There is a big difference between the teachers from the cities and the villages…that’s not normal! All children in Niger must receive the same chance of access to education. We must redeploy the surplus of teachers from the cities to the countryside so that our children can have teachers, too.”  

– Adam Aboubacar, LDG from Nguigmi (Diffa)

As a main partner of Counterpart International, EAI is leading the communications initiatives of this project, which includes producing dynamic and relatable magazine-style radio programming all four local languages to reach target populations in Niamey, Diffa, Agadez, and Zinder. We have been working in partnership with communities to shine a light on government administrative health and education department activities and policies. EAI is working with community radio stations across the country by providing capacity building that enables them to unearth and advocate for solutions to social and political problems. Specifically, we are working with communities to host roundtable discussions that bridge the gap between local politicians and citizens. We have formed listening and discussion groups that are partnering with Nigerienne artists as well as religious, traditional, and civic leaders to foster dialogue and action on major social and political issues.

USING WHATSAPP FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:

The Learning Discussion Group (LDG) Facilitators and members use WhatsApp to exchange information with each other, but also as a means to increase civic engagement. By increasing discussions between facilitators and LDG members, participants are motivated to advocate on behalf of their communities in order to make positive change by addressing public concerns, ideas of community action projects, and promote the importance of what they’re communities are doing to spur change. In May 2018, the EAI team started including vox pops from discussions on WhatsApp due to their interesting content and relevance to the project themes.

Theory of Change (for CPI and all of its partners): The projects theory of change posits that increased understanding of local dynamics hindering or promoting reform (through research) and increased positive and constructive two—way public discourse (dialogue), combined with the improved willingness, confidence, and ability of civil society, private sector, media, government, and political parties to form alliances and partnerships to achieve reform (collective action), will ultimately bolster local solutions that promote the public good and shift incentives away from behaviors that undermine this good.