Jeddah, KSA, May-12-2023, The Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDBG) and the Government of Niger (IsDB Governor) launched the IsDBG Revamped Member Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS) for Niger on May 12, 2023, in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The launching ceremony took place on the sidelines of the IsDBG Board of Governors’ Annual Meeting in Jeddah, KSA on Friday 12, May 2023. under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, President of the Islamic Development Bank, in the presence of a delegation from Niger led by H.E. Dr Rabiou Abdou, the IsDB Governor for Niger.

In his address, H.E. the President, IsDBG expressed satisfaction over the level of the cooperation between Niger and the IsDB Group and his gratitude to the highest authorities of Niger for their support to the Bank.

While signing the MoU, H.E. Dr Rabiou Abdou, IsDB Governor for Niger commended IsDB Group’s important contributions in support of development efforts in his country and assured that the Government of Niger will take necessary actions to speed up the implementation of the MCPS and the IsDB portfolio in the country.

It would be noted that the MCPS Niger is a four-year strategy document (2023-2026) which focusses on two main pillars with one Cross-cutting areas:

Pillar 1: Building Inclusive Human Capital. The strategic objectives of the pillar are to enhance human capital development for all Nigeriens in all regions of the country. The pillar aims to address human capital development for women who lag far behind and tackle regional inequalities by also focusing on disadvantaged regions. More specifically the pillar will place a special emphasis on education because it is one of the fundamental challenges the country is facing, and it is on of the key agenda of H.E., The President of Niger. Pillar 1 will cascade to three focus areas: (1) enhance school infrastructure, (2) improve teacher quality, (3), widen education access for girls.

Pillar 2: Supporting Economic Transformation. The objective of the pillar is to promote inclusive economic growth by structurally developing the industrial and sectoral levers of the economy. The key focus of this pillar are: strengthening food security by enhancing agricultural value chains, promoting trade and private sector participation, improving rural roads, and boosting energy access and efficient water systems.

Cross-Cutting Areas: This part of the strategy will focus on enhancing capacities to implement the interventions identified in the MCPS Strategy. Given the country context, the capacity development focus area will aim to build up the fiduciary capabilities of Niger: project financial management, procurement, and disbursement.

More specifically, the Capacity development will consist of : (i) Capacity Building in Fiduciary, Piloting Interventions, and Reverse Linkage (ii) Promoting regional equality, (iii) Promoting and widening access to Islamic Finance, (iv) Support for the climate change mitigation and adaptation, (v) Improving economic empowerment of women and youth.

Since joining IsDB in 1978, the IsDB Group has approved a total of US$ 981 million for Niger in different sectors including Transport, Water & Sanitation, Agriculture, Education, Finance, Health. As of 12 May 2023, the IsDB active portfolio comprises of 23 active operations for a total amount of US$ 555 million.