Actions de développement et de protection de l’Enfant pour une citoyenneté Responsable  (AER) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) focused on children, youth and development actions. It was founded in 2004 in Niamey under the name Assistance aux Enfants de la Rue. The transition from Assistance to Street Children to the new name “Actions for the development protection of Responsible Child-Citizenship” is motivated by the simple fact that the NGO must be part of the new so-called systemic or holistic approach adopted by the government through the Framework Document of the Child Protection Policy in 2014.

Previous interventions by AER were carried out under the categorical approach of focusing on the child or a category of children without considering heir environment. While the systemic approach focuses on the child’s environment, the family environment, in short, calls on several actors to provide adequate responses to the problems experienced by the child at various levels.

The mission of AER is to contribute to the promotion of the culture of responsible citizenship in general and in particular to the improvement of the living conditions of children and young people in vulnerable situations, with the aim to strengthen citizenship and democratic values as well as respect for human rights and preventing and resolving local conflicts in a non-violent way.

The project titled New Initiatives for Youth Civic Participation is in line with the implementation of the National Youth Policy and the Strategy for Youth Participation in Decision-Making Bodies. It is implemented in the region of Tillabéry, particularly in the communes of Kourteye, CU Tillabéry and Commune of Libore. The project reflects the vision and objectives of the NGO and has two main axes, namely capacity strengthening and advocacy.

The slogan for  the project is “Learn-Act-Advocate”.