The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) launched a fundraising initiative in Nigeria to support displaced persons with permanent homes.
The campaign named “Home for the Displaced” aims to support 1.5 million IDPs affected by violence and conflict living in makeshift shelters with durable subsidized homes
The houses will provide thermal comfort, enhanced flood resistance, and humidity control to protect beneficiaries from environmental issues including flooding and localised flooding, windstorms, dusty air conditions, and termite infestation.
The initiative partners with the National Association of Nigerian Students in Europe (NANSE), Nigerian Youth in Diaspora (NYD) and Education in Disaster to “drive durable solutions to long-term displacement in Nigeria.”
The campaign rides on the “Home after Crisis” project contest by the IOM which encouraged young architects and designers in Nigeria to design a place capable of alleviating suffering where displaced persons can resettle and call home.
“100 percent of the donations for the campaign will go directly to supporting the construction of homes using the technical experienced gathered from the realization of the 3 winning designs from the competition,” the IOM said.
Since 2015, Nigeria’s Northeastern region has witnessed incessant violence and insurgencies leading to housing emergencies and displacing millions. As of 2022, 3.6 million Nigerians were internally displaced people, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).
“Displacement ends when people have a home to call their own, and in our strive to achieve durable solutions, we need to work together to offer displaced persons with safe, affordable and dignified housing options,” said Laurent de Boeck, chief of mission to IOM Nigeria.
IOM says the new homes will be built based on Compressed Stabilized Earth Bricks (CSEBs) – an advancement over traditional mud bricks, which are more cost-effective and require local raw materials to be realized.
