Concern Blogs

Concern-supported teachers’ training session gets underway in Djinguiniss, Niger. Photo: Amayele Dia, Niger, Concern Worldwide

By Amayele Dia, Program Support Officer, Niger

Niger is the least developed country on the planet—according to the United Nations Human Development Index. Its people survive on very little, most on far less than $1 a day, and every year in Niger, the population endures what is called a “hunger gap”—a period of roughly 4 months when the food from the last harvest has run out, but the next harvest is not yet ready. In some years, like this one, failed rains lead to crop failure, and the hunger gap is much longer and much more serious.

Niger is one of the toughest countries imaginable in which to live or to work. My job is to help Concern tackle the root causes of poverty here through such programs as education—to give the poorest people in this very vulnerable nation a foothold to begin the long, hard climb out of extreme poverty.

No contribution in this country is too small to make a difference—and if education is supported by the international community here, it will be a powerful, liberating social and economic force. But it is a step-by-step battle, and the stakes are high.

Part of that step-by-step fight involves working not only with the most vulnerable children, but also with adults—to train them as teachers and give them the tools to strengthen Niger’s schools and empower its children to read, write, and acquire greater economic opportunities. On a recent visit to the 100-year-old village of Djinguiniss, I felt I was in another world, with the small huts rising like a mirage in the arid landscape and surrounding desert.

One of the new schools built by Concern in Baouchi, Niger where Concern is working to improve conditions for children and teachers. Photo: Amayele Dia, Niger, Concern Worldwide

It is the middle of the school’s summer break, and the school that I have come to visit  is unnaturally quiet, though not totally silent.

Today, inside the school, Teaching Advisor Namadi Amadou holds the attention of two dozen people seated in pairs at the children’s desks, which are too small for them by far.

These people are the reason I am here: they are teachers and school headmasters receiving training supported by Concern. My job is to observe the process, interview the participants, and gather other such evidence of how our program is influencing their daily work.

More than 80 percent of teachers in Niger have only themselves completed second grade. Along with the lack of books, adequate classrooms, and blackboards their job is further restricted by the extremely poor teaching conditions.

Namadi’s job isn’t easy. Indeed, many before him have given up in a country where the odds are stacked high against overcoming the relentless hurdles

But Namadi’s enthusiasm is strong and real. His job is to provide coaching and on-the-job training to the 180 teachers working in his district. Needless to say, his most valuable possession is a DT125 dirt bike that takes hundreds of miles each week to remote and hard-to-reach, isolated villages.

Most of the classrooms in Niger are ‘paillottes’, rooms built out of millet—often villagers have to wait until after the annual harvest, when millet is available, so that construction can again begin on classrooms, delaying school openings for months.

Namadi openly talks about the negative impact of these factors on student performance: “Access to school has been gradually improved but children in grade 6 still don’t know how to read,” he explains.

“You know, children are our future and unfortunately, in my area, over 80 percent of teachers have no qualifications. It’s no wonder that children have so much difficulty mastering the basics of writing and reading. I see it as my duty to train those teachers so they can form Niger’s future citizens.”

I wonder aloud what keeps him going, and he tells me it comes down to his faith in the ability to change things, and that he is bolstered by the support he receives: “After four years, I can say only one thing: Thank God Concern is here,” he admits.

Concern seeks to improve conditions for children and teachers and to provide permanent buildings in place of Niger's millet huts, which currently operate as schools. Photo: Amayele Dia, Niger, Concern Worldwide

“Concern is the only partner which responds to all our needs. They build classrooms, latrines, teachers’ resource centers – used for teacher training sessions – and they dig necessary school wells.

“My teacher resource center and five classrooms in my area are soon going to benefit from a Concern-supported solar panel project. This is a blessing. Once we have electricity we can begin much-needed night classes and tutoring sessions for students who desperately need them,” he says.

For his part, Namadi, would never consider a change of position: “What I love about my job is the ability to transmit my knowledge and then witness the difference it makes,” he says, a sparkle illuminating his eyes before returning to his students in the simple and natural manner of a true calling.