Grade three students share a textbook with the teacher looking on.

Partner since:

Total grant support: US$214,719,193

Grant eligibility:

  • Multiplier
  • Girls' Education Accelerator
  • System capacity
  • System transformation

Partnership Compact

Priority: Improve instructional time for better learning and greater efficiency.

Other key documents

Coordinating agency: Swiss Development Cooperation

GPE Team lead: Talia Miranda

Transforming education in Niger

In Niger, children face numerous obstacles to accessing and completing education, particularly girls living in rural areas.

Poor infrastructure, teacher absenteeism, an outdated curriculum and a lack of teaching and learning materials result in lost learning time – up to one-third of the school year for many children. By the end of primary education, only 30% of students have mastered basic reading skills and 23% math skills, making it difficult to progress through the education system. The dropout rate for grade 6 students is 33% for girls and 28% for boys.

Given how much of the school year is lost in Niger, the government is working with GPE and other partners to improve instructional time for better learning and greater efficiency.

Niger plans to replace over 36,000 straw hut classrooms, which are vulnerable to bad weather and fires, and build additional classrooms, dormitories to help retain girls in secondary education, and learning centers in conflict areas to ensure the most vulnerable students have better access to education.

Additionally, reforming teacher development, deployment, status and career ladders aims to decrease teacher absenteeism and increase teacher effectiveness in the classroom; and curriculum redesign will focus on core subjects, early grades, use of national languages and scripted lesson tools to make the best use of learning time.

Transversal to Niger’s efforts to transform its education system is a commitment to gender-responsive planning and policy development.

Result story

Niger: Using national systems to transform the education system

In Niger, the GPE grant, channeled through the Education Sector Pooled Fund, is aligned with national priorities. Transparently managed and responsive to the country’s particularities, this approach is steadily improving the performance of the Nigerien education system in the long-run in terms of equity, learning outcomes, and efficiency.

Grants

(data as of May 09, 2024)

 
  • Type: Program implementation

    Years: 2020 - 2024

    Allocation: US$85,100,034

    Utilization: US$51,732,341

    Grant agent: AFD

Civil society engagement

As part of its investment in civil society advocacy and social accountability efforts, GPE’s Education Out Loud fund is supporting:

  • The Coalition nigérienne des Associations, Syndicats et ONG de Campagne EPT (ASO-EPT Niger) for the 2020-2023 period. This builds on previous support from the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF).
  • Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage for the 2021-2023 period.
  • Civil society partnership for advocacy for non-formal education led by Groupe de Recherche et d'Action pour le Développement (GRADE) for the 2021-2024 period.

Learn more

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