21-11-2017 | di COOPI

Niger: Teachers trained within emergency

From 25th September to 13th October, ten community teachers were trained in N'Guigmi, one of the seven Departments of the Diffa Region in Niger. These teachers will assure educational activities in the five schooling centres provided for by the formal and non-formal education project financed by AICS (Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development) addressed to children in school age in refugee villages and from the communities evicted by Boko Haram.

These figures were selected in collaboration with the Department’s Non-Formal Education Inspectorate interested in the activities, through a collaborative process that involved the authorities of the various villages and in particular the Management Committee, that is the body composed of teachers, parents, students and communities participating in school life.

In order to foster a greater participation and understanding, the training was provided by two trainers in the participants’ two languages of reference: kanuri and fulfuldé. The last three days were devoted to the "life skills" to be transmitted to the students. COOPI represents a point of reference in the Region in raising awareness on themes of relevance such as hygiene, positive leadership, sexual and reproductive health. Although the latter, in some cases, is considered a taboo subject, a group of psychologists drafted simple training modules that approach the topic through images of daily life, respecting the diversities of gender and in a necessarily discrete manner.

A participative and inclusive methodology was used in the two different training phases. After introducing each topic, the teachers worked in group in order to draft model lessons which were then exposed to the other participants, so as to strengthen their pedagogical competences.

We asked one of the ten teachers trained, Mohamed Modou Dala Modou, responsible for students’ education in the schooling centre of Klakamana, to give his opinion on the training path followed. This is what he said:

I really appreciated the content of the training and the fact that it was provided in the mother-tongue of each one of us, in my case for example in Kanuri. I learned a lot and increased my knowledge. The trainers were very competent and were able to transmit their knowledge. I’m glad to have been chosen: we do this job to help our community, our little brothers, and it also enables us to earn something in order to support our families. We really want the activities to have success, for children to be educated, also collaborating with psychosocial workers. We know and see what COOPI is doing in our Region and we are proud to be part of this project.