The Niger Government adopted its first NAP for the 2016-2018 period. The drafting of the NAP was coordinated by the Ministry of Population, Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, civil society organisations, NGOs, and technical and financial partners. The eight regions of Niger were consulted, and the document remains to be validated by representatives of all eight regions of Niger. Overall, the Niger NAP is organised with a very extensive introduction and context section. The NAP is then structured into priority chapters with objectives, results, actions, indicators, targets, and those responsible for the objectives. There is a detailed budget chapter, as well as a follow-up and monitoring chapter.
Niger faces many different types of conflict situations. The NAP mentions that security operations weigh heavily on public finances, and the state has had to multiple their military investments by 15 since 2010. While this has had an unfortunate impact on all socio-economic sectors in the country, disarmament is not mentioned. Niger faces the following issues, resulting in conflict: lack of access to natural resources; lack of access to public resources, including the redistribution of income from extractive industries; a demographic dividend and marginalisation of women and youth; weak governance, social tensions and the recurrence of political and institutional instability; armed conflicts including armed rebellions in the northern part of the country. In addition, socio-political turmoil in Libya, armed conflict in Mali, the presence of Boko Haram and the presence of terrorist groups in the north-west have all led to displacement throughout Niger and an influx of migrants. All of these threats are aggravated by the circulation of firearms. Putting in place the NAP is an opportunity to work on women’s marginalisation and other security issues tied to WPS.
By adopting the NAP, Niger reaffirms its commitment to improve the participation of women in prevention and resolution of conflicts and to take the necessary measures for the protection of women and girls before, during and after conflicts. The NAP focuses on four priority axes, including: Prevention of conflict and gender-based violence; Protection, Assistance and Rehabilitation of Victims; Participation and Representation; Coordination, monitoring and evaluation of activities. However, the NAP, while referencing the impact of armed conflict on women, does not offer any specific actions for disarmament and arms control, including monitoring mechanisms for assessing the impact of arms proliferation on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). While the NAP offers financing specifics, refers to the role civil society has and will play, and gives specific information coordination, it does not have a timeline.
Update: In its national review for Beijing+25, Niger indicated that the NAP timeline is 2017-2019. As conflict prevention and prevention of gender-based violence is the primary priority of the NAP, the focus of the action plan is to strengthen the institutional, legal and social environment that promotes gender mainstreaming in conflict prevention and management. Niger supported the establishment of the G5 Sahel Women’s Platform and the development of a three-year action plan for 2019-2021 (pg. 37).