31 January 2020
The International Aid of the Luxembourg Red Cross (AICRL) participated in the recent visit to Niger of Florence Ensch, Deputy Director in charge of Humanitarian Action of the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MAEE). The opportunity for our team on site to welcome him on January 22 and 23 in Niamey and to present him the prototypes of emergency shelters and latrines, built at the logistics base of the Niger Red Cross (CRN), as part of technical development missions from Luxembourg.
With the support of Luxembourg donors, the Luxembourg Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action as well as the Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection of the European Union, the AICRL and the CRN have been able to distribute since 2013 more than 20,000 emergency shelters in the Diffa region. These shelters were developed by the Emergency Shelter Research Unit, Shelter Research Unit, based in Luxembourg in order to offer a dignified, safe and culturally appropriate shelter to populations displaced by the Lake Chad Crisis.
“The needs to be covered remain enormous and the AICRL needs support to be able to respond to the most urgent needs of the extremely vulnerable populations in Niger,” explains Alexander Jacoby, project manager in Luxembourg for Niger. “The AICRL and the CRN wish to extend their action to other regions of Niger, such as Tillabéry and Maradi, affected by the conflicts and welcoming many displaced families. There are also plans to provide emergency shelter assistance to populations whose homes are being destroyed by the increasing floods, and to provide emergency assistance to at least 8,000 households over the next 3 years. “
Pierre Levigneron, head of mission in Niger adds: “In the regions affected by conflicts, access to the most vulnerable populations is particularly difficult. In this context, volunteers from the Niger Red Cross have a key role in being able to access populations and distribute shelters, the first element of protection after displacement. Strengthening the response capacity of the Niger Red Cross Society and in particular its Department for Disaster Relief, Preparedness and Response is at the center of AICRL’s response strategy.
The visit of the head of the MAEE also helped to strengthen coordination between humanitarian actors in Niger in the operationalization of the nexus, more particularly, between the Ministry of Humanitarian Action of Niger and the Niger Red Cross.