Sesor Empowerment Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation, has given no fewer than 289 families in Nigeria micro funds and better livelihood support to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Executive Director of the NGO, Ier Jonathan-Ichaver, made this known, on Thursday in a statement in Abuja.
According to her, the beneficiaries, who are mostly internally displaced women, are low skilled and operate micro businesses for a living.
Jonathan-Ichaver advised women to pay daily attention to the health of their family members, especially as religious and social-economic activities are to become fully operational.
She said: “With the lockdown and movement restriction, Sesor observed all precautionary and safety measures but still reached out to these women as we know that their finances would guaranty the socio-economic stability of their family members to a great extent.”
Jonathan-Ichaver said the feat was achieved majorly through the Sesor Livelihood Support Programme 2020, with about 57 women beneficiaries recorded in the month of July only.
She, however, advised Nigerians to continue with the safety measures in place as the country enters the next phase of COVID-19.
Eunice Katung, Executive Programme Manager of the NGO, said: “A breakdown of the number showed that the disbursement was carried out in trenches with 26 women participating initially and an additional 31 in the second batch.
“This is just the start as we aim to empower 145 or more IDP women in Lagos and Benue States, as we have identified more prospects for our SLSP programme.”
Jonathan-Ichaver explained that for the sustainability of the project and attainment of high rate of repayment, the beneficiaries were trained on basic book keeping, savings and other business management skills.