19-03-2020 | di COOPI

Niger. Quality education for 21,000 children in Diffa

In March 2019, COOPI started a new education in emergency project in Diffa Region (South-East of Niger). The project “Promotion and right to education denied”, funded by the Italian Agency for Development and Cooperation (AICS), addresses more than 21,000 children and adolescents, who are refugees, displaced or members of host communities who lack safe access to education.

Throughout the year, COOPI implemented several needed activities such as school’s enhancement, awareness campaigns for communities on the importance of children’s schooling, teachers’ training on pedagogy and teaching methodology, and psychological support.

In concrete:

61 classrooms with an innovative structure have been built – 12 are still under construction. All classrooms are equipped with school furniture (desks, chairs, blackboards) and with hand washing devices.

One of the new classrooms

358 teachers (74% women), working in the 56 schools addressed, took part in training sessions on methodology and pedagogy. They have also received 400 books and manuals on French and mathematics.

20 school gardens have been installed in the same schools. The purpose is to start a learning workshop on food education and cultivation of plant and products suitable for local soils. At the same time, farmland dedicated to parents was set so that they could produce and sell products to earn money to pay the school fees.

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School garden in Diffa

Moreover, 441 parents associations’ members received support in strengthening their competencies on conflict management and gender violence prevention. In 30 school, several clubs were started giving the chance to students to have a place where to discuss thematic such as gender violence. Finally, a risk and accident reporting mechanism within all beneficiary schools was set.

After the 2015 humanitarian crisis, 106,925 children (in 2019) aged between 4 and 17 (51% girls) were reported as children living in vulnerable conditions and without access to quality education (HNO, 2019). The project, that will end in October 2020, aims to improve access to a good educational system in 56 elementary and 4 middle schools, located in Diffa, Maine Soroa and Nguigmi’s departments. This will guarantee access to a safe and protected quality education to 21,249 minors.