UNICEF Niger: The Omarou family's story

The Omarou family’s story EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES

Schools for Africa

Niger

EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES

Thanks to your support, even in the most difficult circumstances, children are going to school.

Niamey Niger

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Niger faces enormous challenges. This vast, landlocked state on the edge of the Sahara is among the poorest countries in the world: almost 60% of the country’s 17million people live below the poverty line.

In recent years, a host of factors has made life even more difficult for many in Niger. With just 12 per cent arable land, high levels of population growth, low levels of education and little economic diversification, there is massive pressure on the country’s available resources. This pressure, compounded by recurrent drought, has led to severe deforestation and desertification, fueling frequent food crises and contributing to the floods that now routinely occur in the rainy season.

In the pages that follow, you will meet the Omarou family. Settled on marginal land alongside the Niger River in Niger’s capital, Niamey, they were among 8,000 families displaced from their homes when the heavily silted river shifted course in late 2012 causing widespread flooding. Several months later, they were moved to their new home on the outskirts of Niamey, at a place called Seno. Currently, it doesn’t feel much like home.

The family lives in a sprawling tent city alongside thousands of their former neighbors. Relief organisations provided them with two tents—the men and boys live in one, the women and girls in the other.

Without a doubt, the most universally appreciated feature of their new home is the school the children now attend. Founded in 2007, Seno Primary School, started as a couple of classrooms made of reeds. By early 2012, it had evolved into a six classroom school that suffered from many of the same challenges as other schools in Niger: insufficient classrooms and school furniture, a lack of water and sanitation facilities, too few teaching and learning materials and a shortage of trained teachers. By early 2013, as

families began to be resettled here, the school got an extreme makeover. A different set of standards had come into play.

The Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) is a global network that works to ensure the right of children to education in emergencies. Its standards provide strict guidance for national governments and development agencies worldwide, including UNICEF, as they establish education programmes during emergencies.

Ironically, in having met even the minimum standards laid out in these guidelines, Seno Primary School has become better-equipped and staffed than most schools in the country. “We are doing our best to provide quality education to all of our students,” says Mamadou Tchiemogo, Regional Director of Education in Niamey, “but we simply do not have the means to meet the magnitude of the need—even in the best of times.”

Which these are not. Since 2012, crises have erupted in neighbouring Mali, Libya and Nigeria, creating instability and conflict on Niger’s borders and sending tens of thousands of refugees flooding into the country. With every refugee crisis, every security threat, the government is forced to shift more and more of its resources away from education. And yet, perhaps in no other country is education so critical to the future of a people and their country.

Citing security concerns, some donors have pulled out. But UNICEF remains—working on the frontlines to ensure refugees and other displaced people are able to continue their education, and working in the halls of both government and local schools to ensure that children’s right to quality education is met.

Nowhere is the need greater, or the stakes higher.

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We used to live in a house by the river in the middle of Niamey, the capital of Niger. But then the floods came, and our house was washed away. They told us we had to move here, to a place just outside Niamey called Seno and that, from now on, this would be our home.

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06:17 ”In the morning after we pray we fetch water,” says Mariama. “It isn’t so hard. We fill up four buckets every morning. The worst part is that, when you pull the rope up again and again and again, it hurts your hands.”

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06:47 We

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tidy up, bathe and get ready for school.

Harouna (right) sells medicine in the villages around Niamey. “I’m not really sure how 07:03 much I make,” he says. “I can’t calculate the profits because I never went to school.”

07:12

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HAROUNA OMAROU Guardian and father

“We moved here because of the floods. One of the arms of the [Niger] river shifted and all of our houses were flooded. The water came suddenly. We were surprised and scared. Everybody took what they could and moved to the only shelter in the area: the school.

“Life in the school was difficult. There were so many people. You would have more than 45 people who didn’t even know each other living together in a single classroom all day and sleeping together at night.

The hygiene was really bad.

“From the school, the government moved us here and gave each family a plot of land to keep. We have been living here for five months now. It’s not easy to live with kids in a tent. It’s either too cold or it’s too hot and the children get sick because of that. When I have the means, I will build us another house.

“One thing I am happy about here is the school. Previously the school was far from our house, so we were never sure whether they made it there or not. Now, because it is so near, we can check to be sure they arrived. My only concern is that the children have to cross a big riverbed to get there. In the rainy season that could be very dangerous.

“I never went to school, but I believe education is very important—for both boys and girls. The knowledge they get will unlock their potential and open up opportunities for them to be whatever they want to be. It will also allow them to be self-sufficient. That’s why I want all of my children to go far in their studies. I have no intention of stopping them, even if the time for marriage comes. My only concern is whether or not I will continue to have the means to keep them in school.”

