1000 women victims of Boko Haram get N20 million to trade

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As part of efforts to cater for women displaced by the Boko Haram insugency, the Nigerian Foundation for the Support of Victims of Terrorism, VSF, on Tuesday disbursed N20 million to 1,000 women.

The executive director of VSF, Sunday Ochoche, who spoke while addressing the beneficiaries in Maiduguri, said that the empowerment project was to improve the quality of life of women and children affected by insurgency and to make them self-sufficient.

According to Ocheche the first batch of the 2,500 to be economical empowered in Borno are part of the 5,000 slated to be assisted by the VSF under it’s Women Economic Empowerment Project, WEEP, for the affected women in the terror attacks of the North Eastern part of the country.

He said the transformation is through the provision of support services and evidence-based interventions, noting that “Psychological support is also mainstreamed into all interventions to reach children and women in affected communities to foster their resilience, coping skills and overall wellbeing.

On its main target, he said “the overall goal of this project was to strengthen their businesses and life skills to generate income; and therefore improve on the overall wellbeing of their households.

He also added that “the project supports capacity building for women through training, group formation and cash support to the selected women engaged in various trades.”

He disclosed that the beneficiaries were selected from 10 camps with 100 women selected each, stressing that this will “assist them effectively manage the small grant and for security reason, VSF has collaborated with some financial institutions to open a bank account for each group where the fund will be lodged on their behalf”.

According to him, each of the women will have access to her grant in the bank and those not literate can access their grants through their respective group representative.

He further revealed that his organisation is negotiating with the Borno state Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Youth Empowerment to register each of these groups for recognition and legal requirements needed to have access to additional financial resources from government and other institutions.

In a response, the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima commended VSF for it’s intervention in empowerment of vulnerable women of Boko Haram insurgency, noting that it was the first organisation that assisted victims economically to sustain their livelihoods.

Shettima urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the funds, warning that such loans should not be diverted for any other purposes apart from empowering them resume their normal life in their communities.