Abuja – The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD) on Wednesday in Abuja pledged to rehabilitate displaced women by training them in different vocational skills.
The commission and the centre, at the launch of the training programme, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance their collaboration in various areas.
Ms Angele Dikongue-Atangana, UNHCR High Commissioner in Nigeria, said that the training programme was aimed at ensuring that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), especially women, could fend for themselves.
She said that economic empowerment of women IDPs was key to enhancing their protection and dignity.
“By providing a source of income and increasing access to and control over resources such as land, finance, and skills, women and girls can obtain more control of their own lives.
“The training is also a part of UNHCR’s durable solution plans for displaced women as they would use the skills acquired as a means of livelihood in the camps and host communities.
“As the saying goes, when you capacitate and educate a woman, you have educated an entire community; that is what UNHCR and the NCWD are hoping to achieve with this training.’’
Dikongue-Atangana further said that the commission’s intervention was not limited to displaced persons in the North East but also those displaced across the country.
She said that the role of development actors, local authorities and community-based organisations was crucial in advocating for IDPs’ inclusion in the local economy.
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Also speaking, Ms. Onyeka Onwenu, the Director-General of the centre, said that beneficiaries of the training would be given not less than N25,000 and the equipment needed to start their businesses at the end of the programme.
She said that the training would start with the IDPs in the FCT after which it would be extended to the North East and other parts of the country.
“It is a two-week programme and the next batch will commence in January.
“We have counselled and given them the basic orientation to choose the area they want to be trained in; their accommodation, medical needs and security in our hostels have also been taken care of,’’ she said.
In a remark, Sen. Aisha Alhassan, the Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, said that the Federal Government was not relenting in its efforts to rehabilitate and re-integrate the IDPs back into their communities.
The minister, who was represented by her Special Assistant, Mr Gambo Alhassan, said that the ministry, through the centre, would embark on programmes for the holistic development of displaced women as well as restore their dignity.
She also urged stakeholders and Nigerians in general to key into various programmes that would help in alleviating the sufferings of the IDPs.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first batch of 50 women would begin training immediately in different vocations.(NAN)