Since the Boko Haram Islamist extremist group attacks against the military and innocent citizens started in 2009 in Nigeria, over 2.5 million people in the northeast have been displaced. More than half of this population are women and children. Majority of those displaced now live in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps or within host communities in the capital cities in the Northeast Nigerian states.

Among those displaced are public service workers, including among them, health, and social care workers. They are the frontline workers providing health services in the camps, while they themselves are also IDPs. In their daily work, they face untold challenges working in an overstretched public health system, struggling with scarce resources and providing care in unsafe and precarious working conditions.

The PSI project on “Building Trade Union Capacity to Defend the Human Rights of IDPs to Quality Public Services in Nigeria” is carried out by the PSI health and social care sector unions, namely, the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) and the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN). The aim of the project is to ensure that IDPs can fully exercise their human rights through access to quality public services delivered in decent working conditions. The project works to build the capacity of trade unions to represent the interests of workers affected by internal displacement through organizing, advocacy, and campaigns.

These photos were taken and developed through the project to provide insight into the plight of IDPs in the camps, while also showing the daily realities of health and social care workers delivering the services to IDPs. They serve as education materials and advocacy tools for the unions as they advocate for decent work and social protection for frontline workers while defending the human rights of IDPs to quality public services.