It was in December 2005, when Dan Galbraith returned from the Games of la Francophonie in Niger, and called me, sounding distraught and depressed.  When I asked him what was wrong he said he could not get the images of the children of Niger out of his mind and that 30 children in one classroom were sharing one pencil.  That was the moment my life changed, and Pencils for Kids was born.

20 years later, P4K remains a fully volunteer charity with no paid staff.

We’ve accomplished a lot together including three schools, 14 kindergartens, the Cooper Sewing centre, Scholarships for Girls, the Farmers of the Future program and our largest program, the Dov Institute.

 

The Dov Institute

Together with our partner, John Craig and Eliminate Poverty Now, and Tom and Patsy Lightbown who have trained our professors, the Dov Institute opened last year as the first ever Horticultural School for Technicians in the country.

In August of 2025, we celebrated the end of Year 1 for the Dov Institute students with an incredible Open House.  Please see the photos here of professors and students at this amazing event sharing their thoughts on their success so far.

Here is the link to the Open House Video.

 

And here is a link to more photos from the Open House.

We set out to create Niger’s pre-eminent agricultural training center. Your support has made it possible and is more important now than ever to continue its growth and build its reputation.

Scholarships for Girls

We continue our Scholarship for Girls program, the first ever program we started 20 years ago. Hundreds of girls have received scholarships for one or more years during this time and over 50 have graduated and gone on to post-graduate studies and are now working in their respective professions.

Scholarship girls with the Mayor of Liboré

We are now in our final two years of the Scholarship program. These are the ten girls we have been tutoring for the past 5 years and they have two more years before they graduate from Secondary School.

Seconde A : Literature Stream

1. Nihade Idé Hamani
2. Fatimé Zada Kindo
3. Nana Karima Salah Dan Nomao
4. Zeinabou Moussa Hamidou
5. Zouleyha Halirou
6. Malika Badjio Adamou
7. Oumoulker Boureima Hassane

Seconde C Scientific Stream

1. Nafissa Idé Saley
2. Salamatou Mounkaila Soumana
3. Rafiyatou Oumarou Moussa

 

 

I want to pay tribute to the late Bernie Friedman who worked with us for over a decade, helping us organize the data on the Scholarship for Girls Program. He created an excel list of their grades, their names, their midterm results and those who graduated. It was a challenge on so many levels to gather and assimilate this information but Bernie persevered and made a huge impact on our program. He passed away Wednesday evening October 15. He was in his 95^th year and will be greatly missed. A humble, generous, and compassionate man, Bernie was a source of inspiration always. Rest in peace, dear friend. You will forever be loved by the P4K family and the community in Niger.

 

 

Cooper Sewing Centre celebrates its 17th anniversary

The Cooper Centre, founded by P4K with generous support from the Cooper Foundation, is a sewing program in which girls pay their own tuition, and participate in examinations that are accredited by the National Sewing Association. The goal is to give girls and women, who are no longer in school, a second chance to get a profession. P4K started this program with only four girls in 2008, helping them acquire an income-generating skill. They are learning embroidery, sewing, knitting, and dyeing and also take courses in numeracy and literacy. Students pay a yearly fee to help cover the costs of the teachers. 

436 girls have enrolled since the Cooper Centre opened.

140 girls have graduated from the Centre since its inception.

18 of these girls graduated in 2025 and they are now working to earn an income! The photo above shows the graduates wearing clothing that they designed and made!

This year 52 girls are enrolled in the first year of the program.

This year 26 girls are in their second and final year of the program.

The Cooper Centre is thriving in very difficult economic times, and continues to offer hope for the students’ futures.  It is self-sustaining.

 

And a final note…

The Dov Institute opens its doors to students on October 14th 2024!

We’re thrilled to share that this October marked the ground-breaking launch of agricultural training at the Dov Institute, Niger’s first training center dedicated to transforming agricultural and educational practice in the country. It’s taken ten years in partnership with Eliminate Poverty Now, from conception to fruition and lots of hard work to get here. And we’d love to share a few of the highlights with you.

When we say the Dov Institute is ground-breaking, it’s not overstated. It’s the first in the country to offer a degree in horticulture and to emphasize the business of farming. Our curriculum differs radically from conventional teaching in Niger. Our learn-by-doing teaching methods are largely unknown in the country. Our facilities are first rate. 

In orientation week alone, our 14 students (9 men and 5 women) “met” Dov Pasternak courtesy of his book, learned of his philosophy and his approach to agricultural development. They visited Farmers of the Future (FOF) sites we had established, and talked with the women whose lives have forever changed. They met with our FOF Technicians and learned about both the rewards and challenges of the job. And they toured large commercial farms and heard directly from the Managers and Owners. They also got their hands dirty in the gardens with plenty of hands-on activities. 

By design we’re starting with a soft launch and a small initial cohort. We need time to work out the bugs and ensure our graduates find good paying jobs after graduating. The 14 men and women who entered the program this October are strong students, passionate about agriculture and eager to capitalize on the unique opportunities the Dov Institute offers. They are pioneers, laying the foundation for the institute’s future success. Twenty years from now we expect they’ll be thriving, maybe even famous with incredible stories to tell about those early days at Niger’s premier agricultural training centre. 

Look at what these students said after their opening weeks:

Here is a link to a recruiting video we made to attract top students  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvn_Fi_3aIY). It is 2+ minutes long, narrated in French with English subtitles, and worth watching.  

