HCASSC has officially inaugurated a new temporary shelter complex in Ziguinchor, Senegal, providing safe, dignified housing for up to 200 displaced families — approximately 1,000 individuals — who fled cross-border conflict in the Casamance and Guinea-Bissau border region.
The facility, built over six months with support from UNHCR and the Senegalese Ministry of Social Action, comprises 50 prefabricated housing units, four gender-separated sanitation blocks with flush toilets and showers, a communal kitchen and nutrition centre, a child-friendly recreational space, and a small medical post staffed by an HCASSC nurse six days a week.
During the inauguration ceremony, HCASSC Country Director Sr. Philomena Correia emphasised the organisation's commitment to dignified assistance: "A roof is not charity — it is a right. Every person in this compound has survived something unimaginable. We are here to walk with them as they rebuild."
Residents will receive three months of food assistance, psychosocial counselling, and access to HCASSC's livelihood support programme which offers skills training and small-business start-up grants. Children of school age are being enrolled in the nearest public school, with HCASSC providing uniforms and school supplies.
The shelter complex has the capacity to expand to 300 families should displacement in the region continue to increase, with modular units pre-positioned on-site for rapid deployment.