Deadline: 25-Jul-2025
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is requesting applications for a project focused on Protecting Children in Humanitarian Crises in Benue State. This Call for Expression of Interest (EOI) seeks to engage community-based civil society organizations (CSOs) operating in Benue State to support the empowerment, protection, and resilience of children, adolescent girls, and boys living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and affected host communities.
The focus is particularly on IDP camps and host communities in Makurdi, Guma, Gwer West, and Logo Local Government Areas (LGAs). The goal is to strengthen community-based child protection systems and enhance the capacity of local structures to identify, report, respond to, and refer cases of violence and abuse. This includes addressing sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), exploitation, neglect, and harmful practices.
Priority will be given to adolescent girls, pregnant girls and women, and other highly vulnerable groups at risk of multiple protection violations. The project will support the establishment and training of Community-Based Child Protection Structures (CBCPS) and Auxiliary Social Workers (ASWs). These efforts aim to build local capacity for case management systems that monitor child protection risks, prevent harmful practices, and ensure timely referrals to formal services.
These services include mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), healthcare, legal aid and justice mechanisms, police and security protection, and social welfare and reintegration services. By strengthening local capacity and empowering adolescents with life skills, peer education, and access to services, the intervention will help create safer and more protective environments for children and women in Benue State’s displacement-affected areas.
The project specializes in protection, focusing on child protection, family reunification, gender-based violence, legal assistance and access to justice, prevention of and response to crime and violence, and protection in emergencies.
Expected results include holding five coordination meetings and developing an implementation plan. The project aims to strengthen the social welfare workforce by training 60 government personnel and establishing 18 CBCPS through training 228 representatives from 14 camps and host communities. Additionally, 60 Auxiliary Social Workers will be trained and deployed across the camps.
The distribution of 1,400 dignity kits and 140 recreational kits will cover all IDP camps in Guma, Makurdi, Gwer West, and Logo LGAs. Furthermore, 750 Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials will be produced and distributed in these areas.
The program will hold 84 community reflective dialogue sessions, reaching 37,000 participants across all camps and host communities. It will produce 50 directories and train 65 staff members. Services will reach 700 girls and boys who have experienced violence through health, social work, and justice or law enforcement systems.
Five human interest stories will be documented with high-resolution photographs to highlight the impact of the program. The project also plans 56 monitoring visits across all IDP camps with completed reports.
This initiative will take place in Nigeria, specifically in Benue State.
For more information, visit UN Partner Portal.