With your UNICEF support...

Protecting schools in an emergency In October 2012, 8,000 households sought refuge from the floods in Niamey by occupying the schools. “Schools often represent the only means that vulnerable people have in their vicinity,” says UNICEF Niger’s Education Chief, Lamine Sow. As a result, desks and books may be used to start cooking fires and latrines and water points may be destroyed due to heavy use. In addition, because schools are occupied the children cannot continue their education.

As floods have become more common in Niger, UNICEF and its partners have drafted guidelines for the government that set out how people can occupy schools without destroying them.

In addition, UNICEF has provided the government with financial and technical support in the development of flood contingency plans wherein those who are displaced can quickly and easily be relocated to alternative sites located in and around the city so that their lives are disrupted as little as possible.

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07:27 After

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breakfast we walk to school with our friends.

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With your UNICEF support...

Education facilities As soon as the displaced people relocated to Seno, UNICEF, in collaboration with their humanitarian partners, provided them with vital support. First, Non Food Item (NFI) kits were distributed. These contained mosquito nets, blankets, buckets, soap, tarpaulins, aquatabs, jerry cans and shelter. Emergency food and water were also provided.

To ensure that there was no delay in the children returning to school, UNICEF, the lead agency and Niger’s main provider for education in emergencies, raised 12 emergency education tents at the school. They filled these as well as existing classrooms with 135 desks and benches, nine round tables, nine cabinets, 16 school-in-a-box kits, and sufficient school manuals and textbooks. The preschool received 30 small rectangular tables and 102 chairs. They also hired and trained

07:51 Every

morning, students take turns getting drinking water for their classrooms.

teachers and worked with the community to train school management committees. In subsequent months, UNICEF and its partners continued to focus on upgrading the school’s facilities to meet the INEE minimum standards: they constructed an access road, a water point, and 12 semipermanent classrooms, which cost significantly less than standard classrooms and can be built much faster.

The result is a facility that is significantly better than most schools in Niger where approximately 60 per cent of all classrooms are made of thatch, and where students typically share textbooks and sit four to a desk. Most schools also lack water and sanitation facilities: nationwide just 26 per cent of schools have latrines and only 15 per cent have access to safe drinking water.

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07:58 Today

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it is Ismail’s turn to raise the flag.

With your UNICEF support...

Planning for emergencies “In recent years UNICEF Niger has been responding to nutrition crises, refugee crises and flooding crises....” says Education Chief M. Lamine Sow. “In each case, we have worked to provide basic education services for the children impacted by the crisis. But an emergency can happen at any time, and even with fast track initiatives in place, it can take a long time for donors and NGOs to bring resources for education and put them in place. That is why we must shift our thinking. First, instead of responding on an ad hoc basis, we must build an education in emergencies component into our regular programme. Second, we must turn our focus to low-cost, sustainable and effective ways to continue providing educational services, even in a time of crisis.

In our extensive experience, one of the best ways to do this is to help build communities’ resilience. If people have already organized themselves around education within their communities, then, when when a crisis strikes, they will be prepared to play a much greater role in helping themselves.”

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08:47 ”In geography I am teaching the students about climate change,” says Ismail and Mariama’s teacher, Mamadou Boubacar. “This topic is especially relevant to the students at this school. They know that people were resettled here because the river flooded their homes, but I want them to understand that there is more to it: climate change is causing changes to the rains, and this is one of the reasons the river overflowed.”

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“In the case of Niger, the climate change models predict that we will have more drought and more floods,” says Mamadou Boubacar. “That is exactly what we are seeing.”

09:23

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MAMADOU BOUBACAR

With your UNICEF support...

Teacher and Deputy Director, Seno Primary School

Training teachers

“At the end of 2012, floods along the Niger river affected a number of neighborhoods. After the floods, the commune decided that, rather than send people back only to be displaced again in the future, it was wise to relocate them. They brought them here, to Seno.

“Until recently, our school had just six classrooms. With the arrival of the displaced people, UNICEF put up twelve big tents to provide enough classroom space to accommodate the student population, which more than doubled in a very short time. Before long, those tents had become actual classrooms and the school had many new teachers, an access road, more latrines and a water source. It also received numerous textbooks and teaching guides—some of which aren’t available in other district schools. We have books, like the geography book, that don’t even exist in Niger! There are brand new desks, so children are no longer seated five to a desk. All of the children have also received notebooks, pencils and a UNICEF bag. As a result of all that has been done for these resettled people, our school is now among the best-equipped schools in the whole region.

