Nigeria

Summary of needs

The Early Recovery and Livelihoods (ERL) Sector has identified 1,755,723 people in need of ERL assistance. These include 230,814 IDPs, 1,289,400 host community members and 235,509 returnees, of whom women and girls make up 55 per cent. Conflict-affected people across the BAY states continue to face difficulties accessing basic services, livelihoods and income-generating activities. These challenges often undermine social cohesion in affected communities. According to community consultations in the BAY states in 2024, people are more likely to establish good mutual relationships in communities when sufficient resources and opportunities are available. Affected communities often emphasize the need for livelihood and income-generating opportunities. Around 65-80 per cent of people in the BAY states rely on the agriculture sector for their livelihoods. However, with limited access to safe farming due to security concerns and the impacts of climate change, livelihood opportunities outside the agriculture sector are often required to supplement and stabilize household incomes. Persons with disabilities and women, especially female-headed households, are particularly vulnerable, and are more likely to experience barriers to accessing services and opportunities as well as exclusion from decision-making processes.

Response strategy

The ERL Sector in the BAY states focuses on the following objectives:

1) ensure inclusiveness and peaceful co-existence in communities affected by conflict and natural disasters;

2) enhance livelihood opportunities and income-generating activities;

3) increase and maintain inclusive access to basic services; and

4) strengthen capacities of local governance .

The ERL Sector will encourage partners to prioritize the implementation of activities for targeted individuals and LGAs. The Sector is uniquely positioned as the primary sector working towards strengthening the implementation of the humanitarian-development- peace nexus and linkages across multiple response sectors. The ERL Sector will ensure synergies between the humanitarian response and the long-term sustainable development of communities affected by the crisis by fostering coherence, complementarity and coordination among relevant actors and sectors.

Targeting & prioritization

The ERL Sector targets people and LGAs based on the severity of needs, using a severity scale developed from the findings of the Sectorial Needs and Risk Assessment (SNRA) conducted in 2024. This scale considers the magnitude, intensity and trends of needs, as well as the vulnerability and coping capacity of the affected populations. The ERL Sector will encourage partners to prioritize the implementation of activities for target groups, especially those who are marginalized such as women, persons with disabilities and minorities, many of whom face specific needs and challenges. Furthermore, the ERL Sector will prioritize complementarity with other sectors and actors to ensure an early recovery approach.

Promoting quality & inclusive programming

The needs for the ERL Sector were identified through the SRNA and community consultations in 2024, which were then used to develop the sectoral response.

The ERL Sector’s partners will ensure community engagement and establish feedback mechanisms when starting their projects. Information on specific needs by sex, age and disability status was collected by the Multi-Sector Needs Assessment and community consultations. While taking into account the traditional and cultural contexts in the BAY states and the ‘do-no-harm’ principle, the ERL sector response promotes inclusiveness in communities, in particular the empowerment and inclusion of women, youth and persons with disabilities. In addition, different groups such as IDPs, returnees, refugees and host communities will be represented in the implementation of the ERL Sector response. Interventions will be carefully monitored by indicators disaggregated by sex, age and population group.

Cost of response

The ERL Sector requests $22.2 million for ERL interventions across the BAY states . Insecurity and access challenges have contributed to an increase in response costs. The Sector utilizes a hybrid project- and activity-based costing methodology because estimated costs vary by type of activity. The ERL Sector will ensure cost-effectiveness by promoting localization and coordinating interventions with other sectors.