Sahel Centre Conference
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Sahel Centre Conference: Addressing humanitarian challenges from a long-term perspective Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger Co-organised by Germany, Denmark, the European Union and the United Nations. Basic social services: Effective and sustainable redeployment of basic social services (in a broad sense including health and nutrition, education, food security and social protection, access to water...) in areas directly and indirectly affected by insecurity and conflict. Niger | Group Note 1 | August 14, 2020 Page 1of 24 Table of Content PART 01. AN OVERLAY OF STRUCTURAL CRISES AGGRAVATED BY A DETERIORATING SECURITY CONTEXT IN CROSS-BORDER AREAS. .................................................................................................................................. 4 Populations affected by disasters - 2020 ......................................................................................................... 5 Areas and populations affected ....................................................................................................................... 6 Impacts on basic social services ....................................................................................................................... 6 In the field of health, ........................................................................................................................................ 6 In the field of education, .................................................................................................................................. 8 In the field of water and sanitation, ................................................................................................................. 8 In the area of child protection, ......................................................................................................................... 8 On the food front, ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Part 02- BACKGROUND - ARGUMENT DIAGNOSIS ........................................................................................... 10 I. The main obstacles to maintaining or redeploying basic social services in areas directly and indirectly affected by insecurity and conflict can be summarised as follows: ........................................................... 10 1. Structural lack of coverage of basic social services in rural areas......................................................... 10 2. Lack of adequate funding for basic social services, support bridges between emergency and development interventions. ........................................................................................................................... 11 3. Insufficient deployment of technical staff in public services. ............................................................... 11 4. Planning in basic social services often limited to a development logic, without taking into account risks and emergencies. ................................................................................................................................... 12 5. Absence of a policy for the reception and installation of IDPs ............................................................. 12 6. Weak information systems capable of identifying needs in crisis-affected areas. ............................... 12 7. Insufficient coordination between humanitarian and development actors around clear planning under the leadership of the State, particularly at decentralised level. ......................................................... 12 8. Security and humanitarian access ......................................................................................................... 13 II. However, the effective and sustainable redeployment of basic services benefits from various opportunities that could be favourable factors, among them ................................................................... 13 In the WASH sector ....................................................................................................................................... 13 In the health sector ........................................................................................................................................ 13 In the Nutrition sector .................................................................................................................................... 14 In the Education sector .................................................................................................................................. 14 In Child Protection .......................................................................................................................................... 15 In the food safety sector ................................................................................................................................ 15 III. Preconditions for the effective and sustainable redeployment of basic social services in areas directly and indirectly affected by insecurity and conflict: ...................................................................................... 17 1. Ensuring security and access conducive to redeployment and maintaining basic social services in areas affected and impacted by insecurity and crises (see Group 2) ............................................................ 17 2. Strengthen State leadership in the coordination and deployment of basic services in the face of the continued predominance of humanitarian action in the provision of services in emergencies. ................... 17 3. Increase funding through the national budget and flexible innovative financing to cover the needs of populations in fragile areas. ........................................................................................................................... 18 4. Revitalisation of the Nexus Humanitarian Nexus High Level Committee for the implementation of the humanitarian-development nexus in fragile areas. ....................................................................................... 18 Page 2of 24 5. Strengthening and investing in the role of local authorities and communities (community engagement) for services that can be delivered at community level. ........................................................... 18 IV. The responsibilities of the various actors .................................................................................................... 19 1. For the Government and its technical services .................................................................................... 19 2. For donors (humanitarian and development) ...................................................................................... 20 3. For the actors of Territorial and Community Collectivities .................................................................. 20 4. For UN organisations, humanitarian and development actors ............................................................. 20 V. Elements of the Road Map with key milestones and deliverables ............................................................. 21 For the WASH sector ...................................................................................................................................... 21 For the health sector ...................................................................................................................................... 22 With regard to nutrition ................................................................................................................................. 22 For the education sector ................................................................................................................................ 22 With regard to child protection...................................................................................................................... 23 In the area of food security ............................................................................................................................ 23 Strengthening social cohesion and the adoption of essential family practices partly ................................... 23 Page 3of 24 PART 01. AN OVERLAY OF STRUCTURAL CRISES AGGRAVATED BY A DETERIORATING SECURITY CONTEXT IN CROSS-BORDER AREAS. Niger has a rapid population growth and low population density, the majority of whom live in rural areas, often in isolated villages. 20% of its population is nomadic. This demographic challenge does not facilitate access to basic social services, to which is added the deteriorated security situation in cross-border areas, which compromises national development efforts. According to the IPC Chronic analysis carried out in 2018, more than a third of Niger's population are chronically moderately or severely food insecure (Levels 3 or 4 on the IPC Chronic scale). In a normal year, these populations have significant needs (2-4 months for moderate and >4 months for severe) in terms of the quantity of food available, as well as in terms of the quality of their diet. This translates into high rates of chronic malnutrition (over 45% at the national level according to SMART 2019). Every year, at least part of the population becomes severely food insecure during the pastoral (March-June) or agricultural (June-September) hunger gap. These shocks are aggravated if they affect other countries in the sub-region, given Niger's dependence on internal and external trade. Due to its landlocked