Rural Mobility and Connectivity Project

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The objective of the Rural Mobility and Connectivity Project for Niger is to improve and sustain road access of farming communities to production sites, markets and basic social services in selected areas. The project has 3 components. (1) Improvement of rural transport infrastructure component has 2 subcomponents. Rural roads improvement works subcomponent will finance the improvement into all-season roads of about 650 km of existing unpaved rural roads and also address road safety along the project roads with a focus on ‘safer roads and mobility’ pillar of the United Nations’ resolution on road safety. Therefore, physical road safety features such as speed calming devices at the entry of villages, adequate traffic signs, and reflectors on the drainage structures will be included in the civil works. Small common facilities subcomponent will finance small common facilities requested specifically by women during consultations held at project preparation stage. The proposed facilities, located along the project roads, are designed to contribute to reducing gender disparities between men and women in accessing resources and economic opportunities and to maximize the impact of the project on farming communities. (2) Rural road maintenance component also has 2 subcomponents. Support for routine maintenance subcomponent will support the implementation of an efficient and sustainable routine maintenance mechanism of the project roads. It will support the routine maintenance mechanism already defined in the country strategy of rural roads maintenance. Yearly routine maintenance is crucially needed to address early deteriorations on time before they become advanced, thus preserving the road assets and decreasing the later cost of rehabilitation/reconstruction. Once the project roads are improved and after the period of guarantee, Government of Niger resources will be used for routine maintenance. (3) Operational support component will finance project management and coordination of activities, implementation of the Resettlement Action Plans, provide smart implementation support, integrate sustainable citizen engagement processes, and finance activities designed to prevent and mitigate gender-based violence including sexual exploitation and abuse and violence against children risks linked to project civil works sites, as well as their monitoring. These activities will be implemented together with a specialized NGO with extensive experience in working on GBV matters in Niger.