Building Resilience for Refugee Women: The Drive Towards Independence.
Building Resilience for Refugee Women: The Drive Towards Independence.
Imagine being compelled to escape your home, abandoning everything familiar and dear to you, in a bid to save your life. This grim scenario is a daily reality for countless refugees and other individuals forced from their homes. For these people, fleeing means leaving behind their means of livelihood and any chance of a normal life, setting off into the unknown, fraught with potential perils and uncertainties, in search of safety and a chance to start anew.
In Nigeria, the plight of refugees is compounded by food security challenges and scarce opportunities for earning a living, driving some towards desperate measures for survival. These include engaging in transactional sex, child labour, and entering into early marriages. Additionally, some are compelled to drop out of school, while others confront mental health and psychological issues.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in collaboration with government agencies and partners, supports refugee women and girls to help them rebuild their lives and achieve self-sufficiency in the face of these challenges. Through vocational training programs, refugees are actively engaged and acquire new tools and skills, which enable them to forge stable and independent futures.
“Before the cooperative was established, most of these women did not know the craft any other way to stand on their own two feet. As such, they relied heavily on humanitarian aid, which was insufficient to meet their food needs,” says Irene Donation, UNHCR Associate Community Based Protection Officer, who piloted the cooperative's activities.
It all began as a gender-based violence prevention initiative by UNHCR and its partners in 2022, with the training of five refugees in the project’s first phase. Subsequently, with support from the European Union Humanitarian Aid, more than 50 individuals comprising refugees and hosts who are mainly survivors of Gender-Based Violence, young girls, adolescents, and older women have undergone training in various phases.
“Many women and girls struggle to earn a living in this harsh economy. I like making these crafts because it prevents me from staying idle,” says Oveh Onorien, a Cameroonian refugee and one of the group leaders in the Ikyogen refugee settlement, Benue State.
Beautiful crafts ranging from beaded slippers, necklaces, traditional bride beads, purses, handbags, hair bands, bangles, waist beads and earrings to laptop bags and foot mats produced by the group are marketed and displayed in urban cities and nearby communities.
“The business is lucrative, and people from urban areas and the immediate communities buy our products. Proceeds from selling these items help us support our families and prevent our girls from being exploited,” added Oveh. Due to high market demands, they plan to diversify into knitting cardigans, sweaters, and shirts for school pupils.
The collaborative effort among the women led to significant positive changes, prompting a need to expand and diversify its activities. This inspired the establishment of a Mothers Club, where members received training to make supplementary food they have dubbed “sweet mama meal”. Crafted from locally obtained nutritious grains, this meal has become a powerful tool in combating child undernutrition and bolstering the community's overall well-being.
These women's prospects are endless as they work towards self-reliance. Their story of resilience not only inspires but also emphasises the urgent need for enhanced livelihood opportunities for other refugees striving to make ends meet in an environment with limited economic prospects.
"Thanks to this initiative, many have found their path to independence alongside a nurturing space where healing and sharing life stories flourish," concluded Irene.
UNHCR Associate Protection Officer supporting Cameroonian refugee women to produce quality crafts to enhance their self-reliance in the Ikyogen refugee settlement, Benue State.
