Gender Equality Niger Project #4110

Mentoring for At-Risk Nomadic Girls in Rural Niger

by Rain for the Sahel and Sahara

Mentoring for At-Risk Nomadic Girls in Rural Niger

Project Report | Dec 13, 2012
More children learning + income for women in Seiga

By Brian Nowak | Niger Program Director

RAIN staff member Koini in husbandry training

The primary school in the Seiga community of the Niger region of Tillaberi has had a history of hardship and resistance to education. In 2010, RAIN implemented a mentoring program to help enroll and follow students through difficulties they face in attending school from the family, community, and economic pressures. Towards the end of 2011, we increased the number of women mentors from 5 to 20, creating the largest team of RAIN mentors ever organized.

After receiving training about the importance of education and how to handle special family issues, the group of new mentors spent the summer visiting surrounding rural families - leading to the recruitment of the largest first grade class Seiga has ever seen. This year, 17 girls and 17 boys, for a total of 34 new students, filled the classroom - setting a new precedent that the mentors hope will continue into the future.

To sustain the program and help the mentors support their families, the women received animals from RAIN to start several income generating activities. One activity is a practice known locally as embouche. A ram is steadily fed a larger and larger amount of food in preparation for sale during Tabaski, one of the most important holidays of the year, requiring Nigerien families to “sacrifice” a ram for food in honor of Abraham. Another activity is creating mineral salt licks to sell for income and improve the health of their own animals as they tend and breed a herd of goats for food and income. The average first earnings among each mentor was $60-100, a large amount of money in Niger. For example, mentor president Aminatou Salanou was able to bring her desperately ill husband to the local health clinic with income earned from RAIN activities.

“After seeing my husband on the bed, becoming worse and worse each day, barely able to move, I grew despairing. There was nothing I could do." Aminatou shared. "Thanks to the money I've earned, I could pay for his stay at the local health clinic and the medicine needed to treat him until he became healthy again. I thank RAIN as well as all who support RAIN. It makes me happy to think that income producing projects such as these will help my family in situations like this in the future."

Happy Holidays from all of us and all your friends in Niger!

Mentor Aminatou Salanou

Training the mentors to create salt licks

Links:

RAIN website

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Sep 7, 2012
Azahara and Fatima: Two More Girls Succeeding

By Maghas Assaleck and Bess Palmisciano | Agadez Regional Coordinator/Executive Director

Azahara Mohamed learning practical skills

Two nomadic girls in Akokan were at-risk, now they're succeeding with your help.

Azahara Mohamed

Azahara Mohamed is a student in the RAIN mentoring program in the nomadic community of Akokan, located in the remote northern area of Arlit. Azahara is from a very vulnerable family, whose mother is on her own in raising Azahara and her three brothers by cleaning homes in the city. Many of her girlfriends who were not in school influenced her to attend infrequently and fall behind in her studies when she first began in the mentoring program. Her mentor has counseled her in life issues and has taught her how to embroider sheets, a skill which she is now employing to sell sheets to local women, helping her mother to support their family.

Fatima Moussa

Fatima Moussa is a nomadic girl identified by RAIN as having a high risk of dropping out of school, and was enrolled in the mentoring program. At first, Fatima was a serious student, ranked fourth in her class. Suddenly, she stopped taking notes, was frequently absent and her grades began to fall. Her mentor, Mariama Moussa, asked her what was happening. Fatima disclosed that her parents were discouraging her from attending school, already earmarking her to marry. Her mentor talked with her parents about the importance of girls' education and the consequences of early marriage. Fatima’s parents thanked Mariama for her work as a mentor and for raising their awareness.

Now, Fatima is back to working hard in school, and for the 2011-2012 school year, ranked in the top five of her class, passing her examinations to proceed onto the next level.

Recently, a friend of Fatima who married very early had to undergo a surgical operation to survive her first delivery. Together with Fatima’s success in school, awareness has been raised on the part of the community about the consequences for young girls engaging in early marriage and pregnancy. In Akokan, more parents are now coming forward to assert that their daughters finish their studies before considering marriage.

Akokan Mentors

Stories of success aren't only for the girls - but for the mentors helping them, too.

The Akokan women's mentor group of Arlit first began in 2005. Since then, they've come to know and trust each other, and have created a strong partnership with the local school, supporting themselves and their program with a herd of goats provided by RAIN. The next goal: achieve sustainability for the 16 mentors and 82 at-risk girls for the next two years.

When asked what new activity they would like to pursue to generate more funds, the women expressed that creating a group enterprise would be difficult, that they prefer a program that will allow them to work independently. And so the idea of a savings and loan program to support each member's own enterprise was mutually proposed.

Income generating activities that these loans have supported include the practice of embouche (purchasing of a small goat that is then fattened to sell), making food products for sale at the local market, making and selling clothes, and augmenting the goat herds provided by RAIN. All members have reported a profit.

Encouraged by the Akokan women, RAIN hopes to initiate savings and loan programs in each of our partner communities to further support the development of livelihoods.

Fatima and her mentor Mariama

Akokan Mentors 2012

Links:

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Jun 12, 2012
Free gift with $25 or more donation!

By Bess Palmsicano | Executive Director

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