Send 40 Girls in Niger to Secondary School

Dear Friends,

There is a common theme among all of our scholarship recipients. They want to go to school and continue their education in order to use their future profession to help their families, neighbors and country. Below are examples of the declarations that I hear every time I talk with the girls and young women in the scholarship program:

“I want to help the people of Niger.”

“I can use my education to help my country develop.”

“I will become a teacher in order to help other children learn and become the people God created them to be.”

“One day, I will open my own school for girls so that I can encourage more girls to continue their education.”

During my visit to Niger a few weeks ago, my heart was touched by the conversations I had with the high school students in our scholarship program.  Mariama spoke passionately about why she wants to become a lawyer.  She explained that there are many, many youth and young adults in the prisons of Niger. They are stuck there for years because they don’t have a lawyer to represent them. She wants to help them. Farida told me that she wants to go into medicine to become a doctor.  She would like to help young children because there are not enough doctors in Niger to treat everyone.  Farida said that it would bring her a lot of joy to be able to help these children. Each of the nine girls told a similar story.  It was clear that they chose their profession because it was what they wanted to do and it would help them help others.

Thank you for supporting these young women who are being empowered through their education to realize their potential, and in so doing, help the people of Niger!

With gratitude, 

Kara VanderKamp
Executive Director, Remember Niger Coalition

In 2020, despite the pandemic, flooding, and school closures we were able to continue our mission of unifying people and mobilizing resources to expand quality educational opportunities in Niger, Africa. Thanks to your support, we were able to expand our reach to more young women through our Send 40 Girls to Secondary School Campaign.  This year we want to do even more to create brighter futures for young women and girls in Niger.  

There are too many Nigerien girls who are either left out of the education system or leave school early.  Only 39% of girls in Niger attend primary school and 9% go on to secondary school. These low rates are correlated with the high rates of early marriage.  Over 2/3 of Nigerien girls are married before the age of 18 and 1/3 of girls are married by the age of 15.

The Remember Niger Coalition is addressing these alarming statistics by supporting girls through our Girls Scholarship Program.  Each year, we provide scholarships to over 75 young women so they can continue their education through secondary school. These girls and young women have the rare opportunity to fulfill their dreams of becoming doctors, nurses, teachers, scientists and more. This would not be possible without you, our partners! 

Thank you!

Kara VanderKamp