NigerLocated on the southern edge of the Sahara desert, the Republic of Niger is a vast and arid country. For many people here, life is precarious and finding food a daily struggle.
A mostly Muslim nation, Niger’s settled peoples – the Songhai, Zarma, and Hausa - are sedentary farmers, who occupy the country's thin southern strip of arable land. The Tuareg and Fulani peoples are mostly nomadic, raising camels, goats, sheep and cattle in the north. Conflict between these two groups has increased, as drought and food shortages lead to competition for land. |
| Child Brides Marriage for girls in Niger is a risky business. Most girls are given in marriage at an early age, some as young as ten, often to a much older man. At least one third of girls are married before the age of 15; 75 percent before the age of 18. With early marriage comes early pregnancy. Girls whose bodies are not yet fully developed and ready for childbirth often have extremely long labours, and suffer long-term physical and psychological damage. In Niger, World Vision is raising awareness in villages to dissuade parents from marrying their girls early, sponsoring girls to go to high school and conducting micro credit and literacy activities with mothers in an attempt to reduce child marriage. |
Health and humanitarian challenges Nearly half of Niger's population is under the age of 14. Children struggle against poor health conditions, lack of nutritious food, and few opportunities to go to school.
Nearly three-quarters of the population cannot read or write, and in rural areas, 90 percent of women are illiterate. Niger has exceptionally high child mortality rates: one in four children dies before the age of five. Two in every five children are underweight for their age, which hampers their mental and physical development now and into adulthood. Meningitis, measles, cholera, diarrhoea and malaria are all common causes of childhood illness and death in Niger. Many water-related diseases like trachoma, which causes blindness, are linked to contaminated water and poor sanitation. In rural areas, only one third of people have access to clean water.
Nigerien women have an average of 7.6 children. With few health facilities, poor hygiene and sanitation, and a lack of health education, a woman faces a 1-in-7 lifetime risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth -- the worst rate in the world. World Vision in Niger World Vision’s emergency relief work in Niger began in 1973 to help those affected by drought. A strong military government dissuaded many relief agencies, including World Vision, from intervening in Niger during the 1980s.
World Vision returned in 1994 to establish longer-term community-based projects, focused on health, education and the protection of children, as well as responding to emergency food needs.
Through child sponsorship, 37,000 registered children, their families and communities are now benefiting from immediate and long-term help to end the cycle of poverty. World Vision is currently helping more than 400,000 people by:
• fighting cyclical, chronic malnutrition among children and vulnerable groups through supplementary feeding programmes, community-based therapeutic care and awareness raising.
• improving access to education by building, equipping and repairing classrooms; training teachers; setting up adult literacy centres and vocational centres.
• building maternity hospitals and health centres, training traditional birth attendants, and educating communities about measures eto prevent water-borne illnesses including trachoma, diarrhoea and malaria.
• distributing mosquito nets, constructing latrines, installing water pumps and storage tanks, and drilling boreholes to provide clean water.
• improving food security by training farmers on improved farming methods, planting tree seedlings in school gardens, degraded land and private fields to improve soil quality, water retention and to provide sources of wood.
• building voluntary screening centres for HIV/AIDS, and training teachers, religious and traditional leaders and local people about HIV/AIDS
• providing small business loans to thousands of people, mostly women.
• promoting children’s rights in and with communities.
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