By Abdulkareem Haruna (Culled from The Humanitarian Times)
Allamin Foundation, a civil society and rights based organizations in Borno state northeast Nigeria, has recently trained 30 young females on the art or making money using basic trading skills.
The young women, mostly survivors of abuse in displacement camps, were equipped with petty business skills and handed token start-up cash at a two-day training on Tuesday, Jan.17, 2023.
The young women who are either survivors of gender based violence or persons in financial vulnerability, were also made to undergo some psychosocial session to enable them overcome their state of depression.
The Humanitarian Times, a Nigerian online publication predisposed to reporting issues around the conflict in the Lake Chad region reported that “though the Borno state government has shut down IDP camps, many displacement persons are either perching in host communities or in unofficial camps. Most of the participants were drawn from those conditions of displacements.”
The online publication reported further that officials at Allamin Foundation, said some of the girls were victims of rape or those made to mother children whose paternity cannot be traced.
The young girls were trained on various business ideas during a 2-day workshop where relevant resource persons coached them on how to do petty trades in basic commodities like cooking ingredients, knitting of native caps, sales of apparels or making and selling confectionery.
Idris Akanmu, an official at the Foundation said the girls were also given some psychosocial support to enable them overcome trauma.
He said the training was to help the girls and women overcome their traumas as well as to tackle possible depression that may come as a result of economic hardships.
“This is basically meant to build their resilience and make them economically independent so that they don’t become vulnerable for any form of abuse or manipulations,” he said.
One of the resource persons, Hajja Bintu Bukar, from the Department of Public Administration, Ramat Polytecnic, Maiduguri, said the young girls have demonstrated noticeable commitment towards being financially independent despite the bad experiences they passed through.
She said the about 30 participants were apart from receiving psychosocial counseling, they also had a petty business entrepreneurship training on little seasonal trades they can venture into without incurring any unnecessary losses.
“Their participation was excellent and they exhibited that commitment to be self sufficient economically, and we felt highly encouraged,” she said.
Mrs Bukar said at the end of the two days training, the girls were handed cash started pack to enable them start business of their own.
Participants testimonies
Binta Audu-Liva, a 21 years old, prospective nursing student, said she was part of the training because she had always craved to be independent financially.
“Lack of economic support is the major reason why many girls and women become vulnerable in camps and I have seen many who have been abused and abandoned ,” she said.
“I was eleven years old when Boko Haram chased us out of Gwoza about ten years ago. And since then we have been living in camps but my mother who is known for her business acumen did not stop her fried food businesses even when we were in the camp. That was what has been sustaining us, though at a very meager level, till when our camp was closed last year.”
Binta who was lucky to be among the girls that got government scholarship about six years ago was able to complete her secondary education in 2021. She was unable to pass her entrance exams for the nursing school last year .
“I’ve not been able to pass the required grades last year, but I have reapplied for this year, and I’m hoping to pass so that I can fulfil my dreams of becoming a medical personnel some day and be helpful to my community,” she said.
Binta said she would use the cash support given to her by Allamin Foundation to start the sales of Hijab – a business she is optimistic would be lucrative because “almost every one wears Hijab and females want to have them in variety.”
“I would be saving part of the proceeds I make as gain to support my education,” she said.
Adama Abubakar, a mother of six, said she had most of her kids in the IDP camp. She said she has issues recalling events clearly due to the trauma of what she passed through.
Though she lived in a host community camp with her husband, but they barely could feed well.
“Since we fled Gwoza life has been very tough for us,” she said.
“I can’t recall most of the things I went through about ten years ago, but it has been tough for me and my family since then. I hope to utilize this money to go into sales of groceries and other cooking ingredients to support my poor family. I thank the Allamin Foundation for this. To me, it’s a first of its kind.
Bay States News 