Two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Grooming
People for Better Livelihoods Centre also known as Grooming Centre and Sesor Empowerment
Foundation (Sesor) have signed a N6, 675,000MOU to support Sesor’s work with
internally displaced persons in Lagos and Benue States. This agreement, builds
on a successful long standing partnership between the two organisations through
various stages of Sessor’srelief and rehabilitative work for IDPs in 8 states since
2014,
Speaking at the cheque presentation ceremony in Lagos,
the CEO of Grooming Centre, Dr Godwin Nwabunka said; “We recognize the need to
support our brothers and sisters displaced all over Nigeria. They need
sustainable livelihoods and all kinds of support and that is why we appreciate
the multi-faceted approach Sesor has adopted to help the displaced rebuild
their lives. This is why we have a strategic partnership with Sesor.
Grooming Centre believes in supporting the economically
poor continuously until they get out of poverty and thus, weare providing even more finance for the 16
women who were part of the pilot so they can make more progress on their journey out of poverty
while helping 25 more displaced women start their own journey out of
poverty. We are also committed to
supporting Sesor’s relief and advocacy work across Nigeria.”
Responding, Sesor’s Executive Director, Ier
Jonathan-Ichaver said;
“We appreciate Grooming Centre for their long-standing
support since 2014. Grooming Centre has been pivotal in supporting the work and
raising awareness about displacement issues – funding work on issues that many
have refused to acknowledge. This MOU is currently our highest-value MOU and signifies
Grooming Centre’s believe in our work and in Nigeria. We look forward to doing even more to help
the displaced persons we serve survive and build their lives back even better
than before.”
Grooming Centre is an NGO and microfinance institution
that supports the economically active population engaged in petty trading all
over Nigeria. Sesor, on the other hand, is an NGO working to support survivors of
emergencies, especially internally displaced persons through programmes in
emergency relief, rehabilitation and preparedness.
The partnership kicked off with Grooming Centre funding
Sesor’s relief missionsfor displaced persons first to Benue State (caused by
herdsmen attacks) and later in 2014, to Plateau, Gombe and Adamawa States. This
sustained support resulted in Sesor’s ground-breaking collaborative publication
(‘Do they know it is Christmas?’) which told the stories of some displaced
persons in certain camps in the 3 states.
In 2015, Sesor learnt that there were displaced persons
who had fled from the North East to Lagos and partnered with Grooming Centre to
bring relief to them.
A year later,
both NGOs partnered to provide micro-loans of N20, 000 each to them in a
6-month pilot economic empowerment project supporting displaced women to start
up micro-businesses in Lagos. The pilot
proved a success with 76% of the women paying the micro-loans fully by due
date.
The new MOU doubles the loan amounts for the women who
completed the first pilot; provides new loans of N30,000 each for 25 new
participants in the Lagos project; funds a relief mission to Benue to support
persons displaced by herdsmen attacks and; provides a grant to cover 10% of
Sesor’s core operational budget for advocacy and other programme-related work.
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