Read-Out from Yobe North (Bade, , Machina, , , , Nguru and LGAs) Humanitarian Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday 13th April 2021 Attendance: Commissioner, Director of Humanitarian Affairs and Director for Planning, Research and Statistics, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, OCHA, WFP, UN- FAO, ICRC, IRC, COOPI, SCI, Care Int’l, eHealth, CCDRN, Royal Heritage Health Foundation, WOYEIN, Yobe Network of CSOs Security and Access: COOPI, March 2021 food distribution for beneficiaries in Yunusari and Geidam completed successfully; the April 2021 distribution may start next week. The security situation in Geidam and Yunusari is relatively calm but remains highly unpredictable. The recent attacks in the neighboring Damasak in Borno state adds to the challenge given the proximity to areas of our operation. The highway from Gashua down to Geidam so far remains relatively safe. Partners remain vigilant and have strengthened network with the local community key informants to share timely information on the prevailing security situaion on ground prior to staff movement to the field. There are two challenges faced. The first is that there is poor phone network in some location which delays the receipt of update from the community. The second challenge is the new informal or side route created by smugglers that links from Geidam to Garin Gada to Kanama which can be used by the NSAGs. On the question by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs about the possibility of the use of armed escorts and local capacity to deliver critical good/services, it was clarified that it is the policy of the humanitarian organizations, especially the INGOs and NNGOs not to use military escort in line with humanitarian principle of neutrality. However, partners are making all efforts to ensure that critical aid is timely delivered to the people in need. This is achieved by the use of various modalities, including the use of community based volunteers/staff; the reliance on community-based networks to update on the security situaion on ground before staff visit the community. A third possibility which is used as a last resort is to move the location of distribution to the next safe locations such as the case of Garin Gada who are now being supported in Geidam because 60 – 70 % of the community are already resident in Geidam. Such arrangement helps to protect the community from attack since it has been observed that the NSAGs tend to attack the community during or after distributions. GBV: Rape incidences at the host community level remain a challenge, with more cases still being reported. Such endemic nature of the challenge requires stronger government commitment and lead to address with support from the protection/GBV partners. Issues of GBV is very sensitive and requires specialized partners/staff to handle. OCHA will continue to support the sector to advocate with the state government about this challenge. There continues to be wide gaps in (a) reporting (b) case management and (c) access to justice for the survivors. Ongoing response action by partners do not seem to address the priority to address the current concern in GBV. There is urgent need for partners to support the state government to carry out assessment to understand the scale of the problem, the motivation of perpetrators and how it may be mitigated and perpetrators held accountable. At the moment, most partners do not seem to have funds to support case management. The question of referral mechanism is also a gap. OCHA will reach out to UNFPA and UNWOMEN on the situation.