Funded by: USAID | Duration: 1st May 2023 – 30th April 2025
Background
FHI 360 commenced the implementation of the Strengthening Humanitarian Response and Building Community Resilience (NE-CORE), a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), which aims to enhance access to immediate basic needs such as food needs, health, nutrition, protection services, shelter, clean water, and sanitation for Internally Displaced Persons in camps and host communities in Borno State.
On August 30, 2023, FHI 360 ushered the Strengthening Humanitarian Response and Building Community Resilience in Northeast Nigeria (NE-CORE) consortium project to stakeholders, partners, and relevant authorities by organizing a one-day kick-off workshop at Grand pinnacle luxury hotel Maiduguri. The USAID-funded project: kick-out workshop organized by the consortium (FHI 360, DRC (Danish Refugee Council), Mercy Corps, and INTERSOS) aimed to establish clear roadmaps/strategies for the project, elaborate project targets, locations, responsibilities, and organizations involved in the consortium, and ensure key stakeholders are engaged and expectations managed through the period of implementation.
Scope
The NE-CORE project’s scope extends across four strategic locations: Bama, Banki, Damasak, and Ngala in Borno State, with a timeline spanning from May 2023 to April 2025. This endeavor takes place against the backdrop of a staggering humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 8.3 million people (about half the population of New York) in Northeast Nigeria needing urgent assistance in 2023. Borno State, home to 3.9 million (about 1 and a half months) of these individuals, faces the most significant burden. Considering these sobering statistics, the role of humanitarian assistance remains paramount.
Mission
NE-CORE’s mission is to provide and ensure access to primary and reproductive healthcare, strengthen healthcare delivery systems, and offer nutrition support for pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children under five. It also aims to prevent Gender-Based Violence and offer Child Protection services, multipurpose cash assistance, food assistance, agricultural services, and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services to a staggering 369,711 individuals (about half the population of Vermont). Simultaneously, the project prioritizes the building and strengthening local capacity to empower communities.
The NE-CORE project will leverage the gains of the FHI 360’s Integrated Humanitarian Assistance in Northeast Nigeria Project (IHANN: January 2017- January 2023) and other partners’ humanitarian interventions, strengthen collaboration and coordination with the state and LGAs (local government areas) representatives, and relevant stakeholders, to meet the most pressing needs of the conflict-affected and displaced Nigerians in Borno State.
Key stakeholders at the meeting thanked FHI 360 and USAID for their continuous support to the vulnerable people in hard-to-reach areas.