Sustainable Reintegration of Internally Displaced Persons: Formal and Vocational Education in New Kuchingoro Camp, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

This project aims to develop the capacity of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), displaced as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East Region of Nigeria, through formal and vocational education. The project focuses on women and children among the IDPs settling in the New Camp in Kuchingoro community of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria. Eighty percent of the women in this camp are unemployed, hence have no sustainable means of livelihood and are therefore dependent on the camp officials and non-governmental organizations (NGO), making them prone to exploitation. Over 60% of the school-aged children in this camp have no access to any form of formal education. There is admittedly a serious waste of valuable human capital among the IDPs that ought to be addressed with utmost urgency by the Federal and State Government. Currently, there is no protection or any decent arrangement to the IDPs seeking safety in the FCT of Nigeria. The proposed project would provide accessible and equitable formal education to children of school age and vocational skills training for women, making them employable while reducing their dependency on the camp officials and NGOs, thereby reducing their susceptibility to abuse. This would facilitate their reintegration through sustainable means of livelihood to their host communities, or even their original communities when peace is restored.