Multi-Sectoral Humanitarian Needs Assessment in North East Nigeria

Introduction and Background – About Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian non-profit organization that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood and enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We believe in the power and potential of every child, but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion, and discrimination. Working together with children, young people, supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges girls and vulnerable children face. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years and are now active in more than 75 countries, driving changes in practice and policy at local, national, and global levels using our reach, experience, and knowledge.

Plan International Nigeria is part of the global federation of Plan International and was registered in Nigeria in 2014. Our interventions are currently focused on nutrition, protection, basic education, improving community health services, youth and citizens’ participation in governance and creating economic opportunities and livelihoods for the neediest people, building resilient communities. We implement development, emergency and humanitarian response programmes. Plan International Nigeria works with communities, civil society organizations, development partners, government at all levels and the private sector.

The key areas of our work are:

• Meaningfully engage youths, especially girls and young women, in planning and decision-making.
• Strengthen grassroots leadership of youths, especially girls and young women.
• Empower and engage youths, especially girls and young women, as active drivers of change.
• Promote and facilitate inclusive and quality education, skills and opportunities for youth employment and entrepreneurship.
• Promote and facilitate SRHR, including MNCH.
• Strengthen the protective environment of children, caregivers and communities so they recognize risks including child marriage and prevent and respond to them.
• Promote and support improved nutrition and ECD and ensure safety for girls and child protection.

Plan International Nigeria’s education programs primarily target children, especially girls aged 0 to 9 years, adolescent girls/boys aged 10 to 19 years, and young women/men aged 20 to 24 years. Our approach is integrated education programming, which involves a comprehensive framework centred on the needs of affected populations, prioritizing children and young people, including those with special needs. We aim to deliver quality, context-sensitive, inclusive education access through formal and non-formal interventions in North-East Nigeria. Key approaches revolve around these areas: Advocacy; Formal and non-formal education; Integrated school WASH through the provision of safe and clean drinking water, improving hygiene and provision of WASH facilities including disaggregated latrines; inclusion (CWD); Cash Voucher in Education (CVA); Integrated Economic empowerment.

Emergency Context

Rationale and Objectives of the Assessment

The 2024 Humanitarian Programme Cycle needs analysis in the HNO covers the whole of Nigeria. However, this Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) is only focused on humanitarian crises in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) states in north-east Nigeria, where more than 14 years of conflict has ravaged social infrastructure and killed and maimed tens of thousands of people, depriving them of their ability to eke out a living. At least 7.9 million people need humanitarian assistance in 2024. Of these, we are seeking to reach 4.4 million of the most vulnerable people. Some 4.4 million people will face severe hunger during the lean season, including about 2 million children affected by acute malnutrition.

In 2024, we will be confronted with some stark and difficult choice, as resources for humanitarian assistance are dwindling not just in Nigeria, but globally. We must consider even more carefully how to maximize dwindling resources and how to organize humanitarian operations. Reflecting these challenges, further prioritization and targeting of the most vulnerable means that the number of people targeted for humanitarian interventions has reduced from 6 million to 4.4 million people. We must ensure that we do not spread too thinly, and this is one of the reasons why the HRP will retain its focus on aiding the most vulnerable people affected by the armed conflict in the BAY states. In the rest of Nigeria, we will utilize different approaches, leveraging government leadership and working in tandem with development partners to address vulnerability and its causes. We have long recognized that humanitarian aid is not the solution to the underlying problems causing needs in Nigeria, including in the north-east.

As in 2023, we anticipate that there will be areas, especially in Borno State, where affected people will have little or no access to humanitarian assistance. Where government and humanitarian actors are unable to reach people in need or people are unable to reach assistance, we will continue advocating with civilian and military authorities to allow civilians unhindered freedom of movement to seek protection from conflict and access to humanitarian assistance. Moreover, in Borno, most primary supply routes remain insecure for civilians, humanitarian workers and suppliers. As a result, the humanitarian operation continues to rely on the UN Humanitarian Air Service to reach humanitarian hubs, which protect aid workers and enable operations in the deep-field locations[1]

These figures and situation are now exacerbated by the rampaging flood that overwhelmed the LGAs of MMC, Jerre and some part of Mafa LGAs of Borno. There has also been reports of flooding in parts of Yobe and Adamawa Sates.

