FACT SHEET January 2020

NRC’s operations in

Cameroon Philippe Douryan/NRC Photo:

Humanitarian overview NRC’s operation

2019 marked ten years of violence and insecurity in In response to the needs of people affected by the the Lake Chad Basin region. Since 2014, attacks have insecurity in the Far-North region, NRC opened a continued to wreak havoc, forcing mass displace- country office in April 2017. Since then, we have -re ments in Cameroon’s Far North region. As of August sponded to the urgent needs of displaced people and 2019, 107,000 Nigerian refugees, 270,000 internally host communities in the Far North region. We opened displaced people and 110,000 returnees were living an office in the South West region in June 2018, a here. The attacks have led to acute needs. Limited sub-office in North West region in March 2019, and resources make it difficult to support the 1.9 million we are providing emergency assistance to internally displaced people in the region. Many people have displaced populations in both regions. We opened a lost their civil documentation. Nearly 36 per cent of sub-office in the East region in July 2019 to provide school-aged children do not have birth certificates, information, counselling and legal assistance to refu- limiting their chances of completing their education. gees from CAR.

In the South West and North West regions, an inter- nal crisis has been raging since 2016. It escalated in 2017, leading to the internal displacement of 679,000 people and around 35,000 Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria.

290,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) call the East and North regions of Cameroon home. Having arrived in 2014/15, over 70 per cent of NRC Cameroon these refugees live in host communities. 3,300 others returned to CAR voluntarily in late 2019 following a Established 2017 tripartite agreement between Cameroon, CAR and International staff 7 UNHCR. National staff 115

www.nrc.no NRC Cameroon Country office Yaoundé

Areas of operation Logone & Chari, Mayo Sava and Mayo Tsanaga divisions in the Far North region South West and North West regions East region

NRC Cameroon Phone: +237 685 135 381 Country Director: Maclean Natugasha www.nrc.no/cameroon Email: [email protected] Address: P.O Box 35 596 Yaoundé – Cameroon

Education start-up of activities We support local authorities in improving children’s • train women in food processing techniques access to quality education. Our teams: • train men and women in improved agricultural techniques and in food processing • train primary school teachers in psychosocial sup- port Information, counselling and legal assistance (ICLA) • rehabilitate and equip classrooms destroyed during We identify challenges related to civil documentation the conflict and provide free information, counselling and legal • distribute learning materials to teachers and school assistance to displaced people, returnees and host kits to children populations. Our teams:

Food security and livelihoods • visit communities to register cases and counsel We provide assistance to displaced people, those displaced people who lack identity documents who return home and the host populations, to im- and birth certificates prove their food security and revive their livelihoods. • organise group information sessions Our teams: • support displaced people who encounter adminis- trative hurdles in accessing civil documentation • distribute cash so that displaced people can • support registrars’ offices with birth certificate regis- access food ters to facilitate the transcription of birth certificate • conduct market monitoring surveys records • distribute small livestock, seeds and agricultural • train local entities involved in childbirth registration inputs • lead a working group on civil documentation, coor- • train women’s groups in Income Generating dinating with actors to ensure collective advocacy Activities and provide them with cash grants for and harmonisation of costs, tools and procedures

www.nrc.no manent shelters for returnees whose homes were We also identify challenges related to access to destroyed during the conflict Housing, Land and Property (HLP) rights for affected populations. Our teams: Water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH) We support local authorities in operating and main- • visit communities to register HLP related cases and taining water systems that provide drinking water. Our counsel displaced people on their HLP rights teams: • train humanitarian NGOs on HLP rights as cross-cutting issues • distribute hygiene kits including items like soap and • train local authorities on HLP rights and Collabora- cloth for filtering water tive Dispute Resolution • distribute menstrual hygiene kits to women and • lead a working group on HLP, coordinating with girls actors to ensure that HLP is integrated as cross-cut- • distribute waste bins in schools ting, but also provide technical support to the • repair broken boreholes and construct new ones humanitarian community • train and support Water Management Committees • we also conducted a study on housing, land and • support councils with spare parts and borehole property (HLP) in the Far North region maintenance toolkits • construct emergency institutional and family Shelter and settlements latrines The increasing number of displaced people has • conduct hygiene promotion activities including created great need for shelter. We work to ensure that cholera prevention displaced people and returnees have dignified shel- • distribute chlorine to health districts in cholera ters for physical protection. Our teams: affected areas

• distribute mosquito nets, blankets, sleeping mats, and hoes for farming • provide emergency shelters for displaced popula- tions in informal settings during acute phases of an emergency • provide material support while constructing per-

NRC Cameroon is grateful for the generous support from our donors:

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

French Government (Centre de Crises) Innovation Norway www.nrc.no