IOM says scarce funds threaten North-west peacebuilding

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has warned that funding constraints could threaten gains recorded under an EU-funded peacebuilding programme in Katsina and Zamfara states as the 18-month intervention approaches its end.

Sharon Dimanche, Chief of Mission of IOM Nigeria, raised the concern on Friday during a media briefing on displacement and peacebuilding in Katsina, North-west Nigeria.

She said IOM and other humanitarian organisations were facing financial constraints while programmes dealing with displacement, conflict prevention and community resilience still required support.

“You have seen from the programme which is coming to an end very soon,” Dimanche said during the question-and-answer session.

“If we stop, then those gains that we have so far achieved will all go to waste.”

The Conflict Prevention, Crisis Response and Resilience (CPCRR) project is funded by the European Union and implemented by IOM alongside Mercy Corps and the Centre for Democracy and Development.

It operates in selected local government areas in Katsina and Zamfara, with activities that cover conflict prevention, crisis response, peacebuilding, and community resilience.

IOM said the project had achieved about 87 per cent of its planned activities, although some livelihood interventions were still ongoing.

Officials did not announce any confirmed follow-on funding at the briefing or give details of a programme-wide transition plan for the peacebuilding and early-warning structures after CPCRR ends.

87 per cent of planned activities achieved

Jean Kutumbakana, IOM programme manager and head of its Katsina sub-office, who presented details of the project, said about 87 per cent of the planned activities had been achieved.

He said the remaining activities were expected to be completed before the end of the 18-month intervention.

“We have 87 per cent now,” Kutumbakana said, adding that some activities were still ongoing.

As part of the project, 80 community peace and resilience committees have been established across Katsina and Zamfara.

A total of 1,700 community members and other stakeholders have also been trained in conflict prevention, early warning and early response.

The project has engaged 160 key informants along transhumance routes to monitor livestock movements and share information intended to prevent disputes between farmers and herders.

Mr Kutumbakana said 41 transhumance movements involving 2,405 herders and 60,044 livestock had been monitored so far.

He said informants along livestock routes alert communities when herders are approaching. Where crops have not been harvested, communities further along the route can ask the herders to delay movement until harvesting is completed, he said.

The arrangement is intended to reduce the risk of livestock entering farms and triggering disputes.

Mr Kutumbakana said incidents had reduced substantially in communities covered by the peacebuilding and early-warning system. IOM, however, did not present comparative figures at the briefing showing the number of incidents before and after the intervention.

Livelihood interventions still ongoing

The project also provides psychosocial and livelihood support.

Fifty members of psychosocial mobile teams, comprising 25 men and 25 women, have been trained to provide protection and psychosocial services. The teams have supported 49,316 people, according to figures presented at the briefing.

Another 552 people, including women, men, young people and persons with disabilities, received livelihood assistance combined with mental health and psychosocial support.

Some livelihood interventions have not yet been completed. Kutumbakana said 300 at-risk young people and women, mainly in Zamfara, had received peacebuilding and skills training and were expected to receive livelihood kits after completing the programme.

Under the project, livestock kits have also been distributed to 200 beneficiaries in Zamfara, while a similar intervention is planned for Katsina.

What happens after the project?

Dimanche said funding shortages were affecting IOM and other humanitarian organisations. She also cited insecurity and restricted access to some locations as obstacles to reaching displaced people and returnees.

Kutumbakana said IOM was working with government agencies to sustain some interventions after the project ends.

He cited the distribution of economic tree seedlings, saying officials of the Ministries of Environment and Agriculture, as well as agricultural extension workers, were involved in monitoring beneficiaries. He said the arrangement would allow government extension workers in the affected local government areas to continue monitoring the seedlings after IOM’s direct involvement ends.

IOM officials said sustaining and expanding other interventions would require support from the government and development partners.

They did not provide details at the briefing on whether the Katsina or Zamfara governments would take over funding for the community peace committees, early-warning structures, or other CPCRR activities after the project ends.

IOM’s latest assessment recorded 737,073 internally displaced people across the North-west states assessed. Almost 620,000 of them, about 84 per cent, were displaced by armed banditry and kidnapping.

Almost 181,000 displaced people were recorded in Katsina, and more than 261,000 in Zamfara.

The agency also recorded nearly 147,000 returnees across the North-west, including more than 37,000 in Katsina.

Dimanche said reducing displacement required tackling the conditions that force people from their homes, rather than responding only after they have fled.

“If we are serious about reducing displacement, we cannot only become better at responding after people flee,” she said.

“We have to become better at preventing the conditions that force them to flee in the first place.”