“Who Hears the Cry of the Wailing Women?â€: Discourses on Livelihood Activities and the Challenges of Internally Displaced Women in Nigeria

In this paper, we examine the livelihoods and daily challenges of internally displaced women (IDW) in the New Kuchingoro Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Abuja, Nigeria. We discuss strategies that have the potential to help create successful livelihoods, and we listen to the views of displaced women on how effective they think these strategies might be. We also examine the social and economic factors forcing IDW to develop resilience and highlight the dire social burdens which these women carry with them. Previous studies concerning livelihood activities of IDW in IDPs camps have emphasized distress, hardship, neediness, deprivation, and general inability to cope with prevailing conditions. Although we stress the resilience of these women, our research reveals failure by the government and other agencies to adequately support strategies employed by IDW to support themselves and their families.