Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Through NGO-Led Women and Young Girls’ Empowerment Programs and Activities in Rural Communities: A Pilot Study from the Niger Republic

For a long decade, the Niger Republic has witnessed the presence of many nongovernment organizations (NGOs). Recently, the number of NGOs has increased in the country, especially those targeting rural communities. These NGOs implement several activities and programs in various areas to support rural populations. Accordingly, they might play a key role in supporting the country to achieve significant sustainable development goals within the United Nations Agenda. This study uses secondary data such as NGO activities in reports and websites, gray literature from opened official reports, and scholarly published articles to investigate women-based NGO activities, programs, and interconnected SDGs in the Niger Republic. The findings of the study showed that most NGO activities and programs have several socioeconomic and ecological implications on women and young girls and are interconnected to many sustainable development goals of the United Nations. For instance, most NGO interventions aim at alleviating poverty (SDG1), ending hunger (SDG2), and improving women’s good health and well-being (SDG3), as well as other SDGs such as SDG4, SDG7, SDG8, SDG10, SDG13, and SDG16). As the population of Niger Republic experiences, numerous challenges such as climate-induced shocks, conflicts, poverty, and illiteracy; country policymakers and designers; and NGO partners and fund providers should design a comprehensive regulation of NGO activities, and programs by, for instance, prioritizing the NGO interventions based on the level of the exposure of the population to the abovementioned challenges. This would not only empower women and young girls residing in rural communities but also contribute to the overall society’s resilience and well-being as well as support the efforts of the country to achieve significant SDGs by 2030.