The Basin Focal Project Niger was one of ten projects commissioned by the CGIAR Challenge Program Water and Food to study the links between water, food and poverty at the basin scale. A research for development programme, the CPWF notably aimed to “to alleviate poverty and enhance food, health and environmental security through improvements in agricultural water management”. Faced with increasing food and water insecurity as a result of climatic and anthropogenic (demography, land use) changes, the BFPs were also asked to look specifically at the issues of water productivity in the basin, in order to reduce the strain of agriculture on water resources in the coming years. Organised in 6 work packages gathering researchers from Europe, Africa and Australia, the BFP covered issues of water availability and access and agricultural water productivity, but also analysed institutions, interventions and water poverty aspects. A final 6th work package was in charge of creating a knowledge base, to compile and manage the data, reports and maps produced by the project.