Plan International has made strides in delivering much-needed support to affected populations in the BAY States since 2016 when the humanitarian intervention was started in North-eastern Nigeria. During these periods, we have implemented directly or as a consortium with National and International Partners on a number of Education, Protection, Livelihood, Nutrition and Food Security projects. However, as highlighted by the HNO 2023 & the HRP 2023, there are still huge needs in all the above sectors, which calls for in-depth needs assessment to determine the kinds of interventions to meet the needs. Thus, there is a need for strategic evidence-gathering of the most efficient and effective ways to engage in interventions that further strengthen the provision of essential services that promote well-being and save the lives of affected populations in the northeast of Nigeria. For Plan International to provide these interventions there is a need for an assessment to understand the prevailing needs and any existing gaps in systems and structures responsible for delivering support in meeting those needs. This understanding will help identify opportunities for action in target sectors and locations in preparation for upcoming engagements with donors. Information gathered by this assessment will provide data and evidence that will inform proposals to potential donors and partners.

The needs assessment aligns with Plan Nigeria’s new Country Strategy (2024-2028) (Girls are empowered to take action and drive change) commitment to generate and use quality evidence to improve programmes, influencing and resource mobilization to meet the needs of the affected community. It also aligns with the HRP 2023, strategic objective two (SO2): “Crisis-affected people enjoy a safer and healthier environment for living, with adequate access to essential services”. The results of this need assessment will enable Plan International Nigeria to design evidence–based integrated multi-sector programmes based on informed decisions, stemming from the findings. Findings from the assessment are expected to contribute to advocacy initiatives with stakeholders and establish priority areas for programming, proposal development. Also, the assessment results will be shared with the larger humanitarian partners in the BAY states to enable complementarity of actions and reduce redundancies. The report will also leverage on other relevant assessments and reports that might have been or are being conducted by other partners.

Furthermore, while numerous sector-specific rapid needs assessments are being done, they are largely not coordinated leading to: uneven coverage across the different populations and settings for example IDPs, host communities, certain villages and vulnerable populations in the camps, gaps in information in some areas; and ‘over-assessment’ in others.

Therefore, the objectives of the assessment include:

1. To gather strong, evidence-based information on the multi-dimensional needs of affected populations, especially girls, women, and children living with disability, residing in formal or informal camp settings or within host communities of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe (BAY) States of North East Nigeria

2. Map out the available education resources, stakeholders, and capacities in the assessed LGAs and prioritize geographic areas of intervention areas and their needs and risks.

3. Determine the characteristics and vulnerabilities of households and communities and their capacity to address the multidimensional needs and unitary dimensions to ensure that program coverage is holistic.

   Assessment Scope and Location

The Needs assessment will be conducted in Borno state of North East Nigeria, focusing on key sectoral vulnerabilities, needs and gaps within the community especially in education, protection, WASH, livelihoods, health and nutrition sectors. The assessment will target both in-camp and out-of-camp IDPs, returnees, and host communities. Respondents will be systematically drawn from children, adolescents and youth groups aged 6 – 29 years (male and female), households (heads/caregivers), and stakeholders at all levels, including government, community, and religious stakeholders. In addition, the assessment will also complete a desk review of humanitarian and developmental records of select locations within the regions based on needs and intelligence gathering; to reach a comprehensive report that represents the closest to the ideal outlook of living conditions in those areas assessed.

Location: The assessment will be conducted in 5 LGAs of Damboa, Kala Balge, Bama, Mobbar, and Dikwa in Borno state, North East Nigeria.

The assessment is expected to address the following questions:

Education and Child Protection in Emergency

• What are the demographic characteristics/typology of school-aged children, including girls, CwDs, IDPs, returnees and host population in the targeted locations?
• Within these groups, are there any specific groups where school attendance and access to school is a bigger issue?
• What are the key factors that can increase vulnerability or risks for host and IDP men, women, girls, and boys? How do these key factors increase the vulnerability or risks for men, women, girls, and boys and what are the factors that intersect with the gender roles and disabilities?
• What are the education challenges experienced by children, especially girls? challenges with learning outcomes

– challenges with accessing education

– challenges with retaining in education

– challenges with transitioning between education levels

– challenges related to safety in schools and journey to school.

