The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has disbursed cash transfer initiatives to over 12,000 households’ children in Borno State. The kids were drawn from 11 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state affected by the 12-year Boko Haram insurgency that claimed many lives and property. UNICEF’s Chief of Field Officer, Phuong Nguyen in a statement yesterday (Saturday) in Maiduguri, the state capital, disclosed that the cash transfer initiatives support; was for the children to access hygiene kits of their choice. “Our new humanitarian cash transfer initiative that supports beneficiaries’ access to hygiene items,” she said. According to her, the pilot programme aims to demonstrate the effectiveness and acceptance of cash-based interventions in support of IDPs in camps and host communities. She noted that this was quite different from the distribution of pre-determined water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) non-food items. Yesterday’s distribution was launched with the support of the UK Government’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), with the Cash4Wash initiative for its first kind executed by UNICEF in Nigeria.
She therefore explained that the learnings and experiences from the EU initiatives will be used to scale up cash transfers for WASH services. According to her, they will improve access to sanitation and hygiene facilities in humanitarian settings in IDP camps and host communities. “Improved access to hygiene items would mean enhanced ability of families and communities to avert and mitigate outbreaks of cholera and diarrhea and the transmission of COVID-19,” she noted; adding that it will also support the local economy, as cash is spent in local markets.
