The security situation in northeast Nigeria, and particularly Borno State, deteriorated significantly throughout 2018. As non-state armed opposition groups made sweeping territorial gains, it became harder for humanitarian organisations to provide life-saving support for vulnerable communities. The spike in violent attacks in the second half of the year saw huge population movements, as people fled into formal and informal displacement sites in garrison towns. Humanitarian conditions in these displacement sites are poor, with overcrowding rife, and regular outbreaks of disease and fire.
Mission context
In this context, ACTED provided life-saving support, both for communities who stayed behind on the frontlines of the conflict, and for those who have fled into displacement camps, reaching over 400,000 people in total.
ACTED in Nigeria
Reaching the most vulnerable on the frontline of the conflict
ACTED’s work in northeast Nigeria focuses on reaching the most vulnerable households living on the frontline of the conflict. ACTED provides life-saving food and shelter assistance to those caught in the crossfire, and who cannot access agricultural lands or markets because of the fighting.
ACTED’s security team conducts 24/7 analysis of the rapidly changing conflict dynamics, ensuring that teams on the ground have real-time information to allow safe, informed access to frontline communities. Through the REACH Initiative, ACTED is also able to maintain up-to-date and reliable information on the shifting humanitarian needs of so-called ‘inaccessible’ communities. This is made possible through regular assessments and proactive information sharing which enables ACTED to plan and launch targeted first-line responses for the most vulnerable communities in hard-to-reach areas.
A female beneficiary collects her NFI kit at an ACTED distribution
ACTED staff lay out NFI kits in preparation for a distribution
ACTED staff organise the distribution of shelter kits
Putting protection at the centre of humanitarian response
Protection is mainstreamed in all ACTED’s interventions in Nigeria. Through valuable partnerships with experts on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Child Protection, and Housing, Land, and Property, the organisation ensures that protection considerations are at the centre of all programming.
Under ACTED’s shelter interventions, the organisation works through referral systems to ensure that people with unmet shelter needs can receive appropriate and dignified support. This also means that displaced people facing land-rights or eviction issues can access the guidance they need from the appropriate organisation. ACTED’s nutrition programming means working closely with child protection partners, given the important link between nutrition and child protection issues. Within ACTED’s work in camp management, the organisation constantly monitors protection threats, vulnerabilities, and capacities to ensure urgent protection concerns in camp settings are quickly addressed.
