Author: aun.admin

The owner of the land allowed her to build a temporary shelter to stay until the need for land arose. She could build a makeshift roof with the little money she had.

Safiya’s parents were killed by the insurgents; she was traumatized. She encountered many difficulties in Mouruwa, from water, food, and shelter to an extent; sometimes, she and the family stayed for days without taking a shower and only ate once a day, sometimes twice. Fortunately, when she arrived at TVC, and was registered and given shelter to stay, they were assisted by the humanitarian aid workers.

In 2022, when the TVC camp was closed, she moved into the Musari Community. Weeks later, the UNHCR Protection Partner GISCOR came to Musari to search for those with a UNCHR Card Token Number, and Safiya was verified and found eligible for assistance.

Weeks later, the American University of Nigeria team came to Muasri and conducted the interview; she was fortunate to be called by the AUN Team and was scheduled for Tailoring trade training.

Soon, the AUN Office invited her to the Women’s Development Centre, and she was trained. All beneficiaries were given transport stipends daily for the whole period of the training program. They were also taught Business Development and Financial Literacy.

After completing weeks of tailoring, Safiya was taken to Maiduguri Monday Market to select a sewing machine of my choice along with tools and materials needed for the tailoring business, and also 10,000 Naira was sent to her account as working capital; later, she got a sustenance allowance for 3 months that help her take care of her family before my business grew and established.

POSITIVE IMPACT

1. I rented a shop for my tailoring business in my neighboring community, where I am currently doing my tailoring business.
2. With the profit margin I earned from the tailoring business, I export goods like; Grasshopper, sewed fabrics, and children’s wear from Maiduguri to Njamaina in Chad and Moura in Cameroun because those goods are in demand there, and more profitable than are sold here.
3. Myself and my husband joined hands to buy a quarter plot of land and build 2 rooms.
4. I and my husband contributed to taking care of our family, and 3 of the kids are now in school.
5. We are fully settled in Maiduguri; I don’t think we will return to Gamboru Ngala, my place of initial displacement.
6. The beneficiary is doing well, and she is open to others who are willing to learn from her.

After the closure of the camp, fortunately, a good Samaritan gave them a room. Lucy was finding it challenging to care for the children at that time because she had nothing left. One day, an organization visited their area and heard her story in the community, and they referred her to AUN.

She was enrolled in the UNHCR/AUN Livelihood Program and was trained under the micro business component (Wrapper Selling). After successfully completing the training, she was empowered with a startup capital of 80,000 nairas transferred into her Bank account opened by AUN; she started the business selling wrappers but later diversified to selling beverages, hiring wheelbarrows to people when needed, and selling pepper soup. Below are her achievements and successes:

• She bought a plot of land worth three hundred and five thousand naira [305,000]
• She bought a fridge at the rate of one hundred and ten thousand naira [110,000]
• She purchased two pushes at the rate of forty thousand naira [40,000]
• She bought two bags of millet at the price of 20,000 naira which she stored and will be sold later
• She bought a wardrobe at the rate of 80,000 naira
• She was able to enroll one of her adopted sons in private school, and the fees cost 60,000 naira
• She has a savings of 46000 naira as of July

Challenges:

• Her children were stigmatized in the community because they were adopted

Although the State government provided her with a package to start life afresh in her new location, that money was used to feed her family as she did not invest it in a meaningful venture. Zara was later faced with the challenge of meeting her essential family needs, such as food, shelter, medical bills, and school for her children, etc., as there was no support from anywhere and no means of livelihood.

Zara was, however, identified and enrolled for the livelihood intervention tag Urban IDPs program by UNHCR in collaboration with AUN, where she was trained and empowered under micro business. Learning from her previous mistakes, she was very much committed to her newly found business, which her eldest son is running for the family.

The son has done well by growing the business and making significant income for the family. Zara can now feed her family three times a day, have a shelter to live in, take her children back to school, provide books and uniforms, and pay medical bills; these were things Zara couldn’t do before the intervention. More so, her business, which initially started in her house, has now moved to a rented shop with customers coming to patronize her.

In 2022, he was enrolled as a beneficiary under the Urban IDPs program implemented by UNHCR in partnership with AUN. Abdullahi was trained in microbusiness, financial literacy, and business development. He was empowered, and Abdullahi now sells grains, where he makes sales of around 66,000 daily with at least 10,000 profits. From this business, he was able to improve his living standard (Being able to eat 3 square meals daily) and bought a plot of land worth 450,000. bought a bicycle (38,000), which he uses for local transport within the metropolis because of the high cost of transport occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy, pays his parent’s medical bills, etc.

Abdullahi, when interviewed by the AUN team, appreciated UNHCR/AUN for transforming him from a beggar to a responsible man who can provide for his family without depending on NGOs or individuals to meet basic family needs.

He was empowered on the 26^th of October 2022 alongside three other beneficiaries with 21 bags of cement, which he used to produce 1300 pieces of bricks (1,300); after that, he sold it all and purchased another twenty-three (23) bags of cement to continue his business, he made some money and saved seven thousand five hundred Naira (7,500) from his profit.

Achievements/Improvement

The turnover made from business has turned into more capital; he added another line of business (petty trading) to strengthen his livelihood. His business has improved to the extent that he has become an employer of labor, where he has 16 people working under him, and he pays them daily and weekly, depending on how they make sales. He later partnered with Abdullahi Abubakar, one of the forcibly displaced persons, with token MMC-36636, who was also trained in bricks and block making and was empowered under the vocational skills component. They have expanded their business and are now selling building materials (Planks and Cement), and they have a zinc container where they store their items.

Babagoni is also called 50 million in his community because of his hard work. He has four children. He enrolled 2 in a Western school, one in an Islamic school, while the other is underage. Due to the empowerment, he can now provide for his family’s basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, and education. He saves and also assists other relatives in the way he can.

Speaking to AUN field monitors, she said this empowerment has changed her life completely because before AUN livelihood intervention came her way, life was very difficult for her family, but not now. As a result of this empowerment, she can now support the whole family by providing food and three meals per day, buying clothes for family members, paying PTA levy for 4 of her children in school and 2 orphans, and also providing school materials such as bags, shoes, books, and pen. In addition, she enrolled herself in an Islamic private school in the Customs office area named (Taha).

Moreover, she settles medical bills and pays house rent for her family and her brother. She added by saying that she gave her younger brother the sum of N120,000 to settle his school fees (University of Maiduguri), who has now graduated from the Faculty of Education (Mathematics) and is currently serving (NYSC) the country in Nasarawa state.

Also, one excellent achievement she made from this business is that she purchased a quarter plot of land not too far from her current residential area at N250,000. She is now making bank savings to build it so they can move to it instead of living in a rental house.

However, she added the business of making local soap, shampoo, local bournvita, and local mentholated, and that earns her much.

Bakawu manages to get a temporary place through a host community dweller where he and his family stay. Bakawu Bukar was selected for UNHCR/AUN livelihood training for the Urban IDP Program 2022. He was trained by AUN under the Cap Making program for one month and received empowerment after the training session through a voucher of fifty thousand nairas (N50,000) only in October 2022. He started the business of making caps and selling threads immediately after he received the empowerment kits.

His N50,000 business is doing very well to the extent that he now gets N30,000 monthly as profit.

Subsequently, this intervention has changed his life entirely because, from the profit he makes out of his business, he can help his family (parents and siblings) financially in many ways by buying them food, paying medical bills and clothing, paying PTA levy for 3 of his siblings, buys school materials for them. Now he is preparing to get married in the next 4 months.

However, he added a point of service (POS) and poultry farming to his other business.