There’s more information available also on our blog.

We set out to create Niger’s pre-eminent agricultural training center. Your support has made it possible and is more important now than ever to continue its growth and build its reputation. 

 

Scholarships for Girls

We continue our Scholarship for Girls program, the first ever program we started 18 years ago. Hundreds of girls have received scholarships for one or more years during this time and 50 have graduated and gone on to post-graduate studies and are now working in their respective professions. 

Five years ago, we decided to tutor the same ten girls from junior high through the end of secondary school and follow their progress. The 10 girls we have now sponsored for these past five years, all started their Seconde level in the 2024-2025 school year, their first year of Secondary School. We will keep everyone posted on their progress!

Of the ten girls, 7 are in the Literature stream and 3 are in the Science stream. Their names are: 

Seconde A : Literature

1. Nihade Idé Hamani
2. Fatimé Zada Kindo
3. Nana Karima Salah Dan Nomao
4. Zeinabou Moussa Hamidou
5. Zouleyha Halirou
6. Malika Badjio Adamou
7. Oumoulker Boureima Hassane

Seconde C Scientific

1. Nafissa Idé Saley
2. Salamatou Mounkaila Soumana
3. Rafiyatou Oumarou Moussa

 

The Cooper Sewing Centre celebrates its 16th anniversary

The Cooper Centre, founded by P4K with generous support from the Cooper family, is a sewing program in which girls pay their own tuition, and participate in examinations that are accredited by the National Sewing Association. The goal is to give girls and women, who are no longer in school, a second chance to get a profession. P4K started this program with only four girls in 2008, helping them acquire an income-generating skill. They are learning embroidery, sewing, knitting, and dyeing and also take courses in numeracy and literacy. Students pay a yearly fee to help cover the costs of the teachers.

436 girls have enrolled since the Cooper Centre opened.

122 girls have graduated from the Centre since its inception. 

Six of these girls graduated in 2024 and they are now working to earn an income!

This year 35 girls enrolled in our first-year program!

This year 25 girls are in their second and final year of the program.

The Cooper Centre is thriving in very difficult economic times, and continues to offer hope for the students’ futures.  

 

Thank you for your support!

Pencils for Kids continues to be a volunteer-run organization and we are proud of the programs and services that we are able to deliver. None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the unwavering support of our Pencils for Kids community. Your ongoing contribution to P4K has an impact every day on the life and the future not only of the children and women of Liboré but the many students now attending the Dov Institute from other regions in Niger. Your support will be felt for generations to come. 

We remain a fully volunteer organization with no paid staff. 97% of your donation goes directly to sustaining highly effective education and training programs for the people of Niger.

 

THANK YOU!  THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

or as they say in Niger,

FOFO! FOFO! FOFO!

 

Here’s the latest update from our Partners, Eliminate Poverty Now…

The Dov Institute is much more than a school—it’s a movement to revolutionize both farming and educational practice in Niger. Every part of it is designed to be first class. In previous emails, we shared the work behind our exceptional facilities, innovative curriculum, and hands-on learning approach. Now, we’re excited to talk about the final piece—attracting outstanding students. And in some ways, this was our toughest challenge yet.

To qualify for the Dov Institute, students must attend high school, follow a science track, and pass the Baccalaureate exam. This is a very select group. Only a small percentage of young people in Niger attend high school, even fewer choose the science path, and just one third of those pass the Bac.

Adding to the challenge, farming in Niger—and across Africa—has a low reputation. It’s seen as the work of the poorest, and many young people prefer careers in other fields. In time the Dov Institute will change this image, but not in time for our first cohort.

We initially planned for a class of 25 students and spent months on a targeted recruiting campaign. We hosted student visits on the campus, participated in career fairs, and boosted our presence on social media. We generated interest from 250 potential students, but after the Bac results came in, only a fraction qualified, and just a handful applied.

So, our first class will consist of 14 students—9 young men and 5 young women. They’re strong students, passionate about agriculture, and eager to take advantage of the unique opportunities the Dov Institute offers. These pioneers are laying the foundation for the Institute’s future success. Twenty years from now, we hope they’ll all be thriving, maybe even famous, with incredible stories to tell about their early days at Niger’s premier agricultural training center!

The Dov Institute is Transforming Teaching Methods in Niger

The Dov Institute is truly leading the way in so many areas. Our curriculum is a first for Niger, with a focus on horticulture and a business-minded approach to farming. But it’s also unique in its teaching methods.

In Niger, higher education has traditionally centered around passive learning. The teacher is seen as the expert, delivering lectures while students listen, take notes, and memorize information to repeat later. Unfortunately, this one-way teaching style doesn’t stick. Students often struggle to apply what they’ve learned in real-life situations.

At the Dov Institute, we do things differently. Along with knowledge, we emphasize practical skills and active participation. Our students learn by doing. Every day, they get hands-on experience in the training gardens. They dive into lively classroom discussions and debates. They analyze problems and solve them, using the case method popular in business and law schools. They hone observation, diagnostic, and communication skills through agricultural rounds, a method borrowed from medical schools. And much more.

While these teaching methods are well-known elsewhere, they’re completely new to Niger—and new to our faculty too. Our instructors have embraced this new approach. They’re practicing hard and improving every day.

For our first class of students, this learn-by-doing approach will be a game-changer!

Next Up: Recruiting an exceptional group of students.