Involved in Niger since summer 2005 and the terrible food crisis which affected more than 3 million, TSF created a software associated to a telecommunications network to strengthen the government's National Food Crisis Prevention System.

Niger is before last in terms of human development on the list established by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The living conditions in the Sahel desert are extremely harsh and recurrent drought leads to almost permanent food insecurity. Less than 12% of the territory is cultivable. In 2005, there was an unusually dry season and the country was also inundated by locusts resulting in one of the worst food crisis in the recent years.

Due to lack of communications alerts would take weeks to arrive...too late to save lives

The Early Warning System (SAP) is responsible for collecting, assimilating and distributing information relevant to the risk of famine which may occur in certain areas of the country. It is also in charge of following the development of the situation in these areas. During the 2005 crisis, the difficulty of sending information from remote areas of the country due to lack of communications was one of the key problems.

TSF therefore deployed a communications network based on satellite and radio technology so that information could be sent in real time from the most isolated regions to the capital. TSF also created a software to digitalize and centralize the SAP information to help follow up and immediate decision making and facilitate aid coordination in crisis situations.

Funded by the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO), this system was first installed in 12 pilot regions in June 2006, then extended to 25 in February 2007 and finally widened to 37 regions to protect more than 14 million vulnerable inhabitants of Niger by July 2008.

It is essential to prepare in advance to prevent and limit the terrible consequences of food crisis. Thanks to its success and to the support of the European Commission, this innovating project could be extended to neighboring countries regularly affected by food crises. A similar system is being studied for Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal.

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