The Challenge

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present a significant negative impact and challenge to the situation relating to displaced populations. The stealth of the virus in the extremely congested living conditions coupled with the high prevalence of chronic malnutrition, malaria, measles, cholera, and other comorbidities may have severe implications for vulnerable populations. Our client, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), a humanitarian organisation whose core focus is on supporting internally displaced persons, saw the need to address this.

Phillips Consulting. (pcl.) was engaged to work in collaboration with North-East Nigeria following the health risks arising from the potential exposure and continuous spread of COVID-19. The DRC set up this programme to help implement appropriate measures to curb the spread of the infection among outreach workers and communities to avert a humanitarian crisis.

The Solution

In line with the DRC's goal of responding to this emerging need and reducing the vulnerability of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in North-East Nigeria, pcl. worked in collaboration with the DRC to develop training interventions to sustain the local environmental health by establishing hygiene practices, initiatives, and programmes to protect the communities.

pcl. 's Public Healthcare Unit of qualified Doctors as part of the International and Economic Development practice developed the requisite training, conducted Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop, and was involved in the field rollout and monitoring and evaluation. We deployed our proprietary a 5-Dimensional method and approach (Diagnose, Design, Develop, Deliver and Drive), including case-based training exercises, role-plays, table-top simulations, and field exercises.

This workshop included participant-led development action plans to address identified problems ranging from hygiene promotion, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) to protection issues in the displaced communities, and delivery of orientation packages to help cascade training to community mobilisers.

The Result

This is an ongoing project. Nonetheless, by collaborating with the DRC thus far, we have created a memorable and impactful learning experience for participants in affected communities to develop sustainable practices to deal with the pandemic.