UNICEF Advocates Community-based Psychosocial Support For Woro Kidnap Survivors

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for an integrated, community-owned recovery programme to help survivors of the Woro community kidnapping overcome trauma, regain confidence and reintegrate into their communities.

It said rebuilding communities after violence requires trusted institutions and leaders capable of restoring confidence, promoting inclusion and strengthening social cohesion.

The UNICEF Kaduna chief of field office, Dr Gerida Birukila, represented by the emergency focal person, Mrs Theresa Pamma, made the call yesterday at the training and inauguration of integrated mental health and psychosocial support services for Woro stakeholders in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Birukila stressed the need to help the victims and their families regain a sense of safety, noting that the community would recover when families supported one another, leaders governed inclusively and created spaces where people could speak freely without fear of intimidation or victimisation.

She also emphasised the role of teachers in helping children reconnect with learning and return to normal childhood activities.

According to her, UNICEF collaborated with the Kwara State government to provide mental health and psychosocial support to survivors of the Woro community kidnapping, to help them reconnect with their community and regain the confidence to participate in everyday life.

Birukila explained that through the training, UNICEF was equipping participants with the tools and skills to support one another with empathy and without judgment.

She said the recovery of children must enable them to reclaim the ordinary experiences that make childhood meaningful, particularly learning, playing, forming friendships, feeling safe and dreaming about the future.

Also speaking, the Kwara State Commissioner for Social Development, Dr Mariam Imam, said the state government had partnered with UNICEF to rehabilitate the victims following the trauma they experienced while in captivity.

She said the victims would remain under the care of the government for a period of three months to help restore their mental health and provide the psychosocial and mental support needed for them to return to normal life.