Women at the forefront: listening, protection and right to health in the Diffa region

Women at the forefront improves living conditions and access to the rights of women and girls of Chétimari in the Diffa region with actions aimed at protecting victims of violence, strengthening health services and promoting economic opportunities.

General oblective

To contribute to mitigate vulnerability and to strengthen community resilience in the Diffa Region from a gender perspective.

Specific objective

To improve living conditions, access to fundamental rights of health and protection for women and girls in the villages of Tourbaguida, Kargamari and Chétimari.

Activities

• Start up of three counseling centers for women and girls victims of violence in the villages of Tourbaguida, Kargamari and Chétimari;
• creation of a network among institutions and civil society to contrast gender-based violence and support women and girls victims of violence;
• awareness-raising activities on women’s rights issues: group meetings, distribution of informative material, radio broadcasting;
• creation of an Inter-institutional table on the topic of women’s health involving institutions and civil society;
• supply of materials and medicines to the Integrated Health Centres (Centre de santé intégré -CSI) of Chetimari and Kargamari;
• trainings of “matrones” (traditional midwives), midwives and other health personnel;
• activation of a mobile clinic for prevention and information on reproductive rights, contraception, sexually transmitted diseases in the villages of Tourbaguida, Kargamari and Chétimari;
• start-up of a fund for supporting income generating activities managed by women.

Place of intervention

The intervention is carried out in Niger, in the Diffa Region, Department of Diffa, Rural Municipality of Chétimari, in particular in the villages of Kargamari, Chétimari and Tourbaguida, characterized by the high presence of refugees and internal displaced persons (IDPs).

Partners

The project is promoted by a group of international and local associations. The international partners are COSPE, MEDU and Africa 70. The local partner is Alternative Espace Citoyen (AEC).
In addition to these actors, there is the involvement of SOS Femme association, local and national health institutions such as the Department of Women’s Promotion.

Medu’s activities

• Creation of an Inter-institutional table on the topic of women’s health involving institutions and civil society;
• supply of materials and medicines to the Integrated Health Centers of Chetimari and Kargamari;
• trainings of “matrones” (traditional midwives) and midwives and other health personnel;
• activation of a mobile clinic for prevention and information on reproductive rights, contraception, sexually transmitted diseases in the villages of Tourbaguida, Kargamari and Chétimari.

Team

The team of the mobile clinic is composed by: 1 doctor, 1 nurse, 2 midwives, 1 cultural mediator, 1 logistic operator, 1 driver.
The local staff will be trained and supported by a reproductive health expert (local), a community health expert (local) and international experts.

The context

Niger is a landlocked West African country, two-thirds of whose surface area is in the Saharan zone. It has a population of 21.2 million (13.2 million in 2007), 48.6% of whom are under 15 years old.  About 4 out of 5 Nigeriens live in rural areas and only 29% of the population is literate. At the socio-economic level, Nigerien women represent an important part of the labour force, playing a crucial role in labour-intensive jobs, food production, and performing most of the unpaid work in rural areas.
The education rate is also much lower among girls than among boys. From a health point of view, the limits to access to health rights and services highly expose women to health problems. All this occurs in a cultural context characterized by early marriages, unwanted pregnancies and high fertility rates (7.5 children per woman), domestic violence and mutilations and, more generally, difficulties in information access.

The Diffa region is located in the far east of Niger, in the largest geographical region of Lake Chad. Its 156,906 km2 are populated by about 593,821 inhabitants (2012 data). The situation is even more aggravated by the state of emergency which has been characterising the region since 2015 and exposing the most vulnerable sections of the population, especially women, to insecurity.

At the southern border with Nigeria, the abuses and violence of the armed group Boko-Haram is rampant. Many families have broken up and become impoverished (there are many cases of single-parent families headed by women), and the health and hygiene situation is precarious, partly as a result of major population movements and the crumbling of the institutional fabric and, consequently, of available services.

Project brief

Project title

Women at the forefront: listening, protection and right to health in the Diffa region

Type of intervention

Health personnel trainings and sexual reproductive health services

Beneficiaries

Women and girls in the villages of Tourbaguida/ Kargamari/ Chétimari

Intervention area

Diffa region, Niger

Partners

COSPE (leading partner), Africa 70, MEDU, Alternative Espace Citoyen (AEC)

Donors

Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS)
Funds Otto per mille of the Waldensian Church

Timeframe

Mid-January 2021 – ongoing

How to volunteer

write to: Teresa Leone, International Projects Desk mail: internationale@mediciperidirittiumani.org

Activity decription

It is possible to submit your application to become a volunteer in Italy in support to the International Projects Desk for the ordinary management of the project. For the moment there are no opportunities to do a volunteer experience on site

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