CAMEROON
ADRA Cameroon are active in Minawao camp, which houses Nigerian refugees displaced by Boko Haram. ADRA selected 400 beneficiaries, and distributed to them WASH kits. The kits include soap, towels, and containers to gather and store water. Beneficiaries also attended a two-day sensitization program to learn about best practices for hygiene, maintaining a clean environment and maintaining the hygiene kits.
CHAD
Chad has been welcoming refugees from Sudan, Nigeria and the Central African Republic (CAR) for a decade. ADRA Chad has helped these refugees through various projects, including through constructing a borehole to provide water, building toilets, and distributing hygiene kits.
ETHIOPIA
Ethiopia ranks fifth in terms of countries hosting the most refugees globally and is number one in Africa, hosting more than 800,000 refugees. More than half of these refugees are originally from Somalia and South Sudan. With the support of ADRA Japan, ADRA Ethiopia has provided water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) assistance to over 250,000 refugees since 2014. Their work included the construction of more than 3,500 community and household latrines, hygiene promotion and the provision of safe drinking water to protect the refugees against water borne illnesses and those associated with poor sanitation systems.
GHANA
Ghana hosts around 21,000 refugees and asylum seekers, have of them from the Ivory Coast. ADRA Ghana is an implementing partner for the UNHCR, and is responsible for implementing the livelihood support programs for Ivorian refugees in three camps. The focus areas are agriculture and agro-processing, apprenticeships and skills training, and business entrepreneurship. The aim is to empower refugees and asylum seekers in the camps to increase or diversify their sources of income, and improve their livelihood assets through productive economic activities.
“Thanks to ADRA, through your intervention, I can now feed myself and save about 300 Ghana Cedis a month. I can now think of getting married and raise a family because I can provide for a family now. I feel a heavy load has been lifted off my head.”
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)
In 2015 ADRA DRC constructed a recreational center in a refugee camp for Burundian refugee children under five years of age. The center was stocked with toys and play equipment, entertaining around 450 children a day. The center also helped keep children from more dangerous past times, such as swimming in a nearby crocodile-infested lake. ADRA also provided potties to the families of 500 children to improve hygiene, and distributed over 2000 solar lamps.
NIGERIA
Over the past few years, persistent violence as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency has rendered more than 2 million people homeless, many children fatherless and many women widowed. Since August 2014, ADRA Nigeria has been supporting internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Adamawa State. With the support of ADRA International and other ADRA supporting offices, ADRA Nigeria has been able to help around 3,000 households. In 2015 ADRA Nigeria implemented a livelihood support project. To further support the IDPs ADRA Nigeria, as part of its strategic plan for 2016, is scaling up its operations in the North East Nigeria.
One of ADRA Nigeria’s most successful interventions has been the livelihood support program. Abubakar Zainab (pictured above), a 23-year-old mother, is one of the program’s beneficiaries. She was separated from her husband during the Boko Haram crisis, and believes that he is most likely dead.
“I have been living on charity ever since this crisis began and through aid from INGOs and NGOs. I have been trained in how to use this agro-processing machine for making spaghetti by ADRA Nigeria and I hope to make a living out of it. If I can marry again I will but at least I will not find myself in a no skill situation as I was before now.”
RWANDA
ADRA is involved in several refugee projects in Rwanda, including working in a refugee camp for Burundian refugees, providing psychosocial and child protection services to children and some families who have been identified as vulnerable.
ADRA worked in partnership with the UNHCR, World Food Program, and government agencies to distribute basic humanitarian supplies to the refugees. ADRA Rwanda provided food, shelter, logistical and technical support, and public health campaigns to help prevent the spread of disease. ADRA also distributed non-food items such as clothing, blankets, jerry cans, soap, sleeping mats, kitchen sets, and mosquito nets.
SOUTH SUDAN
The humanitarian situation is South Sudan is worsening as a result of three consecutive years of conflict and economic crisis. There are an estimated 1.5 million South Sudanese refugees, and 1.9 million people are displaced within South Sudan. The deterioration of security in many parts of the country has left the population unable to continue with their normal livelihood activities, including farmers, who have been displaced, disrupting farming actitivities and directly impacting the food security situation in a country where around 42 percent of the country are experiencing some level of food insecurity. ADRA South Sudan is currently implementing recovery projects in the areas of health, food aid, education and protection.
Mary (11) is internally displaced from Yei. “The soldiers were killing people at night. They came to my neighbors. We fled to the bush and stayed there for seven days. Three women and their children were hiding there. We survived on cassava and we were near the river so we had access to water. There are five children in my family, but I am the only one here at ADRA’s child friendly space. I love to play baro baro and I love the porridge”.
Mary is really good at baro baro. She won the game with her friends today. “When I grow up, I’d like to be a teacher in mathematics,” says Mary.
SUDAN
ADRA has a long history in the White Nile including management of the Kosti Way Station from 2004 to 2011 which assisted more than 200,000 returnees. ADRA’s RESUME Project, running from 2014 to 2015 provided safe transitional shelter to protect returnees from adverse climate conditions as they re-integrated and re-established livelihoods. Recovery of livelihoods is key to the successful resettlement of returnee families. ADRA restored and maintained household food security through crop and vegetable production, as well as restocking households with goats. ADRA is one of the main agencies responding to South Sudanese refugees in Sudan. Since 2014, ADRA has provided WASH, shelter, and education to thousands of these refugees. ADRA Sudan also has plans to begin helping Syrian and Yemeni refugees, of which there are large numbers in the country.
ZAMBIA
Following unrest in April 2016, 500 people registered as victims, and some were taken to refugee camps. After conducting a needs assessment, ADRA Zambia responded by providing toilet paper to the camps. ADRA Zambia are also seeking funding for several agri-business projects to support refugees from more than five African countries.
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