(The Southern African Times) – The AfDB will disburse $5,6 million to Niger to implement its Africa Disaster Risk Management Funding Programme (ADRiFi).
The financing comes from the African Development Fund ADF-15 as technical and institutional support to strengthen Niger’s resilience and response to drought-related disasters. The project, which totals $8million, will be co-financed by the Bank’s group concessional rate loan window and the Pan-African mutual managed fund, a risk contribution in kind of $1million and the Nigerien government of $1,4 million euro.
AfDB director-general for West Africa, Marie Laure Akin Olugbade, said: “This funding comes at the right time because Niger is now suffering the full force of the impacts of climate change, which each time harms household income, the performance of the agricultural sector, economic growth and the macroeconomic balance of the country, in particular the State budget and the balance of payments.”
Through the ADRiFi programme, AfDB is helping the Niger State preserve its budget against potential drought shocks as the country tries to revive its economy. The programme will be implemented from 2020 to 2023 in Niger, in line with its national food and nutrition security and sustainable agricultural development strategy initiative Nigeriens Nourishing Nigeriens (I3N) which is about securing zero hunger in Niger.
The programme is also in line with two of the AfDB’s five strategic priorities, namely feed Africa and improve the quality of life of Africans. The Niger project is the fifth to be approved under ADRiFi, after Gambia, Madagascar, Zimbabwe and Mauritania.
