What works in Niger

Niger faces one of the world's highest child-marriage rates—about 76% of women aged 20–24 had married before age 18 as of 2012—and a girls'-empowerment programme aimed at delaying marriage showed gains in girls' knowledge and income but no significant reduction in marriage rates themselves. On environmental outcomes, farmer-managed natural regeneration enabled by tree-tenure reform has regenerated an estimated 5–6 million hectares, raising on-farm tree density from around 4 to 40 trees per hectare and benefiting hundreds of thousands of farmers. During the 2010 food crisis, mobile-money cash transfers reduced the distance recipients had to travel to collect aid (0.45 km vs. 1 km for manual cash) and slightly improved diet diversity, though delivery costs were marginally higher.