Community shelters in Niger help protect children and enable women to restore degraded lands

Community-built shaded shelters have been installed across six regions in Niger, protecting 6,465 children and enabling women to join a World Bank–supported Cash for Work land restoration program that began in 2023.

In parts of Niger where daytime temperatures can reach 45°C (113°F), community-built shaded shelters are being used to allow mothers to participate in land restoration work while their young children stay nearby in safer, cooler spaces. The shelters were introduced as part of the Integrated Landscape Management Project (PGIP) and its Cash for Work program, financed by the World Bank through IDA credit and launched in 2023. Project teams and local leaders worked with women to design a low-cost, culturally rooted approach using local materials and trusted caregivers. The shelters aim to reduce exposures such as heat, dust and other environmental hazards that limited women's participation in restoration activities. What is known: - To date, 662 community-built shelters have been constructed across six regions in Niger. - Those shelters provide shaded spaces reported to protect 6,465 children while mothers work nearby. - The model uses local materials (wooden poles, straw, planks) and relies on community-selected elder caregivers, often called "village grandmothers." - The effort is part of the PGIP, implemented by the Government of Niger with technical and financial support from the World Bank, PROGREEN, and PROBLUE. - Local site management and grievance committees handle logistics and upkeep to support community ownership. Summary: The shelters have removed a major barrier to women’s participation in Cash for Work land restoration activities, helping stabilize household incomes and allowing mothers to focus on work while children remain close and shaded. The project is planning mobile, detachable shelters to move with worksites and will upgrade existing shelters with mats, toys, books, water trays and basic caregiver training in child protection and hygiene. These developments are intended to keep the approach light-touch, rights-respecting and locally managed as implementation continues.