other public authorities shall, through their public policies and actions, ensure the promotion of and access to public, free and quality education.” 217. Article 2 of Law No. 98-12 of 1 June1998 on the Orientation of the Educational System in Niger (LOSEN) states that “education shall be a right for every Nigerien citizen. The State shall guarantee education for children aged between four (4) and eighteen (18) years old.” Article 8 states that “The right to education shall be enjoyed by all, irrespective of age, sex or social, racial, ethnic or religious origin.” 218. As part of the introduction of operational plans, programmes, policies and strategies capable of eradicating illiteracy and poverty among women, it should be noted that the National Literacy and Non-Formal Education Policy (PN/AENF) which was adopted in 2015 underwent an evaluation process in 2018. In Niger, only 17% of girls and women aged between 15 and 24 years old can read and write. In addition to highlighting the weaknesses, this evaluation also brings up opportunities and recommendations to be used to ensure a better handling of the illiterate population aged 15 and more, particularly girls and boys aged between 9 and 14 years old. 219. The formulation of the illiteracy eradication programme in 2015 coupled with three triennial action plans, the adoption of the first triennial plan and the national AENF policy led to the formulation of an AENF roadmap in 2016. The main objective of this roadmap is to ensure the implementation of farreaching programmes to increase the literacy rate of the population aged 15 and above as well as enrol the maximum number of young school dropouts and those who have not been to school and are in the 9-14 year age bracket. 220. The literacy rate, which was 19.1% in 2015 – 27.3% for men and 11% for women –increased significantly to 28.7% in 2018. 221. Thus, in accordance with the new curriculum, a programme of study for adult literacy and training was adopted in the last three years. Several programmes and projects have been implemented by the State and its partners through various initiatives. These activities ensured that a significant number of adults and youth were reached (men and women as well as girls and boys). 222. The implementation of a specific programme for the functional literacy of women continued with the inclusion of basic literacy and numeracy instrumental learning, citizenship education and life skills into the training contents. A very important aspect of this programme is the training of neo-literate women in participative management and support for their engagement in Income Generating Activities (IGAs). 223. Concerning the non-formal education of the youth aged between 9 and 14 years old, it should be emphasized that programmes are being implemented to rehabilitate the youth in order to enrol them in general or vocational institutions or to engage them in active life. 224. In order to ensure that the activities are better defined, several documents have been prepared and validated. These include the following: a reference framework for the implementation of literacy programmes, enactments on the status of community management stakeholders and training facilities. Similarly, nine (9) AENF consultation frameworks with one at the national level and eight (8) at the regional level have been put in place to improve the coordination of all AENF interventions. These structures which bring together all stakeholders, namely representatives of government departments, Civil Society and local authorities, are under the authority of the chairpersons of the regional councils. Their main objective is to create interaction frameworks which should involve all stakeholders in the field. This activity was supported by the training of a few members of the frameworks in the planning and compilation of basic factors for the development of the AENF mapping system. 51