North-East Nigeria faces one of the world’s most complex humanitarian crises, shaped by over a decade of conflict, mass displacement, and increasingly severe climate-related hazards. Millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe (BAY) states live in fragile shelters and densely populated sites with limited infrastructure and livelihood options. Entire communities remain acutely vulnerable to hazards such as flooding, fire, storms, and extreme heat, with each event forcing families to rebuild repeatedly, perpetuating a cycle of loss.
The growing frequency and complexity of disasters, often intersecting with ongoing conflict, highlight the urgent need for disaster risk reduction (DRR) within humanitarian action. Strengthening DRR can safeguard lives and shelters and help break the cycle of repeated losses for vulnerable populations in displacement settings.
In 2025, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the Global Shelter Cluster (GSC) partnered with the North-East Nigeria CCCM/Shelter/NFI Sector to embed DRR into shelter, settlement, and NFI programming. Supported by the German Federal Foreign Office and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the initiative focused on integrating DRR into existing coordination mechanisms rather than creating a stand-alone strategy.
The process began with a scoping exercise mapping key risks, gaps, and opportunities, drawing on insights from more than 30 interviews with government representatives, UN agencies, and NGOs. This was followed by a multi-stakeholder workshop in Maiduguri, where participants conducted practical simulations to explore DRR integration. Findings were refined during a sector-wide validation webinar to build consensus on priority actions. National institutions such as NEMA, SEMAs, and NiMet were increasingly connected with field-level humanitarian coordination structures, helping to bridge policy and practice.
At the community level, limited access to early warning information leaves families exposed to hazards. In informal sites like Yawuri in Maiduguri, residents face difficult trade-offs, such as selling essential items to meet immediate needs. This underscores the need for community-driven, inclusive DRR grounded in local realities. Workshops and hands-on simulations allowed local NGOs, community-based entities, and government partners to analyze risks collectively and identify practical mitigation measures for floods, fires, storms, and extreme heat.
The initiative highlighted the importance of national and state-level DRR institutions in strengthening resilience. While capacity and effectiveness vary across states, connecting these agencies to humanitarian shelter and NFI programming remains crucial. By the end of the process, hazard-specific risk management plans were developed, offering actionable guidance to enhance preparedness, response, and long-term resilience in displacement settings.
The initiative also demonstrated the value of collaboration among humanitarian actors, government agencies, and local NGOs. Participatory exercises improved technical skills in early warning, anticipatory action, and site-level preparedness, translating global commitments under the Sendai Framework into field-level activities. Participants emphasized that DRR should be fully integrated into existing coordination frameworks rather than treated as a separate agenda, with the formation of a Risk Working Group in BAY states suggested to sustain efforts.
Looking ahead, the next challenge is implementing hazard-specific plans across IDP sites and host communities, mobilizing resources, and sustaining partner collaboration. Linking humanitarian and development financing, especially for climate and environmental programs, will be critical for building long-term resilience. The initiative has laid the foundation for risk-informed, locally grounded humanitarian action that can better protect lives, preserve dignity, and strengthen resilience amid escalating climate and conflict pressures.