• What are the issues related to access to education for children within households? What other opportunities are there to address access to education of children, especially girls? What are the key risks and challenges for girls and boys in the communities in school and out of school ? What is the child-led, adolescent-led and community-led strategies that Plan International can take to prevent these risks from occurring and respond to these risks? What are the available community structures that addresses protection and education concerns?
• How are the affected communities – parents, children, youth, and others from IDP and host families – engaged in supporting schools/learning spaces?
• What percentage of school aged children (host and IDP) are accessing education, disaggregated by sex, disability and level of schooling?
• What is the total number of student’s school attendance, repetitions, and dropouts in targeted locations prior to displacement and currently, disaggregated by sex, disability and level of schooling?
• And how long have OOSC been outside of education? How many never attended? How many dropped out for a short period?
• What kind of non-formal education opportunities are available?
• How can community structures be strengthened to address the identified concerns? What are the challenges related to accessing services and infrastructures in the communities? Are there existing peacebuilding initiatives/structures available within the communities and how well were youths involved in peacebuilding initiatives of the community?

Specific education and protection needs that Plan International is interested to assess:

Physical Access: What percentage of out-of-school children in Kala Balge and Damboa LGAs have access to formal or non-formal education? What percentage is being covered by Plan International’s 2023 intervention? What are the physical barriers to access, such as security concerns, distance to school, and lack of transportation?? Other Barriers such as Early marriage, child labour, parents do not think education is worth while, fear of physical or sexual harassment in schools, lack of safe latrines, lack of water and food, lack of disability inclusive learning environment and education, low quality of teaching

• What are the physical barriers to access for girls, such as security concerns, distance to school, lack of transportation, and cultural norms?
• Do all primary and secondary school children in Kala Balge and Damboa LGAs have access to formal or non-formal education? What types of non-formal education opportunities are available?
• Are there enough schools and classrooms for all primary and secondary school children? Do the schools have adequate space and facilities to include all, including CwD.
• Are there enough qualified teachers, especially female teachers? If not, why? What is needed ti fix the issue?
• Are there enough textbooks and other teaching materials? If not, why? What is needed to fix the issue?
• Are there school feeding programs and other incentives to encourage children, especially girls, to attend school?
• Quality: What is the quality of education available to out-of-school children? Are there enough qualified teachers? Are classrooms and teaching materials adequate? If not, why? What is needed ti fix the issue?
• Is the curriculum relevant to the needs of primary and secondary school children, especially girls?
• Do the teachers have adequate skills and training to apply the curriculum?
• Does the existing education curriculum prepare children, especially girls, for future opportunities Such as skills for continuous education, income generation, etc.
• Are there opportunities for children, especially girls, to participate in extracurricular activities, such as sports, clubs, and student government?
• Are there adequate Class rooms, outdoor space, latrines and water access facilities for children with disabilities
• Relevance: Is the non-formal curriculum relevant to the needs of out-of-school children? Does it prepare them for future opportunities? What current education needs are being met by Tsangaya Schools?
• What support would be required for the Tsangaya schools to bring their curriculum and teaching methodologies in line with the national education policy on school education?
• Is the curriculum relevant to the cultural and linguistic needs of girls?
• Does the curriculum address gender stereotypes and promote gender equality?
• Are there female role models in the school, such as teachers and administrators?
• Do girls feel safe and respected at school? If not, why? What can be done?

Inclusivity: Are all out-of-school children, including girls, children with disabilities, and IDP children, able to access quality education? If not, why not? What kind of extra support do each of there groups need?

• Are all primary and secondary school children, including girls, children with disabilities, and IDP children, able to access quality education? If not, why not? What kind of extra support do each of there groups need?
• Are there any specific barriers to education for girls, such as early marriage, child labor, and gender-based violence?

