Written by: Rahamatou Diarra, Project Manager Mooriben and Aïda Toyé, Linking and Learning Assistant Voice, Oxfam in Niger

To celebrate International Day of Rural Women, Timidria and Mooriben organised a joint activity as part of linking and learning. Celebrated on October 15th, this day was an opportunity to create links and facilitate learning between the rightsholders of both organisations.

Under the theme Strengthening resilience to the climate crisis of women and girls in rural areas, Mrs. Hadjo Djibo, a resident of Hamdallaye commune in the MADALLAH game of Mooriben, and also the Gender focal point of that same commune, put her know-how and her experience as a processor of agri-food products at the service of the 20 women of the Naney group in the village of Gounti Koira (commune of Kouré), a village where Timidria intervenes into use. She showed the women in this group how to turn groundnuts into oilcake/peanut cake and extract the oil. These are women who would produce the groundnuts but not transform it.

The organisers took the opportunity to invite other rightholders including Mrs. Biba Harouna, president of the Don don gawani gani good nafa group of Kollo who works with our partner of GIE Emprise. This was because, on one hand the women of her group also process groundnuts and sell the finished products and, on the other hand, they are active and spontaneously carry out advocacy activities. She took the opportunity to support the Hamdallaye trainer through speeches encouraging women to take matters in their own hands. She did not hesitate to tell them that the beginnings of her group were not easy and gave them advice on community life and how much leadership could help them move forward.

After the demonstration/transformation sessions that were inclusive and participatory, gifts were given to the women of the village; very beautiful hand-woven bags by women with disabilities from the group of commune 3 who work with Mieux Vivre avec le Handicap a Voice partner.

Ms. Safi Moumouni, President of Gounti Koira’s Naney Group, expressed her warmest thanks to Voice partners who mobilised to provide this support, which she described as invaluable. “We did not know how to process peanuts, because we never did it. Today many of us are able to do it. We will now sustain the achievements of this day”

At the end of this day rich in sharing and with the welcome we received, we hope that the links are woven to start a long-term collaboration, the two communes being at only 15 kilometers from one another.

Ms. Hadjo proposed to make follow-up visits to encourage the group. “As a gender focal point in Hamdallaye, my door is wide open for everything to do with learning and coaching women of the village”.

For Mooriben and the Timidria, this meeting is the very embodiment of linking and learning because it allowed the creation of links and the sharing of good practices that Voice promotes!