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West & North Africa

Cameroon

Cameroon is both a major host country to refugees from Nigeria in the Far North region and from the Central African Republic in the eastern regions, and is increasingly a source of displacement as just over 1 million people are internally displaced, including over half of them due to violence in the Northwest and Southwest anglophone regions. These three parallel regional and domestic crises impact nine of the ten regions of Cameroon and have triggered a deterioration in socio-economic and security conditions throughout the country.

05 Oct 2023

Education under attack in West and Central Africa - 2023 update

Displacement trends

Source: | DRC Foresight

Core sectors Cameroon

Protection
Economic Recovery
Humanitarian Disarmament and Peacebuilding
Shelter and Settlements
Camp Coordination and Camp Management

Displacement Trends

Definitions

EDPs: Refugees under UNHCR’s mandate
IDPs: Internally displaced persons
Asylum seekers: People whose claims for refugee status have not yet been determined
Stateless: People not considered as nationals by any State
HST: People living in Host Communities
OIP: Others in need of International Protection
OOC: Others of Concern

Source: UNHCR

See definitions here

Forecast

DRC forecasts are based on a machine learning tool that has been developed to predict forced displacement (IDPs, refugees and asylum seekers) at the national level 1-3 years into the future.

See all available forecasts here

DocumentsAll Documents

World Refugee Day 2024: Protection is paramount for more than 470 000 refugees in Cameroon

20 Jun 2024

Advocacy note: The state of the humanitarian crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon

15 May 2024

A Gender Analysis: Understanding Gender Dynamics, Roles and Inequalities in the Southwest region of Cameroon

04 Apr 2024

A Rapid Protection Assessment Report in Southwest Cameroon

12 Dec 2023

Education under attack in West and Central Africa - 2023 update

04 Oct 2023

DRC in Cameroon 2023 (English and French)

28 Sep 2023

Why we are there

DRC has been present in Adamawa and Eastern Cameroon since 2017 to support Central African refugees. There, DRC implements a graduation approach and works with refugees and vulnerable Cameroonians to find durable solutions. Since January 2023, DRC has been leading a consortium with several international organizations whose activities aim at a comprehensive response to the Central African crisis spanning the border area between Cameroon and CAR.​

In 2019, DRC opened a base in the English-speaking Southwest region, affected by an armed separatist insurgency since 2017. DRC and its local partners support internally displaced Cameroonians and their host communities with emergency protection, shelter and essential non-food items, and assistance with food security and livelihood opportunities.​

In 2023, DRC extended its activities to Cameroon's Far North to provide a protection, positive peace, governance and economic resilience response to the multidimensional and interconnected crises affecting the region. Together with its local partner, DRC aims to support the many internally displaced people as well as refugees from Chad and Nigeria.​

What we do

In Adamawa and Eastern Cameroon, DRC implements sustainable solutions in partnership with local stakeholders for Central African refugees and host communities.

Our projects aim to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the populations, through a graduation approach, by equipping them in community-based protection and peaceful conflict management, conducting campaigns for child protection and against GBV, encouraging social cohesion, strengthening their economic capacities, the financial inclusion of the most vulnerable and stimulating entrepreneurship, while supporting good governance practices.

In the South-West region since 2019, DRC has been assisting refugees as well as IDPs who have been victims of the Anglophone crisis raging since 2017.

Given the severity of the crisis and the urgency of the needs, DRC's humanitarian response is designed to be rapid, multi- sectoral and sustainable. Working in partnership with local CSOs, DRC is responding to the need for emergency shelter/NFI kits in rural and urban areas through various modalities (voucher, in-kind, cash) and protection incidents with a focus on the vulnerability of the youngest and women (psychosocial support, host family training, menstrual hygiene, life skills for adolescents, API, SFN, CM, civil documentation). DRC also aims to strengthen the livelihoods of the most vulnerable via IGAs, to provide food assistance through vouchers, and conducts sectoral studies on the needs of the area. In addition, since 2023, DRC has extended its area of intervention to the communities in the South-West, and aims to expand into the North-West with local partners.​

In the Far North, we work with communities and local actors. 

There, DRC promotes social cohesion and peacebuilding by strengthening local conflict management capacities,​ improving the resilience and sustainable economic integration of young people and women affected by conflict, and supporting local governance to strengthen community stabilization and resilience.

Working in collaboration with

EU - DG INTPA
EU - DG INTPA
Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance
Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance
BPRM (US Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration)
BPRM (US Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration)
Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
CDCS (Centre de Crise et de Soutien) du MEAE
CDCS (Centre de Crise et de Soutien) du MEAE
AICS (Italian Agency for Development Cooperation)
AICS (Italian Agency for Development Cooperation)

Contact

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Burkina Faso
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Central African Republic