By Tina Ashiyo

The Disability Inclusive Humanitarian Action (DIHA) Project has within a period of 9 months reached out with health and rehabilitation services to 13, 504 people in hard to reach areas in the North West Region. DIHA Project Manager, Awa Jacques Chirac made the disclosure on October 7, 2022 during a midterm review workshop of the project that took place at the Main Conference Hall of the Baptist Center.

According to the Project Manager, the DIHA project, implemented by the CBC Health Services in the North West Region with funding from CBM, was designed to respond to the needs of people affected by the socio-political crisis with special attention on the rights and needs of persons with disabilities.

After 15 months, of implementing activities, the review, according to the Project Manager, was done to take stock and assess the extent to which the project has accomplished planned activities, met specific objectives and attained set targets. The evaluation was coordinated by the CBM Country Director, Fon Julius who thanked the CBC Health Services for making CBM to respond to the crisis in the NW Region as they are the ones who identify and share the needs of beneficiaries to share with funders. He thanked the German Federal Foreign Office for funding the DIHA Project. Participants at the workshop included persons with disabilities, service providers, humanitarian actors, local development actors and the project team.

The CBM Country Director guided the participants, who in groups, discussed the successes and strengths recorded, challenges encountered, threats and opportunities identified in course of implementing the project activities for the past 15 months. It came out clear from the discussions that persons with disabilities are increasingly being consulted and included in the response activities of humanitarian organizations in the North West Region, thanks to training of Humanitarian Organizations in disability inclusive humanitarian response. Persons with disabilities are now able to effectively advocate for their inclusion and participate in the cluster meetings of humanitarian organizations.

Another key achievement highlighted during the review is the fact that 3,207 persons have benefitted from unconditional cash transfer initiative above the 1,500 target. The project in collaboration with some Councils has also provided 502 free birth certificates while 338 persons have received gender-based violence interventions above the 300 target.

The workshop participants pointed out the fact that implementation did not go without challenges key among which are the unpredictable nature of insecurity and the needs of affected populations far exceeding project resources. To this end, they recommended more technical support by the Project to Humanitarian organisations and safety and security measures including access permits to enable field teams access all health districts without interference. Following recommendations, the project will be taking immediate measures to ensure that activities for the next 9 months are carried out more effectively. The midterm review workshop was also witnessed by the CBM Country Humanitarian Coordinator, Isaac Bahanac and the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer, Mokom Njang.