The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has contracted AUN as the implementing partner of a N7 million project funded by Jaiz Charity Foundation for 120 Persons of Concern (PoCs), in the Damasak area of Maiduguri, Borno State.
Persons of Concern (PoCs), are people who have been forced to flee; internally displaced (IDPs), returnees, refugees, and host communities experiencing displacement.
AUN will work closely with UNHCR for three months (October-December 2019) to identify 120 most-at-risk and vulnerable PoCs, focusing especially on women-headed households.
This intervention comes at a time when the situation of IDPs and host communities continues to worsen with more people being forcefully displaced due to increasing attacks by insurgents in areas around Damasak. It is also targeted at strengthening the capacity of IDPs and refugee returnees to support their sustainable reintegration into their communities, and also to provide sustainable livelihood options to IDPs, returnees, and host communities for a peaceful co-existence.
AUN will implement the project on behalf of UNHCR, to screen eligible PoCs who will undergo training in various micro-businesses that have been identified and are marketable. PoCs will be trained on business processes, skill acquisition and ability to manage the money they make from the business. They will undergo training on how to run business finance, and upon completion, attend a five-day apprenticeship session with already established businesses to fine-tune their skills and acumen.
This is one of many other projects that AUN will be implementing on behalf of UNHCR and other international donor agencies. Since 2014, The Atiku Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Development has been implementing different intervention programs on behalf of UNHCR from livelihood support to education and many more empowerment programs aimed at supporting IDPs and returnees who were affected by insurgency in North-East Nigeria. Audu Liman is the Centre's Director.
Reported by Togor Passa