Background

The Franco-Arab Lycée (elementary school) and the Jamiyat Nassirat Dine (JND)

Mama Kiota’s Franco-Arab Lycée in Niger was founded in 1993 and is now attended by approximately 1,200 students, and will be adding an solar-powered computer lab, thanks to Professor Robinson’s former student, Janeth Jepkogei:

1993 – Women transporting cinder blocks to building site

First construction of a classroom before replacing with cinder blocks

1996 – primary school dedication

2017 – Franco-Arab Lycée classrooms

2017 – Franco-Arab Lycée school grounds

French language class, circa 1996

Egyptian teacher with class, circa 1996

Franco-Arab Lycée teachers and class list

2017 – Franco-Arab Lycée library

Franco-Arab Lycée library

Franco-Arab Lycée library with Pearl and Janeth

Franco-Arab Lycée library with Pearl

Franco-Arab Lycée library book

Franco-Arab Lycée library with Pearl and Janeth

Janeth and the school’s computer

Janeth and Pearl planning the addition of solar panels to the new computer lab

Arial view of Kiota and the school grounds

Measuring for the new computer lab with Rahamatou, the architect

Rahamatou, the new computer lab’s architect, and Pearl

Architecture plans for the new computer lab

In 1965, Mama Kiota founded the Association des Femmes Partisanes de la religion Musulmane, an association aimed at providing education and resources Muslim women in Niger. In 1994, her group received official recognition from the Niger government, with a new name: the Association des Femnmes Musulmanes Jamiyat Nassirat Dine (the JND). The JND is now a multi-ethnic, transnational, overwhelmingly rural African women’s association whose members range from adherents with no formal education other than basic Islamic knowledge, to university graduates trained at both Western and Islamic institutions. The JND now has nearly 100 chapters in Niger and over 200,000 members across West Africa, and has held public policy congresses dating back to 1998.

The Jamiyat Nassirat Dine (JND) Congresses: