Crisis response summary: Nigeria - Flooding

The floods washed away homes, farmland and livelihoods within communities that were already facing a number of challenges, including recent insurgent attacks that have displaced 1 million people in the Northeast of the country (IRC Flood Update in Adamawa State NE Nigeria, September 2015). On 8 September, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) alerted the Start Fund, noting that 302,200 people had been affected and that a critical funding gap remained, due to lack of donor interest and the inaccessibility of many affected areas where people sought higher ground and faced increasing isolation.

On 11 September, 70.75 hours after the Start Fund alert, £282,300 was awarded to the IRC to address needs related to WaSH, particularly hygiene kits and access to clean water to mitigate the risk of an outbreak of cholera or other sanitation-related diseases.

The IRC experienced several challenges during implementation. First, many roads were completely submerged in water, delaying access to certain affected areas and requiring aid recipients to travel for roughly an hour to reach distribution centres in neighbouring communities. Second,beneficiary selection for WaSH was difficult, given the large scale of the flooding. The IRC worked closely with the NFI and Shelter working groups and OCHA at the state level to communicate and respond to resource gaps. Third, communities voiced a high need for food, which the IRC was unable to provide but was able to communicate to the FSL working group at the state level. Additionally, cultural barriers limited the participation of women in the response.

This project reached 54,656 people (56% female, 44% male), with £282,302, 15% of the total affected population and 10,906 more people than planned, due to lower than expected costs of WaSH kits and lower technical advisor travel costs as a result of greater remote support. The IRC targeted the most vulnerable households affected by the flooding, with particular attention paid to pregnant or lactating women, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Children under 18 (37%) and people over 50 (3%) together made up 40% of people reached.