The Digital Innovations for Agro-Pastoralists in Niger (IDAN) project uses a market-based approach to support the expansion of a digital bundled service, which is already operating in Mali and Burkina Faso, into Niger. This digital bundled service aims at increasing the resilience and food security of agro-pastoral households by providing reliable information that empowers users to take decisions to improve their business outcomes and ability to adapt to changing circumstances. IDAN is funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Niger until March 2024.

The three-year project aims to facilitate access for 35,000 agro-pastoralists and 5,000 agro-pastoralists in the Liptako Gourma cross-border area.

IDAN is designed to help agro-pastoralists make informed decisions based on reliable and up-to-date information by providing access to a digital bundled service. The project will give 35,000 agro-pastoralists in the regions of Tahoua, Tillabéri and Dosso access to this service, increasing their income by 10%, and 5,000 agro-pastoralists in the Liptako Gourma cross-border area.

The project’s overall objective is to trigger three fundamental changes: i) increased livestock and agricultural productivity, ii) increased household and enterprise assets and iii) enhanced sustainability at scale of digital services for agro-pastoralists.

These changes create socio-economic synergies to increase resilience to external shocks of and food security for agro-pastoral households.

A digital bundled service

The digital bundled service will be accessible using mobile phones, offering a combination of non-financial (information, advice, trade matchmaking) and financial services, which are tailored to the needs of agro-pastoral households and other value chain actors. The use of non-financial services enables agro-pastoral households to better plan their herd movements and cultivation plans. This improves their agro-pastoral practices, and ultimately their ability to sell more and higher quality agro-pastoral products. The financial services provide access to inputs and business relationships that lower value chain barriers, enhance trade and transactions, and grow mutually beneficial outcomes.

Public-private partnership

The IDAN project has been developed after extensive consultations with stakeholders in the agriculture sector, livestock sectors and the digital ecosystem in Niger. The project is implemented by a public-private partnership consisting of SNV as the lead partner, Hoefsloot Spatial Solution, the Association pour la Redynamisation de l'Élevage au Niger, the Ministry of Livestock in Niger and Airtel Niger. In the coming period, the partnership is seeking to start working with additional partners such as input and financial service providers. The project is using a market-based model to ensure the digital bundled service long-term sustainability.