The Legal Awareness for Nigerian Women (LANW), an NGO, has disbursed N25.6 million to 581 poor and vulnerable households in four Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kaduna State to cushion the impact of COVID-19.
The NGO’s Executive Director, Mrs Rebecca Sako-John, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Wednesday.
She explained that the amount was disbursed with the support of Christian AID, under the Nigeria, Afghanistan Localised Preparedness Emergency Response (C-19 NALPER) project.
Sako-John, who is also the C-19 NALPER Project Manager, explained that some of the vulnerable households got N22,000 while others got N22,000 worth of food items.
She said that the amount was disbursed between June and July in 16 communities, four each from Kachia, Kaura, Kajuru and Makarfi LGAs.
She identified the communities as: Awon, Kwaturu, Gadanaji, and Ankwa in Kachia LGA; Bondong, Zankan, Kukum Daji and Manchok in Kaura LGA; and Idon, Rimau, Kutura and Kallah in Kajuru.
For Makarfi Makarfi LGA, she said the communities were Gazara, Dandamisa, Tudun Wada and Gubuchi.
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.
