Femmes, Actions et Développement (Women, Actions and Development) works for the effective involvement of women in sustainable development in Niger. The organisation focuses its actions on six areas of intervention: education, governance, health, empowerment, the “Women, Peace and Security” agenda and the fight against gender-based violence.
THE REGIONAL CONTEXT
Like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Niger has a very young population: two out of three Nigeriens are under 25 years of age, 74.2% of whom are between 14 and 19.
Violence and the violation of sexual and reproductive health and rights particularly affect young girls: 76.3% of Nigerien women are married before the age of 18 and more than half of underage girls already have children.
Early and unattended pregnancies are common among girls aged 15 to 19, and almost 35% of deaths among young girls are the result of complications from these pregnancies.
Girls, adolescent girls, young women and boys face enormous difficulties in accessing sexual and reproductive health information and services.
FIGHT AGAINST ALL FORMS OF GENDER-BASED DISCRIMINATION
FEMMES, ACTION ET DÉVELOPPEMENT IN A NUTSHELL
FAD Niger’s mission is to fight against all forms of discrimination and violence against women. The organisation seeks to improve the participation and involvement of women in decision-making bodies and to include them in the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
The organisation also implements projects to empower women economically, supports the enrolment and retention of girls in school, and focuses particularly on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls.
THE CHALLENGES OF FAD NIGER
The association identifies many obstacles to meeting these challenges. These are, first and foremost, the lack of knowledge among health workers about sexual and reproductive health issues and the lack of political will on the part of some district officials to implement projects in favour of girls’ and women’s rights.
The organisation also frequently faces the challenge of engaging young boys who do not feel concerned about sexual and reproductive health issues.
FOCUS ON THE PROJECT
The ambition of the project led by FAD is to promote access to quality sexual and reproductive health services, such as family planning, for young people and adolescents in the departments of Loga and Gaya, in the Dosso region in the south of the country.
The project focuses in particular on training midwives in the reception and orientation of young people and adolescents. The aim is to improve the quality of services for young people and adolescents, particularly family planning services. In total, thirty-six health professionals will be trained.
By working to educate, support and empower Nigerien women and girls, FAD Niger aims to involve them in the development process. To find out more about feminist CSOs around the world and to keep up to date with the progress of the Feminists in Action initiative, visit the News section.