“Our biggest challenge now is attendance. Because of all that we have received, parents, including those who have lived in this area for a long time, are now eager to send their children to our school. We have three schools in this complex: a pre-school, a Franco-Arabic school, and a primary school. In total, there are 848 students enrolled. I think that’s more than any other school in the region.”

In emergency situations, Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) standards call, ideally, for the provision of trained teachers, and dictate that teachers receive training in psychosocial support, positive classroom management and child-centered learning techniques to better support students.

At the other end of the spectrum, as population growth and demand for education far outstrip supply, the majority of Niger’s schools face an acute shortage of adequately trained teachers. To make up for the shortfall, individuals who lack even minimal teacher training have been recruited to teach.

UNICEF is working at both ends of the teacher training spectrum to ensure that all children are taught by teachers with adequate skills. Between 2008 and 2014, UNICEF supported 1000 untrained teachers through a 45-day in-service training programme. Beginning in 2015, the second phase of this project will train the country’s remaining 12,000-15,000 untrained teachers.

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MARIAMA ABDULLAHI Twelve-year-old Mariama is a class six student at Seno Primary School

“I wasn’t happy to leave our old neighborhood and move here, but at least we came with all of our friends and neighbors. All of us went through the flood together, so we moved here together and we started school together.

“At first, the students from this area were mean to us. In the classroom and the schoolyard, they were always threatening us and fighting with us and telling us to go back to our old school. The teachers talked to them so they’ve stopped that now.

“The school here is good. I like it. In our old school the teachers were often absent. They didn’t come to school every day and they didn’t explain everything as well as our teachers here. This is important to me because when I finish school I want to be a teacher. I need to learn well so that I can teach others well.”

With your UNICEF support...

School materials: School-in-a Box and school kits The School-in-a-Box is part of UNICEF’s standard response in emergencies. Designed to ensure the continuation of education within the first 72 hours of an emergency, the lockable aluminium box contains basic school supplies and pedagogical materials for a teacher and up to 40 students. Also included are a locally developed teaching guide and curriculum as well as locally purchased items such as books in local languages. In Niger, UNICEF has pre-positioned these kits throughout the country to facilitate their rapid deployment in emergencies.

During non-emergencies, UNICEF supports vulnerable children in their target areas by constructing and equipping schools and by providing students with backpacks containing the basic school supplies (notebooks, pencils, and geometry kits) many families cannot afford.

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10:31 “I

like the notebooks, pens, pencils and school bag that UNICEF gave us,” says Mariama. “Before, our parents had trouble buying those things for all of us.”

“The people who have lived here in Seno all along have probably benefitted more than anybody else from the arrival of the displaced people. They now have an access road, water, and a new, well-equipped school. But their children were not always kind to the new arrivals. They used to tease them about not having homes and would say ‘If it wasn’t for our fields, you wouldn’t have a place to stay.’ The teachers took this very seriously. We helped the children understand that this kind of disaster could happen to anyone and that they should support the new arrivals because they are our fellow human beings. Today, thankfully, all of that has disappeared. They are friends and they work together.”

—Mamadou Boubacar, Teacher and Deputy Director, Seno Primary School

11:16 “With

all of these facilities and materials teachers can teach well and children can succeed. Last year’s results were far better than previous years,” says Boubacar.

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12:37 While

lunch is cooking, Ismail cleans his football shoes.

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ISMAIL ABDULLAHI Fifteen-year-old Ismail is a class six student at Seno Primary School

13:29 “After lunch I do my homework,” says Ismail.

“The more I do now, the more time I will have to play football after school.”

“There are eight people living in our two tents. It’s ok, but I would prefer to live in a house because a house is warmer and in a house there is more space, so everything fits inside. Here we don’t have enough space. But this place does have some things that are better than where we used to live, like the support [food aid] we get.

“I also enjoy the school here. I am learning better than I did in my old school. The classrooms are better, the teachers teach better—they take time to explain things to us—and there are fewer students in our class.

There are also more latrines—not just one for all of the students. I also like it that here, when we have math homework, we can borrow a book and bring it home. In my old school that wasn’t possible.

“It is important to go to school. If you do, you will see the benefits. In the future, I want to be a doctor. It would make me happy to take care of people who are sick. I also want to build a cement house for myself and for my family and give money to my parents so they can do whatever they want to do.”

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15:41 “Though

she is in class three, this is only Rashida’s second year in school,” says her father, Harouna.”She was living in the village, so she started school late. I see a big difference in the girls who go to school.

