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Rapid assistance to displaced families in Niger

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Aid for families displaced by conflict or natural disasters is often provided by UNICEF and partners through pre-packaged kits with emergency supplies. We opened two such kits to see what is inside.

Philippe Kropf, 19 April 2022

Three weeks of fighting between members of non-state armed groups in neighboring Mali have recently displaced more than 17,000 people who crossed the border between Mali and Niger to find safety in Tillabéry and Tahoua regions. Forced displacements due to natural disasters or conflict are recurrent in Niger, with 264'000 people displaced in 2021.

UNICEF is part of the Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM), a network of three UN Agencies and four NGOs working under the leadership of the Ministry of Humanitarian Action to bring lifesaving, urgent assistance to families in need within days of a forced displacements, natural disasters or epidemic outbreaks.

Partner in the RRM are the Ministry of Humanitarian Action and Disaster Management, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF as well as the NGOs Action Contre la Faim (ACF), ACTED, Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Following alerts of displacements, specialists covering several sectors of humanitarian action will travel to the field to meet the displaced families and assess their most urgent needs. Families are often left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. RRM partners provide them with food and different kinds of emergency supplies, pre-packaged in so-called "kits". These kits are prepositioned across the country in areas where forced displacement is a common occurrence.

Two of the most important kits are the "Non-Food-Item Kit" (NFI-Kit) for families and the "Baby-Kit" for mother and fathers who look after a baby.

Contents of an NFI-Kit:

2x bucket with cover
2x tarp, 4x5 meters
1x blanket
2x jerrycan, 20 liters
3x mosquito nets, 3 Persons each
2x big plastic platters
1x ladle
3x plastic kettles
1x solar lamp
30x pieces of soap
3x plastic mats
1x loincloth (6meters long)
2x cooking pots
8x fabric strips for menstrual hygiene
1x fabric to filter debris out of water
Water purification tabs, amount as needed
12x female slips (4x each M, L, XL)
9x T-shirts (Unisex, 3x each in size M, L, XL)

Contents of a Baby-Kit:

1x small blanket
1x shea pomade
1x pair of socks
1x cap
4x body for baby, unisex
4x panties for baby, unisex
1x bag
5x microfiber cloths
1x towel

Kits are only one option, cash is another

In addition to the response through pre-packaged kits, RRM partners sometimes also distribute cash to displaced families in communities in crisis. This is feasible, if the local markets can supply the needed goods at usual prices and if there are no protection concerns. Cash transfers give the families more agency and choice than pre-packaged kits to decide how they want to cover their most pressing needs.

The RRM in Niger is funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO) and the UN Central Emergency Response Funds (CERF). Learn more about the RRM at this link (in French).