Training in Dankassari

In June 2023, the RAEDD organized a 4-day management training in Dankassari, funded by AESCD through the MEAE (Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs), targeting 119 women beneficiaries of microcredit from the 10 villages in the Dankassari commune.

The objective of the training was to help women master the mechanisms for creating income-generating activities so that they could initiate, strengthen, and/or diversify their individual and collective income-generating activities and derive sustainable benefits from them.
A participatory approach was used to introduce and develop the topics, facilitating understanding among the four groups of 30 participants each. Theory was combined with practical case studies to ensure that participants fully assimilated the key points in the implementation process of income-generating activities.
The training was conducted by the Dogondoutchi departmental service of the Ministry of Women’s Promotion and Child Protection.

Microcredit Report

The training session also aimed to conduct a survey on microcredit beneficiaries at the request of the city of Cesson-Sévigné, and each participant filled out a form. It appears that their incomes, initially very low (on average €486 per year), increased by over 26% following the allocation of microcredit. The average age of these women is 45 years old, ranging from 25 to 75 years old. On average, they have just over 6 children. All the women were literate and only 16 out of 119 had gone to school. They are mostly married, but 21 are widowed and 4 are divorced. Among the married women, 46 are the only wife (average age 35 years), and 48 have at least one co-wife (average age 50 years). This corresponds to the average situation in Niger, where it is estimated that only 50% of married women are the only wife. Obtaining microcredit has allowed most of them (78 women) to diversify their activities, particularly through livestock farming, while continuing their previous activities such as making cakes or others. Others (32 women) are improving the conditions of their previous activities (trade, livestock) thanks to microcredit. Only a few women (9 women) were without activities or practiced only rainfed agriculture and have started livestock farming or small businesses. Microcredits are often allocated multiple times to the same women’s groups during repayments. It can be estimated that since 2017, the microcredits awarded (1,306) have benefited around 450 different women.