Research Terms of Reference: Support to the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster in Niger, GLO2103 (June 2021, V1) Format 2.1 Background The recent humanitarian crisis in the Central Sahel, underpinned by escalating violence and insecurity in parts of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, has exacerbated the long-term development challenges. Across Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, only 16%, 13% and 5% of the population use the Internet according to 2019 data from the International Telecommunication Union. In order to address those issues, which perpetuate the poverty cycle, the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), aims at supporting the humanitarian response in the Sahel by strengthening the resilience of affected populations across the region through increasing access to technology.