The resulting humanitarian crisis arising from a combination of armed insurgency and effects of climate change, including food insecurity, floods, and disease outbreaks in northern Nigeria where CARE works, disproportionately affects women and girls. As a coping strategy, many girls are taken out of school and married off at an early age. Women and girls often suffer abuse with limited recourse to justice and other services. Widespread illiteracy among women and girls, negative social norms, and a lack of awareness also reinforce inequalities in opportunities for wealth creation, marginalizing women and girls and further making them more vulnerable.

CARE’s Justice and Protection for Women and Girls program addressed the root causes and effects of gender-related violence by implementing a combination of approaches that promote the prevention of and strengthen systems for response to Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). In 2024, our women and girls’ protection interventions targeted displaced vulnerable women, men, girls, and boys and vulnerable host community members through coordinated, principled humanitarian support across our implementing states, directly reaching 390,327 persons (163,938 women, 82,697 girls, 99,472 men, and 44,220 boys).

CARE worked with and supported Women Rights Organizations (WROs) and Women-Led Organizations (WLOs) to strengthen their capacity to deliver protection services, ensure safe referrals for survivors, improve local response systems, and provide dignity kits, livelihood support, and protection monitoring in hard-to-reach areas.