Nigeria

Pilot project: Protection of women and access to livelihoods

October 2018 – April 2019

BACKGROUND

In northeastern Nigeria, the crisis spawned by Boko Haram has claimed thousands of lives and caused massive displacement of civilians to more secure areas. Currently, 7.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and 3 million are food insecure.

Obtaining fuel for cooking is a major problem. Women and girls no longer have access to the forests and the countryside, where they traditionally gathered firewood for cooking, because of the threat of attack, abduction or killing by Boko Haram.

Without safe access to these areas or the means to buy fuel, displaced women are forced to adopt desperate coping strategies that undermine their health and dignity. Some turn to begging or prostitution. Others use fresh cow dung or plastic bags to cook their food.

OUR PROJECT

In partnership with the Gender Equality, Peace and Development Centre (GEPaDC), Mission Inclusion is addressing the problem with a safe, innovative solution: teaching women to make briquettes from plant biomass.

The briquettes are a safer and more efficient alternative fuel because they can be manufactured and sold inside the camps, in a secure environment. The sale of the briquettes is also coupled with distribution of more efficient cooking stoves that use less fuel.

Mission inclusion has already trained two women’s cooperatives to make and sell briquettes under a pilot project. In addition to helping the members of the cooperatives stay safe, this initiative has enabled the women to support their families and meet their basic needs.

The next step is to train the members of 14 cooperatives in 5 other camps in order to assist more than 6,000 displaced people and their families.

PARTENAIRES

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Mission inclusion is a trademark of the
Jules and Paul-Émile Léger Foundation

Charity number : 118923689 RR 0001