The Atiku Institute for Development at the American University of Nigeria (AUN-AID) has partnered with ActionAid Nigeria to empower professionals working in the humanitarian, development and peace (HDP) sectors.
The week-long training, which was recently held at the university's Yola campus, aimed to equip participants with knowledge and strategies for sustainable recovery after the insurgency in North East Nigeria.
As insurgency and insecurity subside in northeastern Nigeria, local communities are rebuilding their lives with a renewed sense of commitment. Several local community organizations are said to be working to rebuild the foundations of peace and shared community values to promote development.
In light of this, AUN-AID and ActionAid Nigeria collaborated to create a platform where HDP professionals and practitioners could share knowledge, update their skills and collaborate on sustainable interventions.
AUN President DeWayne Frazier said the theme of human development aligns with the mission of the American University of Nigeria to foster relevant knowledge and empower local communities.
He praised the objectives of the five-day workshop to address the long-standing disconnection between actors in the HDP sectors, which have historically operated independently with different mandates, priorities and approaches.
Address needs
The AUN-AID Grants and Contracts Administrator and Dean of the AUN School of Engineering, Abubakar Hussaini, in addressing the topic of training, noted six critical areas of resilience (physical, economic, social, institutional, community and environmental) that require greater understanding.
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He noted that the partnership between ActionAid and AUN-AID would interactively promote knowledge and greater understanding to improve a community's ability to withstand disruption.
He further added that the partnership will develop further and lead to more positive changes in the lives of local communities and humanity at large.
Also speaking, the Acting Secretary of the AUN, Daniel Okereke, highlighted the role resilience plays in recovery efforts.
“For communities, resilience is the equivalent of survival, but it is more than that. It is the adaptive capacity that allows individuals and communities to face and recover from adversity. It encompasses not only recovering but also adapting and preparing for future challenges. “Recovery is a crucial stage in building resilience, which involves allocating resources and striking a balance between global and local investments,” he said.
Using the HDP nexus
Mubarak Yusuf, ActionAid consultant on humanitarian development and peacebuilding, highlighted the need for an integrated approach, highlighting the inefficiencies of fragmented aid interventions.
He noted that despite billions of dollars invested in humanitarian interventions, many communities remain worse off than before the interventions began.
“You go to a community where funds have been invested for ten years and the situation is worse than five years ago,” he said, stressing the need for an integrated approach.
ActionAid North East Resilience and Humanitarian Liaison Manager David Habba emphasized the importance of aligning emergency responses with long-term development goals, referencing the introduction of the HDP Nexus by the United Nations in 2016 as a comprehensive approach to aid coordination.
“It teaches professionals how to respond to crises while planning for long-term development and peacebuilding: by aligning emergency responses with development initiatives, we ensure that displaced people can transition towards stable livelihoods.”
Site visit
During the training, the participants, together with facilitators from Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, visited the Malkohi community in Yola South LGA, Adamawa State, where a large population of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) resides.
The visit gave participants the opportunity to apply some of the theoretical knowledge acquired during the training.
Divided into two groups, participants interacted with both male community members and women and adolescent girls to understand their challenges.
During discussions with the women's group, Goggoji Zumunchi Development Initiative Executive Director Aishatu Saidu, who led the group, noted that the problems faced by IDPs and their host community are not limited to lack of opportunities of subsistence and the struggles of orphaned families. , water scarcity, healthcare challenges, educational barriers and gender violence.
Women also shared concerns about the rise in domestic violence, often exacerbated by economic pressures.
Address community challenges
The site visit reinforced the need for integrated relief approaches that address both immediate and long-term challenges.
Participants learned that effective aid interventions must integrate humanitarian, development and peacebuilding components to foster sustainability. He highlighted the importance of addressing the needs of both IDPs and host communities to prevent conflict and promote peaceful coexistence.
The training also emphasized the use of area-based strategies, encouraging organizations to collaborate within specific regions to avoid duplication of efforts.