The Kishimi Shelter and Care Foundation, an NGO, has commenced a one-year trauma healing programme for 300 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Gombe State.
Mrs Grace Samuel, the Executive Director of the foundation, disclosed this at the opening of a two-day training workshop for stakeholders on the programme.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the targeted beneficiaries are being sheltered in Gombe and Akko Local Government Areas of the state.
She said the foundation would execute the programme through a collaboration with Psycare Initiative with support from African Transitional Justice Legacy Funds (ATJLF).
According to her, the project will provide palliative care for traumatised victims and survivors of conflict in the North East region.
She explained that the programme would provide care to victims who lost everything and have no source of livelihood with skills acquisition and income generating activity.
According to her, the NGO will settle the hospital bills of those in the second category and then link them to additional medical service through referrals and professional counselling.
Samuel said: “African Transitional Justice Legacy Funds is a MacArthur Foundation sponsored programme which basically has to do with reforming the justice system in Africa.
“This time around, we are not only looking at the justice system, we are looking at the non-justice components.
“This is, those that have not only been denied rights but are suffering trauma and some other challenges. That’s the part we are working on,” she said.
The executive director said the organisation was targeting a minimum of 300 out of the 10,000 IDPs in the state.
Samuel therefore appealed to spirited persons and organisations for more interventions to help displaced persons who are still leaving their homes because of insurgency in the region.
She said that a technical working group would be established to reflect all the stakeholders or components identified for easy execution of the project.
The affected IDPs, traditional and religious leaders, heads of security agencies, CSOs, the media, health personnel and legal practitioners attended the event. (NAN)
