Lake Chad: Displaced women produce protective masks against COVID-19

Despite the hardships she has been through, Achta harbours hope for a better life. In 2018, when armed men attacked her village, Achta fled just in time before they reached her house, taking only a few personal belongings with her. Along with a dozen other displaced people, she settled in the community of Kousseri, in Chad’s Lac Province.

Achta remembers very well: "We walked for a long time and were relieved when we arrived in Kousseri, she recalls. The Kousseri 1 site hosts more than 7,000 internally displaced people (IDP), victims of atrocities committed by non-state armed groups, but also those who were forced from their homes by the effects of climate change and environmental degradation.

Shortly after her arrival, Achta joined other displaced women and set up a cooperative: a peer-support group for socio-economic and personal support. The  COVID-19 pandemic broke out and life got harder, for Achta as well as for thousands of displaced people in Lac province. Health measures and mobility restrictions were put in place to curb the virus. These significantly reduced people’s ability to send and receive remittances, one of the main sources of income for those displaced on the lake.

IDPs like Achta found themselves in situations of extreme vulnerability, and dependent on humanitarian aid for their survival. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), with the support of the Federal Republic of Germany, partnered with the association of women’s cooperatives of the Kousseri 1 displacement site. A facemask production campaign was launched.

The campaigns helped to empower women, and provided an alternative means of income. Achta led the cooperative of 20 female members. They produced over 7,000 cotton facemasks that were included in the emergency kits that IOM distributed to displaced people. The partnership revived fresh hopes for a better future for Achta. “This cooperative is our livelihood and we are happy to work on this project with IOM,” says Achta. The cooperative earned enough to establish a community trust fund. A fund for women whenever they need financial assistance. A fund for women when they want to invest in their future. “It's a good move for us, and our goal is to earn enough to maybe buy a piece of land, do some farming and have various income-generating activities so that we can prosper,” says Achta.

IOM receives funding from the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO) for “Strengthening IOM's COVID-19 Life-Saving Response in Humanitarian Settings” in several countries around the world as part of IOM’s Strategic Response and Recovery Plan for COVID-19 (SRRP). We like to have a look at the people who benefited from this support.