Mentoring for At-Risk Nomadic Girls in Rural Niger

Rain for the Sahel and Sahara, support at risk-girls so they can thrive by partnering with local women mentors. These mentors have a profound impact on these children and their communities as a whole. The mentors monitor the children’s progress while providing guidance through their academic life. These mentors are involved with several families, through talking to parents and other family members.  Not only are these at-risk girls given important skills and knowledge by their mentors, but the mentors themselves are empowered and become community leaders or wise-women.

              To continue the momentous help that these mentors provide for these students we are providing a sustainable option for their future. Coupled with other income generating programs, providing a herd of goats for these mentors allows them to become independent. The students have a reliable mentor that is helping her community as well as them. This is the way to end the cycle of poverty in rural Niger. By partnering with local people developing a plan that works for them and helping students succeed.

            Your donations are doing more than changing lives; they are changing
opinions about the importance of a girl’s education. One of the biggest
challenges our mentors face is convincing parents -- most of whom have never
been to school -- of the importance of education, and that attending school is
beneficial for both the child and the family.

I meet with parents to explain my work to them and
convince them to allow me to work with their children.
For some parents, it is only after many conversations
about the importance of education that they come to
understand my role in the community.
- Mentor Zeinabou Djibo

Your continued support has allowed this unique program to thrive. In addition to
supporting students and teaching them about hygiene, health, and nutrition;
mentors pass on traditional artisan skills such as weaving, basket making, and
pottery; preserving a culture that is thousands of years old. Mentors also speak
to entire communities about the benefits of education, which earns mentors
respect and gives them a voice within their communities that they use to reach
far beyond classroom walls.

I raise awareness on different themes with my
students’ parents, my neighbors and my friends. If we
take the example of young girls, I try to raise
awareness by saying that no one should give girls who
are in elementary school off to marry. These girls have
not even reached the age of puberty yet. I also speak
with the young men to encourage them not to marry
young girls. One example I give is that if a girl that is
too young to be married [then] marries a boy, as soon
as she becomes pregnant she will have difficulty giving
birth. A young girl’s body cannot support a pregnancy
or giving birth.
-Mentor Addajhjat Anasbagor