Who we are
Nurture and Protect Initiative (NPI) is a Nigerian non-profit, non-governmental organization, registered as a body of Incorporated Trustees with the Corporate Affairs Commission and based in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. We work in the conflict-affected and displacement-affected communities of North-East Nigeria, with a central focus on the protection and wellbeing of children.
We are, by design, a community-led organization. We were founded by people rooted in the communities we serve, out of a conviction that the region’s children are best protected by organizations that belong to those communities — that speak the languages, understand the culture, and are present for the long term. Our very first act as an organization was not to launch a programme, but to listen: we conducted a community needs assessment in Banki Ward of Bama Local Government Area, sitting with community and traditional leaders, women, men and children to understand their needs and priorities before designing any response. That commitment — to community-led, evidence-based work — is the foundation of everything in this profile.
Our story and founding purpose
NPI was established to respond to a specific and enduring gap. More than a decade of armed conflict in North-East Nigeria has displaced millions, destroyed services, and exposed a generation of children to harm, lost education, hunger and disease. International organizations have carried much of the response, but as their footprint reduces and the crisis persists, the region needs strong, accountable, locally rooted organizations able to protect children and to endure. NPI was founded to be one of them: local in its roots, professional in its systems, and unwavering in its focus on children.
Our vision
A North-East Nigeria in which every child — whatever their circumstances — is safe from harm, able to learn, healthy, and able to look to the future with hope.
Our mission
To protect children from violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect, and to restore their access to education, nutrition and essential services in conflict-affected communities — working in genuine partnership with those communities, and alongside the wider humanitarian system, to build lasting local capacity to care for and protect children.
Our core values
Our values guide how we work, how we treat the people we serve, and how we conduct ourselves as an organization. They are embodied in our Code of Conduct, which every person connected with NPI signs.
Value | What it means for us |
Protection | The safety and welfare of children come first, always. We do no harm, and we act to keep children safe. |
Community-led | We work with communities, not merely for them. Those affected shape our work and hold us to account. |
Integrity | We are honest, transparent and accountable. We use resources only for their proper purpose and never misuse our position. |
Dignity and respect | We treat every person — child, parent, colleague — with dignity, and without discrimination of any kind. |
Equity and inclusion | We reach those most in need and most often left out, including girls, children with disabilities, and the displaced. |
Excellence | We hold ourselves to recognised humanitarian standards and strive to deliver quality work that withstands scrutiny. |
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