Niger: Smart Villages for rural growth and digital inclusion

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The Smart Villages for Rural Growth and Financial Inclusion Project for Niger aims to increase access to cellphone and broadband services in rural areas and to bring digital financial services to selected underserved areas. There are five components to the project, the first component being enabling environment. This component will support preparation of studies and reforms grouped in two clusters: telecoms and ICT sector and digital financial inclusion. The second component is the developing rural connectivity. This component aims to develop connectivity in rural areas, for the approximately 6,092 villages, with a total population of 1.9 million, that lack any form of telecommunications coverage under a Mobilizing Finance for Development (MFD) approach. The third component is the improving digital financial inclusion. This component aims at improving access to digital financial services, while maximizing the spillover effect in other (economic and social) sectors in rural areas. This component includes three subcomponents: creating digital centers and improving the digital financial ecosystem, digitizing payments and development of new fintech products, and creating digital platforms to enable access for rural populations to formal accounts and to increase access to appropriate financial service. The fourth component is the strengthening project management and stakeholder capacity building. Finally, the fifth component is the contingent emergency response component.