DISPLACED CHILDREN NUTRITION SUPPORT IN NIGERIA

MOBILIZATION TOWARDS LEADERSHIP FOR WOMEN AND YOUTHS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE (MOLDEV)

PROJECT TITLE

NOURISHING HOPE: MEAL SUPPLEMENT SUPPORT FOR INTERNALLY DISPLACED CHILDREN IN NIGERIA

PROJECT SUMMARY

Plateau State, located in North-central Nigeria, has suffered banditry attacks resulting in over four hundred and twenty communities being attacked, and over twelve thousand lives lost, with an estimated sixty thousand people, mostly Women and Children, displaced across five local governments within two years. (Plateau State government).

This project will provide one nutritious meal supplement daily to over 3000 displaced and vulnerable children (ages 0–10) in Mangu and Bokkos Local Government Areas of Plateau State, Nigeria. These children were displaced from their homes following gunmen's invasion of their communities spanning over 200 villages between May 2023 and June 2025. Now living in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, they face starvation, malnutrition, and high vulnerability to illness. Daily meals will sustain their health, restore strength, and give them hope for a better future. So far, 900 children have been reached with food and meal supplements, clothes, detergents, and sleeping aids since the project started in 2024.

CHALLENGES

Thousands of children have lost parents, homes, and livelihoods as a result of the attacks. In temporary camps, they often lack access to adequate food, clean water, and stability. Poor feeding conditions have left many weak, undernourished, and exposed to disease. Without urgent nutritional support, these children risk long-term developmental damage and loss of life. There are still more children being displaced daily because of the attacks on villages.

SOLUTION

This project will deliver nutritious meal supplements to over 3000 displaced children in the IDP camps. By addressing immediate hunger and malnutrition it will stabilize their health, reduce vulnerability to illness, and support emotional recovery. Stronger, healthier children will be better able to focus on education, play, and healing within their communities.

LONG-TERM IMPACT

Consistent nutrition will strengthen immune systems, foster healthy growth, and support cognitive development. Beyond health, shared meals will nurture unity, love, and resilience among the children. This project not only saves lives today but also builds the foundation for a generation of healthier, stronger, and more hopeful children—ready to rebuild their communities and shape a brighter future.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION APPROACH

To ensure effective delivery of the project goal, transparency, accountability, and measurable impact in providing nutritional meal supplements to over 3,000 internally displaced children, we are implementing the following M&E approach:

1. Baseline Data Collection
2. Register and profile all children in the IDP shelters (age, gender, health/nutrition status, community, and guardian/parent).
3. Establish a starting point to measure progress.
4. Regular Tracking & Reporting
5. Monthly monitoring of food distribution to ensure every child receives the intended meal supplement.
6. Monthly health and nutrition assessments (weight, growth, and wellbeing indicators).
7. Documentation of the number of children reached versus the original target.
8. Adaptive Monitoring
9. Due to ongoing attacks on nearby communities, the number of displaced children is increasing. The monitoring system will be updated regularly to capture new arrivals, ensuring that no child is left out of the feeding program.
10. Community & Stakeholder Feedback
11. Feedback sessions with caregivers, volunteers, and camp leaders to evaluate the quality and adequacy of the meals.
12. Use insights to improve meal planning and distribution.
13. Evaluation & Learning
14. Mid-term and end-of-project evaluations to measure outcomes against set targets.
15. Lessons learned serve as a guide for adjustments for future interventions and scale-up.

Through these strategies, we will not only track how many children are being served but also demonstrate improvements in their nutritional status, while adapting quickly to the rising number of displaced children caused by continuing violence.

RESOURCE MOBILIZATION EFFORTS

We have partnered with crowdfunding platforms to raise the needed funds to accomplish the project goal and objectives. These include:

1. Partnership with GlobalGiving: The project has been uploaded and promoted to prospective donors and philanthropists around the world to make donations to provide nutritional food for the displaced children in IDP camps. Some of the major campaigns that featured the project on GlobalGiving include the Little-by-little campaign and Giving Tuesday. In the course of these campaigns, a total of USD 64 (Sixty-four Dollars) worth of financial donations was raised through the GlobalGiving crowdfunding platform.

The goal of the project is to raise $11,019 to provide nutritional food supplements to over 3000 displaced and vulnerable children in Mangu, Bokkos, Riyom, and Barkin Ladi local government areas.

 Networking with Local friends and volunteers: Apart from the crowdfunding initiative, we have also reached out to friends and volunteers to support the fundraising goal of the project. This has provided us with the following items in support of the project goal and other pressing needs in the IDP Camp.

1. 14 wheelchairs for displaced people living with disability in the IDP Camp.
2. 2 bags of Garri (Cassava Produce)
3. 1 bag of sugar
4. 3 bags of clothes
5. 1 bag of shoes
6. 56 blankets (sleeping Aid)
7. 6 cartons of 6x40 biscuits food
8. 120 Nutritional Meal supplement packs shared to 120 undernourished children.

These items were collected and distributed to the beneficiaries in the IDP Camp

• Complete Report with Pictures (PDF)