No less than 581 vulnerable families have benefited from the disbursement of N25.6m by a non-governmental organisation, the Legal Awareness for Nigerian Women (LANW), to help indigent families cope with the challenges posed by the novel Coronavirus pandemic.
The families spread through four local governments – Kachia, Kaura, Kajuru and Makarfi – were reached with the help of Christian AID, under the Nigeria, Afghanistan Localised Preparedness Emergency Response (C-19 NALPER) project.
The NGO’s Executive Director and C-19 NALPER Project Director Rebecca Sako-John explained on Wednesday in Kaduna that some of the vulnerable households got N22,000 while others got N22,000 worth of food items.
According to Sako-John, the amounts were disbursed between June and July in 16 communities, four each from Kachia (Awon, Kwaturu, Gadanaji and Ankwa), Kaura (Bondong, Zankan, Kukum Daji and Manchok), Kajuru (Idon, Rimau, Kutura and Kallah) and Makarfi (Gazara, Dandamisa, Tudun Wada and Gubuchi) LGAs.
According to her, the beneficiaries were identified after a baseline was conducted in the benefiting LGAs to identify and register most vulnerable households in the 16 communities.
She said that the baseline also generated data on issues related to COVID-19, food security, access to water and sanitation hygiene, health care facility assessments and markets in the 16 communities.
“The baseline data informed the distribution of non-food items to 1,306 households in the four LGAs.
“The items consisted of one pack of tissue paper, 12 bars of bathing soap, hand sanitiser, face mask, and two body lotion cream with either toothpaste or slippers or toothbrush.
“Similarly, 19 primary health care centres and 17 markets were also fumigated against COVID-19 across the four LGAs while 56 health workers were trained on how to combat COVID-19.
“Also 32 boreholes have also been rehabilitated to provide clean waters to the benefitting communities in the four LGAs,” she said.
Sako-John explained that the C-19 NALPER project was a localised preparedness and response to primary and secondary impact of COVID-19 on Internally Displaced Persons, returnees and vulnerable in hard-to-reach areas of Nigeria and Afghanistan.
According to her, the five months project was specifically designed to enable vulnerable households to access basic needs and be safeguarded from the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns and strict containment measures.
“It hopes to enhance COVID-19 risk communication, community engagement and accountability measures for vulnerable populations.
“It was also being implemented to improve the capacity of community and local health systems to effectively identify and refer COVID-19 related cases in line with government protocols.
“This, we believe, will sustain access to essential health services to vulnerable groups,” Sako-John said.
She added that the capacity of community members was also built around accountability and feedback mechanisms.
She said that 32 accountability focal persons made up of 16 males and 16 females were identified and trained to serve as community help desk officers.
“Also, five-man committees designated as Community Project Management (CPM) teams were equally trained across the 16 focal communities in the four benefiting LGAs,” Sako-John said
