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CLHEI is seeking funds to scale up the project to provide 500 fabricated cooking stoves to 500 IDP Households living in 8 IDP Camps in Benue State, North-Central Nigeria. Only 60 Households in the Abagena IDP Camp out of 8 camps in Benue and an estimated population of 1.7 million displaced persons were exposed to this intervention, and there’s the need to scale up the intervention to other IDP Camps and a larger number of households.
BACKGROUND
Benue people are today faced with great ecological and climatic problems. The most recent are the flood disaster resulting from the over flow of river Benue and incessant conflicts between farmers and herdsmen. Benue State is an agrarian society with rapid population growth. One of the adverse effects of climate change in northern Nigeria is desert encroachment. This has led to migration of herdsmen southwards in search of pasture for their cattle causing undue pressure on lands for farming and grazing activities for farmers and the herdsmen. The result has been constant and frequent violent conflicts between the two groups displacing over an estimated population of 1.7m people in the process.
With support from ELECTRIC AID & CHRISTIAN AID through our Humanitarian response and Disaster management thematic area, In response to the challenges faced by IDPs around the use of firewood for cooking and to further contribute in the advocacy for the reduction in deforestation and felling of trees with its attendant effect on climate change and greenhouse effects, CLHEI initiated the idea of locally fabricated stoves that will utilize rice husks as the basic source of cooking fuel.
This was borne out of the idea to reduce total dependence on firewood with its daunting effect on the environment, the challenges encountered by the IDPs in the search of firewood for cooking in far away hinterlands around the host community, as well as the potential to recycle rice husks through the use of local binders to mould briquettes which will serve as alternative cooking fuel for IDPs.
Consequently, CLHEI donated 60 fabricated stoves to 60 IDP households living in Abagena IDP camp in Makurdi LGA of Benue State.
Through the use of local binders, rice husks were recycled to make briquettes which serves as alternative cooking fuel for the fabricated cooking stoves.
This project also provided for the direct beneficiaries (IDPs) solar-powered lamps to help illuminate the camp especially at night and reduce the tendency for GBV occurrences in the camp, sexual abuses, open defecation and general poor sanitary conditions within the camp. Before the intervention, IDPs living in Abagena IDPs camp have been in total darkness during the night hours.
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