We are helping farmers access high quality certified cassava stems through a traceable value chain. This will strengthen household incomes and food security.

The project aims to increase cassava productivity for 35,000 farming households by improving how they produce cassava and helping them to commercialize stem production. Through the program, seed entrepreneurs (also called "stem sellers") use collaborative public–private extension services to bundle their stems with other products such as fertilizer and herbicide. They also provide agricultural advice. By bundling their products and services, they add value to what they offer and create more opportunities in the value chain for increased production, sales and commercial opportunities.

Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world. Catholic Relief Services is working with a consortium of partners, including four Catholic dioceses in the states of Oyo and Benue, as well as the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, which is based in Ibadan in Oyo State, as well as the National Agricultural Seed Council and the National Root Crops Research Institute, which are part of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is providing $3 million for the four-year project that ends in July 2016.

We are empowering households to improve their livelihoods in sustainable ways. Our program supports local organizations to strengthen communities, civil society and government. Together we are also responding to the needs of highly vulnerable children. The program will improve the well-being of 500,000 children and 125,000 caregivers by monitoring holistic care in five of Nigeria's "middle belt" states.

Catholic Relief Services is leading a consortium to implement the program. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is providing $32.5 million through the U.S. Agency for International Development for the years 2013–2018. The consortium is providing $2.7 million in cost sharing.

We are helping households recover from the effects of flooding in the Niger Delta. Our program provides water and sanitation. It also supports livelihoods, especially by transferring cash directly to the people who need it the most. This effort follows the emergency response efforts that Catholic Relief Services and the Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria carried out in the same region in late 2012 after devastating floods.

CRS is leading the program's implementation. The European Community Humanitarian Office is providing $773,800 through the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development to fund the response.

We have also been actively fighting tuberculosis by helping communities take up responsibility for the health of their neighborhoods. Our project in 22 low-income communities in the states of Kogi and Enugu tackled the problem of losing tuberculosis suspects to traditional healers by training the healers to refer patients to the nearest health care facility. As a result, when tuberculosis suspects seek help from a traditional provider, they no longer slip through the health care net but instead are able to get immediate and effective care.

We are ensuring that more mothers receive counseling, testing and antiretroviral treatment for HIV and AIDS. This not only improves the mother's life but also reduces mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The country has a great need for these services. Worldwide, one in five new cases of mother-to-child transmission of HIV occurs in Nigeria.

Catholic Relief Services is currently providing services to 72 health care facilities in Imo, Ebonyi and Enugu states in conjunction with our partner, the National Agency for the Control of AIDS. The program focuses on creating synergies between health care actors in order to build sustainable systems at the facility level.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is providing $2.5 million to this project for three years, from January 2013 to December 2015.