure hydraulics and IWRM. consumables maintenance. • Young graduates are not sufficiently • T raining in Techniques of Water Several private higher and secondary integrated into the sector and Sanitation (CFTEA) is a centre training institutions provide training • There are no regulations in place of continuing education of the related to water and includes human pertaining to service providers and Ministry of Hydraulics that focuses on resource management (HRM), thus anyone can operate in the drinking water and sanitation training. finance and accounting and project WATSAN sector and commercial • School of Mines from the Air management. Each year an estimated companies often operate in (EMAIR) was created in 1975 and 300 master-level students graduate from competition to NGOs trains medium-level officials in the these institutions. fields of public works, drilling, mining private sector and quarries. There are three public health private • Commercial companies often fail or schools (IPSP, ESPAS, ISS) that train run out of high-performance materials Input from other educational sectors sanitation and hygiene technicians and for their research and/or equipment While the supply of WATSAN training laboratory assistants (biochemists). for their drilling operations is limited, some private and state • The companies also lack permanent institutions offer training in fields related staff to WATSAN, such as soil sciences, Human resources • Companies that work in the sector through the Faculty of Agronomy of the shortages: comparing are often not specialised in WATSAN. University Abdou Moumouni de Niamey. HR demand with The following courses are taught: capacity and supply NGOs and Associations analytical chemistry, general sociology, Overall, it can be seen that in order NGOs and Associations struggle to

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Table7: Human resources shortages (negative indicates oversupply) be placed on the collaboration of state, HR shortages WATSAN Other MANAGEMENT SOCIAL the private sector and NGOs to do technical technical & FINANCE DEVELOPMENT whatever is necessary to have the right field field professional capacity to support the WATER SECTOR HR shortage to 46 -135 -3,694 783 implementation of improved services, achieve MDG and thus make progress to attain targets HR shortage to 1,437 1,149 -3,233 1,058 in the future. achieve universal coverage To address these shortcomings, it is SANITATION SECTOR necessary to: HR shortage to 180 271 -94 572 • Set up, at ministerial level, a national achieve MDGs directory and human resources HR shortage to 1,250 1,503 418 1,438 monitoring system for the WATSAN achieve universal coverage sector a. Produce an updated database of the WATSAN staff working in attract qualified, permanent staff and Recommendations state structures there is thus very little specialisation in for meeting human b, Update the data pertaining the NGO sector. NGOs and enterprises resource needs to companies working in the do not always have necessary financial To meet the MDG targets by 2015 WATSAN sector capacity to employ sufficient numbers of is already considered unrealistic. • The capacity of the directors and personnel. This constitutes an important The implementation of following senior staff of state structures should limitation in their interventions. Also, recommendations is essential if Niger is be improved in order to better the lack of government interest in rural to progress towards universal coverage. manage their personnel sanitation and the difficult geographic The study shows the considerable effort • Provide incentives for employees terrain works against sanitation that the Niger government is making (public, private and NGOs) to work in provision. SEEN does not focus on in terms of training human resources rural areas, especially remote ones sanitation, which is another reason for to achieve the MDGs. Despite these • Reorganise people who work in the the low coverage. efforts, it is clear that emphasis should private WATSAN sector into legally-

Difficulties for professional staff in rural areas WATSAN sector salaries in the rural areas are lower than for the same position in an urban area. This mitigates against qualified staff choosing to work in the rural areas.

The biggest HR need is seen in scattered rural communities where social development workers are needed. The Public Health Ministry is responsible for health and hygiene promotion and public health in rural areas. The staff category for health and hygiene HR showed a serious lack of a framework to attract workers to the social development sector.

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recognised corporations • Embark recruiting qualified WATSAN engineers to fill vacant positions at regional and departmental directorates • Promote and encourage the emergence of companies that want to specialise in the WATSAN sector • Capacity-building of NGOs and design offices • Strengthen rural and decentralised community capacity to manage their water and sanitation schemes • Encourage and support training institutions to open up more opportunities in WATSAN training • Create an enabling environment for students to enter the WATSAN field through, for instance, a student scholarship scheme • Reduce or subsidise the training costs in the WATSAN • Promote proximity development services (artisans for repairing, plumbing, diving, building etc.) in isolated areas where access to drinking water is a major difficulty to provide services b. Identify the needs in research- • The state must assure an enabling • Encourage women to enter development, and training environment for people to access the WATSAN sector through courses for learners and align information to promote effective scholarships at education and education and training with these engagement of all actors, including training institutions demands. civil society, private sector and the • Encourage alignment between public administration, by applying the sectors ordinance related to the access to a. Encourage collaboration between information adopted in 2010 public and private sectors, NGO • Lobby government to include the on the one hand, and training Full references are noted in the full WATSAN education and training institutions on the other to better country assessment reports available sectors in it priorities to ensure that align service provision with at www.iwahq.org/hrcapacity institutions have sufficient resources market demands

This document is an output from a project made possible by the generous support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The views expressed are not necessarily those of USAID, the United States Government or the International Water Association.

Data collected 2011-2012, report published April 2013