Exciting News from the Dov Institute

Hi there,

We’re thrilled to share that this October marks the groundbreaking launch of the Dov Institute, Niger’s very first training center dedicated to horticulture and agricultural success! But the Dov Institute isn’t just a school — it’s a movement to transform farming and make a lasting impact.

Getting here has been a 5-year journey full of hard work and determination. Like any big project, it hasn't always been smooth sailing. We’ve had to push back the launch twice, and even now, as we prepare to welcome our first class, some questions remain: When exactly will classes begin? How many students will we welcome? Why are we still figuring these things out just weeks away?

We’re excited to keep you in the loop! Over the next few weeks, from late September to mid-November, we’ll be sending updates on our progress and accomplishments. And in early December, our annual appeal letter will arrive, complete with photos and the first news from the launch.

Stay tuned for much more to come!

Warm regards,

John, EPN President and Founder

Creating Niger’s Preeminent Agricultural Training Center

The Dov Institute is so much more than just a school—it’s a movement that’s changing the way farming is done and making a real difference. What makes the Institute stand out is its approach. We combine hands-on learning with a business mindset to give students the tools they need to succeed, not just in farming, but in life.

We’re committed to making sure everything at the Dov Institute is top-notch—from our facilities to our curriculum, teachers, and students.

And the facilities? They’re already earning rave reviews! Our academic hall, the EPN Building, has classrooms, labs, offices, and more—all air-conditioned! Plus, there’s a cafeteria, dorms, and athletic spaces. Students will also spend time every day working in the training gardens, growing high-value crops year-round.

Visitors to the campus all say the same thing: “Wow!!!”

Take a quick virtual tour yourself with this video — part of our student marketing campaign. You’ll see what makes the Dov Institute truly one-of-a-kind.

A huge thanks to all our supporters for helping make this campus such a success. And there’s more to come!

Next Up: Building an exceptional curriculum.

Creating an Outstanding Curriculum for the Dov Institute

At the Dov Institute, we’re committed to excellence in everything we do. We’ve already achieved that with our top-tier facilities, and now we’re focused on making our curriculum just as outstanding.

Building the curriculum has been no small feat. Starting from scratch, we created a completely new approach to education in Niger. With a focus on horticulture, income generation, and hands-on skills, nothing like it existed before. It took us 2 years to design a curriculum that prepares students for thriving careers and successful lives, and we submitted it for government approval in late 2022.

Then, in July 2023, a coup overturned Niger’s government. With the military in control, support for rural development projects dwindled, and job prospects for agricultural technicians took a hit. So, we adapted. We expanded the curriculum to include careers in agribusiness and resubmitted it for Ministry approval. After 3 years of hard work, we’re proud to introduce the groundbreaking curriculum that will be taught at the Dov Institute.

Next Up: Bringing our hands-on teaching methods to life.

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.


Attracting Top Students to the Dov Institute

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

Good-Bye to Little Rock!

As the saying goes: “all good things must come to an end,” and after 15 years Eliminate Poverty NOW! and Little Rock are ending their partnership. The program designed and implemented with EPN’s financial support has broken the cycle of poverty for almost 100 remarkable young women and men from Nairobi’s largest slum. Tutoring programs prepared Little Rock 8th graders to take Kenya’s national entrance exam to secondary school. Those who scored in the top 2% qualified to attend Kenya’s top high schools.  EPN scholarships gave them the opportunity to change their lives forever.  

The program’s results are impressive:

  • 96 students were awarded 4-year scholarships over the 15 years.

  • 90 of those students graduated secondary school -- a 94% graduation rate.

  • Of the 90 graduates, 79 qualified to continue their education in colleges, universities, and technical schools.  EPN provided the entrance fees for them to attend.

  • Of those 79 students, 16 have now completed their studies while 63 are currently enrolled or have recently applied.

  • Their chosen fields of study include architecture, education, engineering, finance, medicine, nursing, physics, psychology, statistics, telecommunications, and more.

So often, aid programs in poverty-stricken areas fall short of their goals.   There are just too many places where things can go wrong.   At EPN we are extraordinarily proud of what we achieved with Little Rock.  Together we accomplished exactly what we set out to do -- enabling these talented young people to break the cycle of poverty and change their lives forever.