Protection needs

• Physical safety: Are out-of-school children safe from violence and exploitation? Are schools and other educational facilities safe and secure?
• Psychosocial safety: Do out-of-school children have access to psychosocial support services to help them cope with the trauma of conflict and displacement?
• Legal protection: Do out-of-school children have access to birth certificates and other legal documents that they need to access education and other services?
• Child rights awareness: Do out-of-school children and their families know about their rights and how to protect them?

In addition to these general education and protection needs, Plan Nigeria should also assess the specific needs of IDP children. These children may face additional challenges, such as language barriers, lack of documentation, and separation from their families.

• Physical safety:
  • Are primary and secondary schools safe and secure?
  • Are there adequate security measures in place to protect children, especially girls, from violence and exploitation?
  • Are there any specific safety concerns for girls, such as the risk of abduction or sexual assault?
• Psychosocial safety:
  • Do children, especially girls, have access to psychosocial support services to help them cope with the trauma of conflict and displacement?
  • Are teachers and other school staff trained to identify and support children who are at risk?
  • Are there any specific psychosocial concerns for girls, such as the risk of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder?
• Legal protection:
  • Do children, especially girls, have access to birth certificates and other legal documents that they need to access education and other services?
  • Are children, especially girls, aware of their rights and how to protect them?
  • Are there any specific legal challenges that girls face, such as the risk of child marriage and early pregnancy?

Additional questions for girls:

• What are the girls’ aspirations for the future?
• What are the girls’ perceptions of their own abilities?
• What are the girls’ experiences of gender stereotypes and discrimination?
• What are the girls’ suggestions for improving the education and protection of girls in their communities?

Some specific questions that Plan Nigeria is interested in addressing during the needs assessment:

• What is the age and gender distribution of out-of-school children in Kala Balge and Damboa LGAs?
• What are the main reasons why children are out of school?
• What are the preferred learning modalities of out-of-school children (formal, non-formal, accelerated learning, etc.)?
• What are the specific education and protection needs of IDP children?
• What are the capacity and needs of local education and protection actors?

The needs assessment should also identify potential partners and stakeholders who can support Plan Nigeria’s project to improve the education and protection of out-of-school children in Kala Balge and Damboa LGAs.

To answer the assessment questions and criteria, the consultant will develop and administered a to aid the collation and analysis of data and produce informed and evidence-based narratives by the consultant with reviews from Plan International MERL lead and team.

It is therefore expected that the consultant develops a detailed overall methodology, appropriate methods and the set of tools to respond to the key assessment questions. The consultant shall outline the reasons for selecting the methods proposed and depict the skills/ experience he/ she has in applying them. It is recommended to apply a mixed method approach using both quantitative and qualitative methods to meet study objectives, it will carry out a detailed and rigorous collection of primary data using focal group discussions, Key informer interviews, and surveys among key target groups, while it is expected to conduct reviews on secondary sources using reviews of relevant documents and reports to triangulate information that will inform the final report the consultant will also triangulate with several actions and stakeholders in the Northeast to gather evidence-based findings.

The consultant will also be responsible for piloting the tools, ensuring that they are gender-sensitive. The proposal must contain a description of the envisaged data validation, quality assurance and data analysis techniques. Plan International will make available to the consultant all project documents upon request.

Methodology

The consultant is expected to present an evaluation design, along with a rationale for its selection. They should outline a comprehensive method for implementing the chosen design and demonstrate their proficiency and experience in its application. The recommendation is to incorporate a mixed-method approach. The consultant is also tasked with piloting the tools, ensuring their sensitivity to gender-related factors.

Furthermore, the consultant(s) are required to formulate a thorough methodology for data collection, management, and analysis within their proposal. This methodology should align directly with the sector indicators and assessment questions.

The proposal must also encompass a description of the envisioned techniques for data validation, quality assurance, and data analysis.

