event 21 Sep 2022

FREXUS // Official signing ceremony of the local convention on the Nexus action plans in the Farrey and Karel Koissi pastoral areas

Dosso hosted an official signing ceremony of local convention on Nexus action plans for the positive transformation of conflicts and the strengthening of social cohesion around these pastoral areas from 13 to 14 September 2022.

Frexus

This article is also available in French.

Context

In Niger, the FREXUS project is implemented in three pilot municipalities located in the Dosso Region and including Falmay, Farray and Sambera municipalities that share natural resources associated with two pastoral areas namely Karrel Koissi and Farray.

Dosso hosted an official signing ceremony of local convention on Nexus action plans for the positive transformation of conflicts and the strengthening of social cohesion around these pastoral areas from 13 to 14 September 2022. These NEXUS action plans are the result of a dialogues process conducted for over a year by the FREXUS project and the ZFD. These dialogues were conducted using an innovative methodological approach that consists of developing and testing tools to prevent conflicts related to natural resource management through a participatory and inclusive process. These tools demonstrate, at the scale of the FREXUS pilot intervention zones, the effectiveness of the approach implemented to inform and support discussions between decision makers and other stakeholders by putting communities at the center of reflections on the links between conflicts, natural resource management and climate change.

The ceremony brought together more than 120 participants representing agropastoral and fishing communities, women's and youth organizations, religious and customary authorities, as well as executives from national and sub-regional institutions and decentralized technical services of the State.

The signing ceremony took place in the presence of the mayors of the three municipalities, under the supervision of the Secretary General of the Dosso Region, the Prefects of the departments of Dosso and Falmey and the Technical Director of the Niger Basin Authority.

Validation of the content of the action plans and signature of the local conventions

Preceding the official signing ceremony of local conventions, a session to restitute and validate the content of the action plans took place on September 13, 2022, in the presence of the 1st substitute public prosecutor at the High Court of Dosso and the departmental ad hoc committees supervising the process. Thus, the NGOs partners of the FREXUS project and the ZFD, notably the FNEN DADDO (herders) and MOORIBEN (farmers) federations, presented in local languages the action plans co-developed by the stakeholders during the dialogue process to ensure that the content of the local coneventions complies with the institutional and regulatory framework applicable to the access and management of natural resources in Niger.

All the stakeholders, particularly the agropastoralist, fishermen and beekeeper communities, agreed that the content of the action plans and local conventions is in line with the results of the dialogue process.

Official signing of the local conventions and next steps

The official signing ceremony of the local conventions was held on September 14, 2022. It was marked by a reminder of the legal scope of the local conventions through a communication from the Deputy Prosecutor and an exhortation from the Secretary General of the Dosso Region for the effective implementation of the action plans associated with the convention.

Therefore, through this signing, the communities of farmers, herders, fishermen and beekeepers of the three pilot municipalities of intervention of the FREXUS Project have marked their commitment to a peaceful and sustainable management of natural resources around the pastoral areas of Karrel Koissi and Farray in a context of climate change. The youth and women's organizations represent the privileged witnesses of these agreements.

The signing of these local conventions marks the outcome and the end of a conflict situation that has been latent for almost a decade around these pastoral areas. This situation was characterized by tensions that made it difficult for development partners and the State to carry out pastoral hydraulic infrastructures for the development of the associated natural resources in a peaceful manner. This ceremony also represents the end of the action plans development phase of the FREXUS project and marks the beginning of the implementation phase of the priority actions of these action plans, notably the realization of a pastoral pumping station, capacity building and awareness raising as well as the implementation of climate change resilient agricultural practices.

Click here to access the social agreements (in French only) of Falmey, Sambera and Farrey.

Click here for the full report (in French only) "Rapport des travaux d’atelier de la Cérémonie officielle de signature des accords sociaux sur les plans d’actions Nexus pour la transformation positive des facteurs de conflits et le renforcement de la cohésion sociale autour des aires de pâturage de Farrey et Karel".

Press Release

The event made local news. Read an article published by local newspaper "L'éclosion" here (available in French only).

Watch short clips from local news media covering the official signing ceremony - available in French only

TV Bonférey :

Dosso2

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Télé Sahel:

Dosso Atelier GIZ

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