Projects

Children’s Rights Training for National Training Centres for Defence and Security Forces in Niger

Municipal police training in Maradi

Project Duration : 2011 - 2013

Niger was one of the first delegations to join the regional training project for security forces launched at the pan-African workshop held in Ouagadougou in 2009. What’s more, in 2011 the city of Niamey hosted the third meeting of the international programme, which brought together some 15 delegations from across the African continent, plus Haiti. At this meeting, six core competencies were identified and unanimously approved for instruction to all police and gendarmes, with a view to preparing them to provide child-friendly services. At this time, Niger demonstrated its commitment to protecting children by developing and presenting a national action plan. It was implemented the following year through the IBCR with support from UNICEF.

Goals :

• Permanently include mandatory training, both basic and specialised, on children’s rights and child protection in police, armed forces, national guard and gendarmerie schools in Niger.

Initially, a framing workshop created a Steering Committee and Reference Group responsible for overseeing the project’s progress. The IBCR then evaluated Nigerien defence and security forces training on children's rights. This involved reviewing and analysing more than 200 paper and electronic documents. In addition, a number of meetings were organised with representatives from defence and security forces, institutions and children to collect information about the reality of children’s rights in Niger.

After these preliminary steps were taken, the IBCR developed teaching materials to be used in basic training for young recruits, as well as materials for specialised training intended for professionals already in active service. The first train-the-trainer sessions were implemented in 2013. The various security forces training schools committed to changing their curriculum to include courses on children's rights.