Training Workshop to Enhance Protection Cluster Tools and Strategies in Niger

Building on the success of promoting inclusive WASH Cluster in Niger, a workshop for the Protection Cluster was held from November 19 to 21, 2024, in Niamey. The training aimed to strengthen the knowledge and skills of humanitarian actors in the Protection Cluster, enabling them to incorporate disability-inclusive approaches into their activities.

The workshop was conducted by the project partner CBM and organized in collaboration with the Protection Cluster coordination—co-led by UNHCR and Niger’s Ministry of Humanitarian Action. The event brought together 19 participants (13 women and 6 men), representing 15 organisations. These included UN agencies such as UNHCR, international NGOs like ASB, IRC, DRC, and Islamic Relief, national NGOs such as Adkoul and FNPH, and the Ministry of Humanitarian Action.

The workshop adopted an interactive and participatory approach, featuring practical sessions designed to enhance the inclusivity of the Cluster’s tools and strategies. Participants also strengthened their capacity to adapt their respective organizational tools to be more inclusive of persons with disabilities.

Leveraging the training, participants contributed directly to making the Protection Cluster’s Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) and Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) more inclusive, with revised documentation presented on November 21, 2024.

A key milestone of the workshop was the involvement of the Nigerien network of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), FNPH, which had joined the Protection Cluster just weeks earlier. Participants emphasized the importance of ensuring meaningful participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations at every stage of humanitarian interventions.

This initiative reflects a critical step toward ensuring that disability inclusion becomes a fundamental aspect of humanitarian action in several clusters in Niger.