To all the supporters of Eliminate Poverty NOW!, sincere thanks for making it possible.

Following are a couple of testimonials from Little Rock Scholars who share their gratitude for being a part of the program:

New Board Members!

We’re pleased to announce that Tom and Patsy Lightbown are joining the Eliminate Poverty NOW board of directors.  They bring valuable skills and experience to EPN and share a very special connection to Niger.

Tom’s management consulting career spanned 40 years, specializing in strategy and organization at KPMG, ISO Healthcare Consulting, and Sanofi Pasteur.  A graduate of Hamilton College, Yale University, and Columbia University, Tom is a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Canada. 

Patsy is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Concordia University, Montreal. Her book, How Languages Are Learned, is considered foundational in language teacher education programs around the world.

Tom and Patsy have lived and worked in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.  They began their married lives together as Peace Corps volunteers to Niger, are equally comfortable in French and English, and have significant experience introducing innovative teaching methods to teachers in French-speaking West Africa. 

We are delighted to welcome Tom and Patsy to the EPN Board.

 

Patsy Lightbown

Tom Lightbown

Dov Institute Planning Meeting in Accra, Ghana

Just back from my latest trip to Africa.  The focus was on plans to launch agricultural training at the Dov Institute this October.  We made exciting progress and I want to share the highlights with you.

First, a quick refresher.  The mission of the Dov Institute is to build agricultural prosperity in Niger by teaching a business approach to farming.  In the process, we will help transform agricultural practice and increase farmer income.

Everything about the Dov Institute will be outstanding -- from the quality of our facilities to the quality of our curriculum, teaching staff, and students.   Our campus already gets “wows” from visitors.  The focus this past week was to ensure our curriculum and teaching staff lives up to the same high standard.

The Planning Team from left to right: Hamani Djibo, Robin Mednick, John Craig, Zakari Hassane, Almoustapha Mody, Patsy and Tom Lightbown, Issaka Housseini, and Harouna Souley (in front)

We want our students to have a first-class learning experience – providing them with knowledge and skills for success in their careers and in life.  The Dov Institute will be unique in what and how we teach. 

First, the “what.” Our program will be the first in the country to focus on horticulture and the strategies to maximize farmer income.  We will also be unique for our focus on practical skills:  how to think creatively, analyze, and problem solve;  how to work effectively in teams;  and how to teach others what they’ve learned.

With regard to “how,” we will feature experiential, learn-by-doing teaching methods.  In the first year, students will start each day in the training gardens, getting their hands dirty using irrigation to grow high value crops 12 months of the year.  They will make frequent “agricultural rounds” (think medical rounds for med students) to sharpen their observation, diagnostic, and communication skills.  Classroom time will feature student discussion and involve them in a wide range of learning exercises.  We’ll use case studies – borrowing from successful techniques to train students in business and law. Field trips will take students out to the real world and “expert panels” will bring the real world in to them.

This is radically different from the teaching methods currently employed in Niger.  Almost all higher education focuses on theory and technical knowledge.  Instruction is conducted primarily by lecture.  Student performance is measured by how well they understand what they’ve heard, memorize it, and play it back on exams. 

If our campus facilities elicit “wows,” students should have the same reaction to their learning experience.  To pull that off, our teachers need to master these new teaching methods.  We devoted half the time last week to training sessions for the faculty at the Dov Institute.  Each teacher prepared lessons in advance, conducted two simulated classes, and received in depth feedback.  The progress made from the first class to the second was impressive, and with 7 months of practice time available before the October launch, confidence was running high that we will have an outstanding teaching staff delivering an outstanding learning experience.

One more exciting piece of news.  We have added two valuable members to our Planning Team.  Tom and Patsy Lightbown were newlyweds and Peace Corps volunteers to Niger back in the 1960’s.  Tom went on to a successful career in business, Patsy as a professor of language at the university level.  They are as comfortable speaking in French as they are in English, have extensive experience teaching learn-by-doing methods to teachers in Africa, and have been working with our teachers for months.  Tom and Patsy led the teacher training sessions last week and will work with our teachers remotely right up to the October launch.

So … a week of excellent progress.  We are more excited than ever about the Dov Institute and its ability to make major contributions to agricultural development in Niger and to higher learning in the country.

John