Northeast Nigeria has for years been plagued by protracted conflict that has forced over 3.5 million people to flee their homes. Violence in the region has been driven by armed groups including Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) as well as armed ‘bandits’ carrying out raids resulting in kidnap for ransom, the abduction of schoolgirls, sexual violence and cattle rustling.
Over 7 million people in the region are in desperate need of aid. The north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe are also facing a food crisis that has left almost 6 million without enough food to eat and struggling health services.
Nigeria is also on the frontline of the climate crisis and is one of Africa’s most flood prone countries. In 2024, over 3 million people across the country were impacted by floods that killed 1,000 people and displaced around two million others. Thirty-four out of Nigeria’s thirty-six states were heavily flooded. In the worst hit Borno state, flood waters wiped out homes, crops and livelihoods as well as drove the spread of diseases such as cholera and malaria.
For decades, many international humanitarian agencies have directly provided vital aid to communities in crisis, but their on-the-ground presence is shrinking due to declining global funding for relief efforts, as well as the cutting of overseas aid budgets.
As a result, effective humanitarian response is increasingly dependent on local and community‑based NGOs who are embedded in communities and best placed to understand local needs.
However, many local NGOs lack the systems and resources they need and require specialist support to strengthen their operations.
Through the EU humanitarian aid (ECHO) funded ‘Local SPACE’ project, Christian Aid is helping to boost the skills of 15 local and community-based organisations in northeast Nigeria to enable them to operate effectively and take the lead in local humanitarian responses. The local groups receiving this support are mainly women-led and refugee-led.
Boosting the skills of these local organisations will also help position them to be able to directly bid for funding, just like larger international aid agencies. This will help them to continue to provide support to communities in crisis – whether affected by the impacts of the climate crisis, coping with conflict, or lacking basic essentials such as clean water, food or medical care.
The project is rooted in Christian Aid’s commitment to ‘localisation’, which works to position local partners to be in the driver’s seat of the design and roll out of humanitarian responses.
The Local SPACE project revealed that local community-based organisations had gaps in key areas of organisational effectiveness including in financial management and leadership skills, as well as communications. There was also a lack of co-ordination and collaboration between local organisations. The findings were used to provide these groups with tailored strategies and training to improve their overall operational effectiveness.
Thanks to support from EU citizens, the Local SPACE project is helping ensure local NGOs are better equipped to provide humanitarian aid to communities across northeast Nigeria. Christian Aid has also hosted learning and networking events to open up avenues for collaboration and coordination of humanitarian responses to help deliver greater impact for communities in need.
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Chabash Development and Health Initiative (CDHI) is one of the 15 local community-based organisations taking part in the project and provides emergency relief to communities in northeast Nigeria, including in the areas of health and nutrition as well as ensuring communities have access to clean water. CDHI’s Grant and Partnership Manager Victor Musa has taken part in training sessions provided by Christian Aid through the project.
“As a leader, you need to understand your staff, how to work with them, and how to go about the day-to-day operations of the organisation. The Local SPACE project really helped our organisations to understand how to upgrade what we do - policies, communications, finance and so on, so that we will have documents capable of attracting donors,” said Victor.
Through the Local SPACE project, CDHI have been able to network with Create a Wonderful World Initiative (CWI), which led to the two organisations coming together to successfully apply for funding from the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF), an intiative supported by UN’s humanitarian assistance agency, OCHA.
The organisations are now providing healthcare and treating child malnutrition to over 40,000 displaced people living across northeast Nigeria who would otherwise be unable to afford to pay.
“The Local SPACE project has given us the opportunity to identify other organisations to work together as a team to achieve more,” said Victor.
Ekklesiyar Yan Uwa A Nigeria (EYN Projects) is another local organisation taking part in the Local SPACE project. They are a faith-based organisation providing emergency relief to crisis affected communities, ensuring access to clean water, health and nutrition services as well as support for survivors of sexual and domestic violence.
EYN has played an important role in shaping how the Local SPACE project works in practice by sharing its understanding of local context, culture, and community dynamics to improve how projects are delivered to and received by local communities.
“The Local SPACE project has helped shift us from being seen mainly as an implementer to being recognized as a knowledgeable and credible local partner whose voice matters,” said Hamsatu James, EYN’s Project Manager.
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“The project created spaces where we could move beyond working in isolation and become more connected to the broader humanitarian community in Nigeria. It also created opportunities to interact, share experiences, and build relationships with other organizations working in humanitarian response and development,” she added.
Through the Local SPACE project’s combination of training, mentorship, policy support, and networking opportunities, local NGOs and community groups are growing in confidence and professionalism as they continue to deliver humanitarian aid and more equitable partnerships between local and international aid organisations are being born.
“One of the biggest lessons from the Local SPACE Project has been that effective humanitarian response is not only about delivering aid, but about building trust, strengthening systems, listening to communities, and working collaboratively for lasting impact,” Hamsatu said.
This work is possible thanks to funding from EU-ECHO.