Sampling

The consultant shall propose a sampling strategy either simple random probability or cluster sampling for the primary data collection to answer the assessment questions as part of the final assessment, including how they will identify respondents. More specifically, the intended sample strategy shall include a description of the:

• Sample size
• Target group and necessary respondent disaggregation (this will be provided to the consultant)
• Number and type of locations
• Sampling approach (stating the reasons for the approach selected)

Participant selection and recruitment

As a minimum requirement, representatives from key stakeholders (government, LGA structures, state structures, other potential experts operating within the context environment, e.g. public authorities, community leaders) and target groups should be given the opportunity to provide feedback on the assessment. Other potential stakeholders that should be involved include:

• Key informants drawn from targeted structures
• Plan Management
• Plan International staff- COs and NOs
• Government line ministries and implementing Agencies
• Implementing partners
• Other NGOs
• Girls, Boys, Youths, CWD, Men, Women (household units)
• Internally displaced persons
• Children from separated families
• Refugees
• Returnees
• Community leaders

Quality assurance

The Consultant is responsible for data quality, validity, consistency & accuracy and is to submit a well-structured report written in English language with complete adherence to Plan International data sharing protocol guidelines. If these standards are not met, the consultant will, at his/her own expense, make the necessary amendments to bring the reports to the required standards. The Consultant is expected to maintain the confidentiality of the data collected through the study.

Intended Users of the Assessment Report

The intended users of the final report of the assessment are:

• Plan International
• Different donors on proposal development
• Education partners

It is expected that the final needs assessment report will contribute to provide an in-depth insight into different needs girls, women, boys and men faced using evidence-based findings to guide our proposal development and future implementation of future projects.

Ethics, Child rights, gender and inclusion

Plan International is committed to ensuring that the rights of those participating in data collection or analysis are respected and protected, in accordance with our Ethical MERL Framework (Annex 4), our detailed guidance on Safeguarding in MER (Annex 5), and our Child and Youth Safeguarding Policy (Annex 3). All applicants should include details in their proposal on how they will ensure ethics and child protection in the data collection process. Specifically, the consultant(s) shall explain how appropriate, safe, non-discriminatory participation of all stakeholders will be ensured and how special attention will be paid to the needs of children and other vulnerable groups. The consultant(s) shall also explain how confidentiality and anonymity of participants will be guaranteed.

In line with Plan International’s values and organizational ambition, the assessment should seek to prioritize a focus on child rights, gender and inclusion. As a minimum, this requires:

1. the disaggregation of all data points from the survey by age and sex, the development of an ethics protocol that safeguards children, youth and vulnerable adults,

   Key Deliverables

The following are the deliverables that are expected to be fulfilled by the successful consultant:

• Inception report including:

  • an updated timeline
  • a detailed methodology including draft sampling methodology and size
  • draft data collection tools
  • ethical and safeguarding considerations and risk assessment
  • consent forms for any primary data collection
  • draft methods for data analysis and quality control
  • brief justification of the methods and techniques envisaged (including relevant underlying values and assumptions/ theories) with a justification of the selection made.

• Final data collection tools

  • Final Sampling methodology (including unit of sampling and sampling frame) and size

• Draft assessment report, including cleaned data files (e.g. Excel, SPSS), transcripts of qualitative data syntax/ code books etc., and completed consent forms (including for children and their caregivers and adults

• Final assessment report including an Executive Summary

  Expected qualifications

• The lead consultant is expected to have at least master’s degree in Social work, Public Health, International Development, or other related field with the following additional requirements:

• Over 10 years working experience in Social work, Public health, Livelihood, Education in Emergency, Food Security and Household vulnerability matrix, and cash transfer programming (Experience in North east Nigeria context is desirable).

• Strong experience in carrying out complex assessment/evaluations in the region or in other areas with similar context. The sample assessment(s) must be attached

• Strong analytical skills and research experience, with solid knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies

• Advanced experience in child protection and GBV. This includes previous experience conducting Focus Group Discussions and Interviews.

• Ability to conduct meetings with senior persons at government, Bi-lateral and NGO level

• Ability to work on own initiative and to meet deadlines

• Attention to produce and present high-quality accurate presentations/reports

• Ability and willingness to travel to very remote areas

• Excellent command of written and spoken English and at least one local language of Borno state

• Good skills in documentation and reporting

• Experience/understanding of Child Rights Programming and development

• Strong analytical skills and research skills, with solid knowledge of quantitative research sampling methodologies,

• Proven leadership and coordination skills with the ability to manage an Enumerator team.

  Further information on this Consultancy, including the relevant annexes to be filled can be assessed via this link: Multisectoral Humanitarian Needs Assessment