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 | Jun 23, 2023
Illuminating the Path Forwards

By Kyana Burgess | Communications and Outreach Manager

The girls enjoying the sunshine in between classes

As kids flood out of school in much of the United States for summer vacation, we reflect on our students’ commitment to hitting the books and working with their mentors towards a brighter future. This year, RAIN has been working diligently with our partner communities to advance our goals in Niger. In 2023, we’ve expanded into 5 new communities in the commune of Aderbissinat including Bori, Djaberi Barka, Tchinagrof, Tchinabro and Tillia - reaching an additional 124 students and watching them thrive.

As our students strive to succeed in their new academic environment, RAIN’s mentorship program provides ongoing support for girls as they grow. We have seen how this program adds another element of support to each student-uplifting them with friends, “family”, advocacy, and support.

We are thrilled that our mentorship program has grown to 160 mentors this year, aiding 799 students. Their guidance provides encouragement to try new things, from learning new abilities in school to developing traditional skills such as weaving and food preparation, helping them to maintain a strong connection to their culture and community.

The support from these mentors has an overwhelmingly positive impact and contributes to more girls enrolling in our programs and staying in them. This year at the Aouderas School, the dropout rate among mentored students was 20% lower than among all enrolled students-an example of how beneficial the program is to these girls.

Hearing from our students about their experience with the mentoring program puts the importance of this support into perspective. Students like Assalama describe the impact the program has on her life:

“Mentoring has greatly improved my life in terms of organizing my studies. Through this program, I have had several benefits from my mentor, like better understanding the importance of school…

Without this mentoring program, I don’t think I would do well or have a bright future because in the beginning, not only did I not know the importance of school but even my parents did not value school. For this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

These relationships are essential in building a safe and healthy environment for the girls to thrive in, and positively impact their education experience. Thank you for your support of this project and for making this project possible. You are changing the lives of both RAIN's mentors and mentees and for that we are exceedingly grateful.

We love to see the girls having fun together!

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Feb 27, 2023
Going Where Others Don't

By Katherine Kolios | Executive Director

Girls in Tillia benefit from mentorship & training

In October, we talked about expanding to 6 new communities in the commune of Danat. In 2023, we're doing even more than that. We've also expanded into 5 new communities in the commune of Aderbissinat including Bori, Djaberi Barka, Tchinagrof, Tchinabro and Tillia - reaching 124 additional students. These students get paired with trained mentors who help support them in school, serve as a liaison between their parents and the school admnistration, advocate for their needs, and provide them with life and practical skills training.

When I asked Hassana, RAIN's Field Agent in Aderbissinat, how she felt about the specific villages we chose to work with, she said they're exactly where RAIN needs to be. These communities have never received support from another NGO and the community members are enthusiastic and grateful that RAIN is there to work with them, in spite of the enormous challenge of reaching such isolated villages.

I just returned from my own visit to Niger where I got to visit the village of Tillia and see some of the magic for myself. The community welcomed us with a traditional celebration including camel riding, decorated donkeys, Tuareg tende music, Fulani dance, and local crafts.

The elementary school students also prepared a skit and a poem, which they performed in French, Tamasheq, and Fulfulde.

We are as excited to work with the communities of Tillia, Bori, Djaberi Barka, Tchinagrof, and Tchinabro as they are to work with us!

Thank you for your support of this project and for making this expansion possible. There is so much to do and we could not do it without you.

The Tuareg are a minority group in Tillia

The main ethnic group in Tillia are Peulh-Wodaabe.

The remote community receives no other support

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Oct 26, 2022
Back to School! - Expanding Support in Challenging Times

By Katherine Kolios | Executive Director

Elementary School Girls in Erisn Tagba

RAIN is expanding into the commune of Danat, where we're targeting 5 elementary schools and a middle school in Tchizamene, Fichet, Erisn Tagba, Jikat, Danat Village, and RTA. A team of RAIN Field Agents recently held community meetings to launch programming in each of these villages.

The roads were so bad, trucks, cars, and motos alike opted to drive in the dust and sand alongside the road, rather than risk the potholes. The potholes were so large, you could barely make out that there was supposed to be a road connecting them to one another. Less than 100 miles (160km), it took more than 5 hours of off-roading to reach Tchizamene from Agadez City. But at the end of the road, we found a lovely schoolhouse where children in grades CP to CM2 (US 1st-5th grades, apprx 6-11 years old) gathered.

Over the next few days, we met with students, parents, teachers, school administrators, and local leaders; they laid out their hopes and lamented the mounting obstacles their children had to overcome each day. They talked about a government that let them down and non-profit organizations that never came back.

As the adults spoke, I observed their little ones – too young to understand their parents’ fears. They giggled, tickled each other, and shared makeshift toys. It would be easy to see their playfulness as youthful naivete. Their parents are right that there are many obstacles… but every child has a world of potential in them – and that potential should not be snuffed out just because they were born into circumstances where they have fewer opportunities. They’re young enough not to let those limitations stop them and with your support, RAIN offers the opportunity they need. It’s still not easy, but with hard work, there is a path out.

RAIN has big plans this year:

providing 114 rural children with room and board to attend middle school,
training local women to mentor 725 elementary and middle school students, and
offering free, daily after-school classes for over 1,500 girls and boys at rural middle schools.

The concerns these parents shared are real but there is a way forward. We've seen students go through RAIN's program and go on to give back to their communities as teachers and nurses.

RAIN helps create that pipeline, and we hope you will continue to support this work so more children have the opportunity to beat the odds.

Give today to support expansion into these 5 new partner communities - ensure these students have the support and resources they need to succeed.

Elementary School in Tchizamene Village

This is RAIN's first year working in Erisn Tagba

Girls play at Jikat's community education meeting

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