2025 HPC - Community Consultation: Perspectives from Communities in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States, Nigeria

Methodology

Purpose

The People First Impact Method (P-FIM) guided this consultation process, allowing communities to identify their own priorities without influence from pre-set agendas openly.
This approach fosters a setting where participants feel empowered to discuss the issues that impact them most directly, enhancing their ownership of the outcomes and ensuring that insights genuinely reflect community needs.

Approach

The P-FIM methodology enables community-led identification of needs, building transparency and trust between communities and facilitators. This consultation, with its focus on three groups: IDPs, returnees, host communities, and marginalised groups (women, youth, and people with disabilities), ensures that each group’s unique perspectives and priorities are valued and respected, aiming for a comprehensive understanding.

Process

1. Location and participant selection

o State distribution: A total of 429 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted across Adamawa (189), Borno (119), and Yobe (121).

o Population groups: The consultation included a total of 429 FGDs across various population groups to capture diverse perspectives:

• Host community: 172 FGDs — 29 with boys, 41 with girls, 40 with men, 36 with women, 26 with people with disabilities (PwD)
• Internally displaced persons (IDPs): 138 FGDs — 24 with boys, 30 with girls, 30 with men, 35 with women, 19 with PwD
• Returnees: 119 FGDs — 18 with boys, 34 with girls, 27 with men, 31 with women, 9 with PwD

2. Data collection approach

o Focus group discussions (FGDs): FGDs were conducted in local languages by trained facilitators. The structure encouraged participants to share the changes, challenges openly, and needs in their lives, aiming for meaningful insights rather than a simple list of requests.

o Facilitation for openness: Facilitators clarified the consultation’s purpose to foster transparency, ensuring that each group felt safe and empowered to express their priorities genuinely.

3. Analysis and reporting

o Thematic coding: Responses were categorised into key themes (e.g., immediate needs, priorities, coping strategies, community resources) for analysis across different states and population groups.

o Summary of findings: The results are organised by population group and demographic (boys, girls, men, women, PwD) to identify common and unique priorities, enhancing the targeting and effectiveness of humanitarian responses.