Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian organisation, says it has provided support to about two million vulnerable Nigerians through its food and shelter intervention programmes in the past 10 years.
Mercy Corps intervention programme is being funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Its Country Director, Mr Ndubisi Anyanwu, stated this at a stakeholders’ Shelter Research Conference on Tuesday in Maidiguri.
Anyanwu said the meeting was designed to enable the stakeholders to appraise and delibrate on the sustainability of ths on-going shelter assistance in Borno.
He said the conference also focused at formulating creative ways to provide sustainable shelter for the vulnerable population, adding that its intervention in Borno and other states were in the areas of food, cash assistance, shelter among others.
“Since 201; Mercy Corps has been positively impacting the lives of vulnerable people in Nigeria, especially in the North East.
“This year, we are celebrating 10 years of changing the lives of our people in all parts of Nigeria for the better. We have changed the lives of our people by providing humanitarian assistance and building communities.
“So far, we have impacted up to two million beneficiaries with food, cash, shelter, settlement, peace building, governance and conflict resolution initiatives.
“And in the areas of education, financial incusion, environmental sustainability, food and nutrition security, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) assistance,” he said.
He said that Borno was one of the key partners in the organisation’s success story.
According to him, about 24 per cent of the population in Borno are experiencing shelter problem as some of them are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
The research findings, he said, would advanced the contributions of the Corps to the Borno government recovery plan.
He lauded the contributions of the state Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, National and State Emergeney Management Agencies, Shelter Sector (TWIG), Nigerian Society of Engineers, Borno Geographic Information Service, University of Maiduguri and Ramat Polytechnic for the research.
Highlights of the conference was the presentation of the Collapsible Shelter Research, Mud Brick Stabilisation Research, Termite Study Research and Local Resilient Materials Research.
