Who we serve

NPI exists for the children of conflict-affected North-East Nigeria, and for the families and communities that care for them. We are deliberate about reaching those in greatest need and those most often left out.

Our primary participants

Our work centres on children affected by conflict and displacement — those who are out of school, at risk of or affected by harm, malnourished, or without access to safe water and sanitation. Within this group we give particular attention to those who face the greatest barriers and risks:

• Girls — who are disproportionately out of school, at risk of early and forced marriage, and exposed to gender-based violence.
• Children with disabilities — who are too often excluded from education and services and face heightened protection risks.
• Unaccompanied and separated children — who have lost the family care that would ordinarily protect them.
• Displaced and returnee children — whose lives have been repeatedly disrupted and whose access to services is most fragile.
• Out-of-school children — who have never enrolled or have dropped out, and who need pathways back to learning.

Those we also reach

Protecting and supporting children means working with those around them. Our work therefore also reaches:

• Parents, caregivers and female-headed households — through support, information, and the reduction of barriers to services for their children.
• Pregnant and breastfeeding women — through nutrition and infant and young child feeding support.
• Community and traditional leaders and structures — whom we strengthen so that the capacity to protect children remains in the community.
• Teachers, facilitators and community volunteers — whom we train and support to deliver and sustain the work.

How we select who we serve

In a context of vast need and limited resources, how we choose who receives assistance matters enormously — both for fairness and for community cohesion. Our own Banki assessment underlined the danger of perceived unfairness in targeting. We therefore select participants against clear, published criteria based on need and vulnerability; we involve communities in defining and applying those criteria; we are transparent about who is eligible and why; and we monitor to ensure assistance reaches those it is intended for. This transparent, criteria-based, community-involved approach is central to our accountability and to doing no harm.