Cameroon

4.4 million of people in need

452,420 refugees

466,578 people returned

246,873 people helped

Cameroon is facing a worrying humanitarian crisis resulting from multiple factor (armed conflict, poverty, underdevelopment and climate shocks) that lead to important displacements of the population and losses of livelihood.

Since the beginning of 2019, the safety situation has been highly deteriorated in the whole country, making the access for humanitarian players very difficult, especially in the region of the Far North of Cameroon.

The region remains in an unchanged insecure situation, due to the presence of Boko Haram and direct confrontations with the Cameroonian army.

The Cadre Harmonisé estimates that 1,920,802 people will be vulnerable to face food insecurity during the ‘hunger gap’ in 2021. In March 2021, the UNHCR counts 1,945,610 displaced people. Population displacements have led to a significant loss of livelihood of both the hosting and displaced households and increased pressure on basic infrastructures and scarce natural resources, deteriorating the food and nutritional situation. Poor households tend to seek negative strategies to adapt themselves in order to get access to food and means of income, since their stock of food decreases substantially. Moreover, these displacements can cause tensions between refugees and the adoptive community.

The crisis in the region of the Far North of Cameroon has major consequences on the entire country, especially on the economic activity and the local means of subsistence.

25.88 million inhabitants
37.5% poverty rate
150th out of 189 on the Human Development Index

Mission
opened in 2014
Team 4 international staff
26 national staff
Budget 1,516,000€

SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL is present in the region of the Far North of Cameroon since January 2017. Since that particular date, the NGO has carried out a multisectoral intervention among the vulnerable populations from the communities of Makary, Fotokol and Hilé Alifa, on different sites where displaced people live and where the host villages are located.

SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL has extended its response to the needs of the populations in terms of Food Nutrition and Livelihood Security (FNLS) using money transfers via voucher methods in exchange for food, targeting households with children that are affected by malnutrition.

In addition, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL has provided an urgent response by distributing non-food items and money transfers, in Water, Hygiene and Drainage (WHD) and shelters for those disaster-affected populations, in the communities of Makary, Fotokol, Hilé Alifa, Zina, Logone Birni following the flood of 2019, thanks to the project Start Fund and those of 2020, via the Acute Large Emergency Response Tool mecanism (ALERT) from ECHO.

The intervention logic of SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL comes within the scope of a central goal, to save lives threatened by tense security circumstances and climate hazards and the fast deterioration of livelihood of displaced people and host populations.

In the region of Mayo Tsanaga, since 2017, via a consortium with 3 other international NGO’s, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL has put in place restoration and reinforcement activities of the SANME integrated with the EHA, as part of the RESILI(A)NT programm.

Since March 2019, SI participates in PRESNAP that collects and analyses data related to food security, nutrition and other sectors in the Far North of Cameroon. This, in order to guarantee humanitarian assistance and to supply the national analyses of Cadre Harmonisé (CH) to which SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL contributes directly.

SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL remains a frontline humanitarian player in the North of Logone-and-Chari, which continues to be one of the regions to be the least covered by humanitarian players because of the difficult access possibilities due to the insecurity and the low acceptance of humanitarian assistance.

Partners

European Union (ECHO), CDCS, PUI

Water, drainage and hygiene

About 50,000 beneficiaries

– Improvement of drainage infrastructure coverage (creation of waste pits and waste management systems)
– Implementation of complete drainage projects, led by the community
– Construction/re-establishment of protected water access points, support for water networks in a refugee camp
– Reinforcement of the community’s capacity in terms of drainage and hygiene
– Creation of drainage and hygiene committees
– Promotion campaigns to spread good hygiene and drainage practiced
– Distribution of NFI/EAH kits as part of the treatment for acute malnutrition

Food security and livelihood

About 100,000 beneficiaries

– Re-establishment of the market’s structure
– Development of activities generating income in collaboration with flourishing economic sectors and linked with the development of Village Saving & Lending Associations

– Food assistance.
– Unconditional and conditional money transfers
– Support for food-crop and vegetable production (distribution of inputs, tools, promotion of agroecology practices, farmer field schools).
– Structuring Village Saving & Lending Associations (VSLA)
– Institutional reinforcement of communities
– Contribution to a national early warning system