School is good for girls. It makes them less shy and more outgoing.”

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With your UNICEF support...

Textbooks “We have had a shortage of textbooks since 2006,” says Mamadou Tchiemogo, Regional Director for Education in Niamey. “Last year, we received donor support in providing textbooks, but even then there was a gap.” To fill the gap, UNICEF distributed three million textbooks and teachers’ guides to schools throughout the country.

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16:10 “Sometimes

it is easy to understand what we are doing in school and sometimes it is hard,”says Rashida. “I am glad I can ask my teacher for help whenever I don’t understand something.”

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16:29 Like

Mariama, Rashida wants to be a teacher when she grows up.

“These days, there are a number of schools that have more women teachers than men,” says Mariama Seno, another teacher at Seno Primary School.

“This has a big impact on girls. The teacher is a role model for them.”

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16:51

16:57 “I

like my Arabic teacher,” says Yakouba.

“He speaks nicely to us so it is easy to learn.”

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AMADOU BOUREIMA Arabic Teacher at Seno Primary School’s Franco-Arabic School

“This is the only school in this area that offers students the choice of learning in a traditional French-speaking school or in a Franco-Arabic school. The government insisted we provide a Franco-Arabic school here because many of those who were displaced studied in a school like this in their old neighborhood. It is important for them to be able to continue in the same curriculum.

“The parents who are new to this kind of school are glad that their children are learning in both languages. It gives students a greater number of schools to choose from as they continue their education. Plus, you can’t ignore the fact that we are an Islamic country. Some parents feel that this option puts them on the path with Islam.”

With your UNICEF support...

A relevant curriculum In an emergency, the minimum standards require the curricula to be relevant to the present and anticipated future needs of the learners. Thus, not only should it be familiar to students, it should contain information the community needs as a result of the crisis, for example, mine awareness, peace education, health and nutrition, or HIV/AIDS prevention.

UNICEF is also working to make Niger’s standard primary school curriculum practical and relevant to all learners. The traditional curriculum is conceived as a series of long-term courses that stretch from primary through the end of secondary school. Given that most students leave school at the end of the primary cycle or even earlier, this is impractical. Thus, UNICEF has advocated for more of a competency based approach, which ensures that, whilst they are in school, students also acquire essential life skills. As a result, key family practices, including the use of mosquito nets, exclusive breastfeeding and handwashing with soap at critical times, are now an integral part of Niger’s basic curriculum.

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17:19 “I

put Yakouba in the Franco-Arabic school because it will give him two benefits,” says his father, Harouna Omarou. “Sometimes you go somewhere and the writing is only in Arabic. He will be able to read that, and he will also be able to read French.”

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17:57 After

school, Mariama and Rashida cook dinner.

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18:13 Then 42 UNICEF Niger

everybody does their homework...

18:17

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18:22 ...except

Ismail, who is still playing football.

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All children have a right to education.

UNICEF is working with government, development partners, local education authorities and NGOs to provide uninterrupted access to quality education for the world’s most vulnerable children.

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ABOUT UNICEF Thank you for believing that all children have the right to an education.

Together with you, UNICEF is working to make a difference for all children, everywhere, all the time. All children have rights that guarantee them what they need to survive, grow, participate and fulfill their potential. Yet every day these rights are denied. Millions of children die from preventable diseases. Millions more don’t go to school, or don’t have food, shelter and clean water. Children suffer from violence, abuse and discrimination. This is wrong.

UNICEF works globally to transform children’s lives by protecting and promoting their rights. Their fight for child survival and development takes place every day in remote villages and in bustling cities, in peaceful areas and in regions destroyed by war, in places reachable by train or car and in terrain passable only by camel or donkey.

Their achievements are won school by school, child by child, vaccine by vaccine, mosquito net by mosquito net. It is a struggle in which success is measured by what doesn't happen—by what is prevented.

UNICEF will continue this fight—to make a difference for all children, everywhere, all the time.

To fund all of its work UNICEF relies entirely on voluntary donations from individuals, governments, institutions and corporations. We receive no money from the UN budget.

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UNICEF Niger

Boite Postale 12.481 Niamey NIGER Tel : + (227) 20.72.71.00 Fax: + (227) 20.73.34.68 email: Niamey@unicef.org www.facebook.com/unicefniger https://twitter.com/Unicefniger

The Schools for Africa initiative is a successful international fundraising partnership between UNICEF, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Peter Krämer Stiftung. For more information please visit www.schoolsforafrica.org.

Photography, writing and design: Kelley Lynch

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