Niger

In 2008, Libraries Without Borders worked with EPAD-Niger to open a library in the organization’s training center and to make available a resource fund for 140 schools in the EPAD network. 

The Nigerian NGO EPAD (School – Sponsorship and Acts of Development) is a key actor in NIger in strengthening the capacities of school teachers and bettering learning conditions for school children. 

This library is today a space of pedagogy for teachers and a public library open to residents of the neighborhood.

The municipal library at Arlit, in the middle of the desert, is one of the biggest in the country: it contains more than 20,000 books and engages  thousands of young people  every year. These large-scale education and cultural centers are essential tools to break the cycle of poverty in which  the country is stuck. LWB’s support program for the municipal library at Arlit launched in 2010 has allowed the development of collections of African books to better respond to the needs of the public, the proposal of a new cultural program, and the creation of a workshop for bookbinding and small-scale publishing. Outside activities at the library began at the end of 2012 with the acquisition of rotating collections for the surrounding schools.