The staff of Brethren Disaster Ministries have directed a large grant of $225,000 from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to extend the Nigeria Crisis Response for another year. The grant is given in conjunction with a plan to phase out the program over the next three years, created in collaboration with the Disaster Relief Management Team of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria).
The Nigeria Crisis Response is a joint program of EYN and the Church of the Brethren in the United States, involving staff of the US church’s Global Mission and Brethren Disaster Ministries alongside EYN’s Disaster Relief Management Team.
Since 2014, the Nigeria Crisis Response has provided more than $6 million to this joint effort. The work has helped EYN endure an ongoing crisis of violence, aided five response partners, and provided extensive humanitarian aid and recovery assistance for some of the most vulnerable people.
The ongoing violence has contributed to great economic disparity in Nigeria, where more people are living in extreme poverty than in any other country according to Brethren Disaster Ministries staff. The security situation is increasingly complicated as different groups spread terror and destruction in the northeast and spreading throughout the country, with kidnappings as a growing concern.
This grant extends the effort through 2024, with a shift of focus to begin the three-year phase out.
The change of focus is intended to equip displaced people to better support themselves and their families. As a result, there is a significant decrease in the food distribution budget in order to expand funding for education, agriculture, home repair, and livelihood programing. This plan was developed by the EYN team with guidance from Brethren Disaster Ministries staff.
During the next three years, the budget provided through the US church will decrease each year. After 2026, grant requests from EYN for disaster or emergency programing will be considered on a case-by-case basis as are other grant requests to the EDF.
Prior EDF grants for the Nigeria Crisis Response have totaled $6,175,000.
Find out more about the Nigeria Crisis Response and how to financially support it at www.brethren.org/nigeriacrisis/response
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