Nigerien Girls Are Entering a Profession with TİKA’s Support

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) donated training materials to the HUSAF Association, which operates in Niamey and holds vocational courses for girls who cannot attend school.

In Niger, women’s social and economic integration is insufficient, and girls’ education is still a prominent social issue. The number of women who could not attend school but married young and now strive to make a living without a profession is quite high in the country.

Girls who lack training or experience in commercial or economic activities are trained by several women’s associations and federations and encouraged to participate in economic processes.

TİKA supports women and girls all around the world through various projects. The Agency provided training materials to the HUSAF Association, which operates in Niamey and holds vocational courses for girls who cannot attend school in cooperation with the Dost Eli Association.

TİKA provided training materials, including ovens, stoves, sewing and embroidery machines, fabrics, threads, baking molds, large pots, and other auxiliary equipment, to the HUSAF Association in order to support the pastry, cooking, and sewing and embroidery courses held by Dost Eli and HUSAF for 50 girls aged 14 to 22 who cannot attend school.

The girls will learn different sewing, embroidery, and cooking techniques during the 6-month training program. They will also learn Turkish recipes from Turkish chefs working in Niamey. After the training, they will have the opportunity to be employed in Turkish institutions.

The delivery ceremony held for the training materials was attended by Özgür Çınar, the Republic of Türkiye’s Ambassador to Niamey; Abdoul Rachid Moussa, Representative of the Ministry of Professional and Technical Education of Niger; Tanju Polat, TİKA’s Coordinator in Niamey; and İbrahim Duman, Representative of Niger Maarif Schools.

In his speech at the ceremony, Ambassador Çınar stated that he was pleased with the fact that the pastry, sewing, and embroidery materials provided by TİKA helped these girls enter a profession.

Abdoul Rachid Moussa, Representative of the Ministry of Professional and Technical Education of Niger, noted that they were pleased with the cooperation between Niger and Türkiye and that the materials provided by TİKA would benefit not only these trainees, but also many other girls who would be trained in the future.

Abaché Amina Souley, a director from HUSAF, thanked TİKA and all Turkish people for their contribution to the vocational courses held for 50 girls to help them enter a profession.

The project aims to help girls who cannot attend school or dropped out of school due to economic reasons acquire professional skills, and to support women’s employment and human capacity building efforts throughout Niger.