Enhancing the protection and wellbeing of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and conflict affected populations through establishing protection mechanisms and targeted assistance that effectively respond to prevent sexual and gender-based violence in Borno State, North-Eastern Nigeria Plan International proposed a 7-month project focused on community-based approaches to strengthen Child Protection and GBV mechanisms that support effect delivery of urgent lifesaving protection services in the 6 targeted LGAs with a focus to address the needs of new arrivals. Following a community-based approach means children and women welfare agencies and their partners must not only provide relevant and individualized services in the community in which vulnerable beneficiaries live, but also must include community input in the building of a system of care. This approach will address both the short-term (humanitarian) and long-term protection needs of girls, boys, women and men, eventually. Specifically, the Plan International will:
Strengthen gender and age sensitive community-based protection mechanisms. Plan International will work with communities and government structures to develop a context specific evidence-based capacity building strategy that will build upon existing formal and informal community-based protection mechanisms and link them to formal government structures. This approach will reinforce the participation of affected population in needs identification, strengthen accountability throughout the project cycle. 
Prevent and respond to family separation of children: Through community-based sensitization mechanisms, the project will mitigate family separation by providing information to families and children on how to prepare for mass movement, as well as teaching children relevant family information. Additionally, the project will respond to the needs of separated children through family tracing activities with the view to the best interest of the child. In the event where family reunification may not be an option, the project will facilitate the placement of children in alternative care, with recruitment and training of foster families and their ongoing supervision and support. 
Build psycho-social resilience of GBV survivors and individuals at risk of GBV through the provision of survivor-centered, age and gender appropriate case management and psychosocial support services. The project will strengthen the capacity of service providers including the training of health workers to provide comprehensive clinical management of rape (CMR) and psychosocial workers to provide safe and confidential services in line with the minimum standards and guidelines with emphasis on managing child survivors. Further, the project will engage community-based case workers to provide follow up support survivors. Sexual Reproductive Health Rights information and referrals will be integrated into the GBV case management services provided at the women and girls safe spaces by the project. Survivors including women and adolescent girls will receive culturally appropriate safety and dignity kits including integrated livelihood and or income generation support. 
Strengthen coordination and capacity of actors through service providers mapping, developing and updating of referral pathway at the local government area (LGA) level. The project will facilitate regular meetings among protection actors and advocate for services for survivors of GBV including unaccompanied and separated children and other children at risk. Other humanitarian actors providing services including legal, psychosocial, education, WASH, Livelihoods, Nutrition, and Security etc. will be trained on child protection and GBV principles and guidelines. Among them, focal points will be identified to support the referral of children and persons with protection concerns.
Strengthen protection monitoring, response and accountability to project participants: The project will implement risk mapping that will enable children and adolescents to identify and respond to protection risk factors at the community level. Regular protection monitoring will be conducted by trained protection monitors and referrals will be made for protection concerns beyond the project scope.