Girma Project

Challenge

Niger is affected by long-standing crises that limit the consistent delivery of basic education and the availability of employment. It remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Fifty-eight percent of the population is under age 15, and out-of-school children number nearly 3.3 million, or 66 percent of school-age children. Young people lack meaningful learning opportunities in which to engage and the skills necessary to capitalize on the few jobs available to them.

Funded by USAID’s five-year Food for Peace project, Girma (which means “dignity, prestige, and growth”) is being implemented by a Catholic Relief Services-led consortium. As a partner of the consortium, EDC is strengthening the youth-serving resources and technical capacity of Assistance au Développement Communautaire (ADC), a local nongovernmental organization engaged in positive civic and economic participation activities.

Key Activities

Build the capacity of ADC to offer and support employability and school-to-work transition programming to youth seeking employment and starting businesses
Adapt Work Ready Now (WRN) and Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) curricula through consultations with national and local stakeholders
Develop local labor market approaches, tools, and strategies for identifying promising opportunities in entrepreneurship and employment
Incorporate gender equality, social inclusion, and empowerment in supportive coaching and accompaniment practices to improve access to training, upgrade physical spaces, and provide individual career counseling

Impact

EDC will work with and equip ADC to deliver life and technical skills training to 12,000 youth, aged 12–24 years, from extremely poor and chronically vulnerable households.