European "ACP-EU Water Facility" project for the River Niger

The aim is to stimulate the development of water supply and drainage infrastructure, and to improve water regulation and water resource management practices in the ACP countries, by helping to meet their need for financing.

A project for the River Niger in Mali

One of the initiatives taking place as part of this programme is the UNESCO-backed project for the River Niger in Mali, which aims to support improvements in the technical skills of the local authorities situated along the banks of the river, as well as their institutional abilities and how they consult with others.

Decentralised cooperation to support the initiative

Implementing the initiative in practice will mean relying on the existing decentralised cooperation agreements between local authorities situated along the banks of the Niger and French local authorities, particularly those alongside the Loire, which established a Loire-Niger partnership in 2005. Local authorities and specialist institutions (notably the Agency for the Loire-Brittany basin), will provide local authorities, municipalities and institutions in Mali with methodological and technical assistance in the various areas of the initiative.

The International Rivers and Heritage Institute, a department of the Val de Loire Mission, will be mainly involved in the areas of education and research. The other departments of the Val de Loire Mission will offer their expertise in river heritage management techniques to local authority and central government departments in Mali.

A five-pronged approach

The initiative can be broken down into five key elements:
• Improving understanding of the uses and users of the river
• Strengthening the institutional framework for decentralised water management
• Improving the range of training available to local authorities
• Carrying out pilot demonstrations to test regulatory systems, verify the content of training courses and put in place operational initiatives to help combat poverty.
• Capitalisation and dissemination of the methodological skills and knowledge acquired to help extend the approach to a national and sub-regional level, throughout the Niger basin, using a variety of media.

The initiative is characterised by its support for taking into consideration the socio-economic and cultural practices around the river, and this is intended to help strengthen municipalities in their roles as contracting authorities, thereby increasing the impact of water management projects on the fight against poverty.