INSECURITY: A REAL HUMANITARIAN OBSTACLE TO MEETING THE NEED FOR WATER.

Photo of a well. Niger

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of USD 565 per year in 2020, i.e. the 215th country out of the 223 countries counted by the World Bank (World Bank, 2020 ). For the year 2019, around 41% of the population of Niger lived below the national poverty line.

In Niger, the rural question remains quite problematic and worrying. Should we be in 2023, where some fill their glass with very cold drinking water and some with unhealthy water drawn along a tablecloth and by physical force under sweat and heat? Of course not!
While others quickly fill their glass to drink water, there are those who use their physical strength to draw large quantities of sometimes dirty and colored water.
Access to quality water is a problem for about a third of households, (35%) according to MSNA data (REACH, 2021).
Many of the villages do not have access to sufficient water and the situation intensifies when the dry season arrives. Season during which one must forcefully pull the rope of about 50 meters in length to obtain water for one’s household and to water the animals.
The pain of human beings must be relieved. The machine and new technologies must take over.
Indeed, because of the growing insecurity, the population there no longer has a voice to be heard.

NGOs have a limited budget and restricted travel to address the water problem.
The presence of non-state armed groups in cross-border areas with Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria weakens an already vulnerable population. Insecurity and the presence of non-state armed groups but also bandits affect humanitarian access and the provision of state services, particularly in Tillabéri, Tahoua and Diffa and attacks against humanitarian workers and government services condition are common
In some villages, so far, many people use well water. Something that requires physical strength. Some use water from the pond or backwater during the rainy season. Others water from the hole that takes time to dry up.

In Niger, there are nomadic ethnic groups, without fixed habitation because their occupation is the breeding of goats, cattle, sheep, etc. There is a huge water problem which often causes conflict between them and the immobile population.
The rehabilitation of wells and their transformation is not very effective because it does not last over time.
The need is urgent, and that water is the source of life, they say.
Insecurity hinders the accessibility of humanitarian workers and government water services.
First there is:
• A fairly imminent risk, because the agents can no longer be in the field, they represent prey for terrorists;
The contractors with whom the service contract is established also have
Urgent needs because diseases arise from using dirty water;
 — The physical becomes exhausted and this creates anguish and psychosis.
 — Always collaborating, not only with the local authorities but the local population in
It is necessary that the State and the partners who are the local organizations multiply strategies and formulas to meet the need for water by:
fear because their vehicles are broken into or attacked;
 — Urgent needs because diseases arise from using dirty water;

— The physical becomes exhausted and this creates anguish and psychosis.
Yet international law expressly protects access to sufficient water.
So, efforts must be combined, otherwise there is indifference and discrimination
Organizations see their movement limited in the determination of the need but also in the intervention to meet the need.
What you must remember :
 — The population does not have access to sufficient water because the interventions are insufficient
 — Insecurity overwhelms access to certain populations where the need is pressing;

— Places around which women have access are unsafe and insecure;

— The method of using water and its treatment is archaic;

— Insufficient water prevents household sanitation and personal hygiene. ;
It is necessary that the State and the partners who are the local organizations multiply strategies and formulas to meet the need for water by

—Urgent needs because diseases arise from using dirty water;

— The physical becomes exhausted and this creates anguish and psychosis.
 —Always collaborating, not only with the local authorities but the local population in need
 — Always holding meetings continuously from the beginning to the end of each achievement ;
 — Building effective standpipes and monitoring;

— Using solar panels and generators because the panels
solar panels do not work all season.

Massaoudou Mahamadou Jilip

Research Associate at Unsung Heroes Acceleration Programme