Africa

Cameroon

Food security
Nutrition
Water, sanitation & hygiene

2008

mission start date

national staff

expatriate staff

150 000

supported people

2008

mission start date

national staff

expatriate staff

150 000

supported people

Context

Child from a family attending a cooking demonstration, Mayo Sava department, Far North region, Cameroon ©Première Urgence Internationale / Zra Eliya

The humanitarian situation in Cameroon is characterized by both security and climatic crises, which are generating major needs. Separatist movements in the English-speaking North-West and South-West regions, the political and security crisis in the Central African Republic, atrocities by armed groups, floods and droughts in the Far-North region are causing massive population movements. There are 2,182,910 forcibly displaced people in the country, including some 476,735 refugees and 1,075,252 internally displaced people, according to the UNHCR. In 2024, 3.4 million people will need humanitarian assistance in Cameroon.

The needs expressed cover several critical sectors: food insecurity, with at least 2.5 million people in a situation of acute food and nutritional insecurity in February 2024, as well as access to drinking water, protection and education.

Our approach
Description of the mission

Première Urgence Internationale has been present in Cameroon since 2008, currently providing a humanitarian response to crisis-affected populations in the Far North region, and was present until 2023 in the West and Littoral regions.

From bases in Maroua, Kousseri and the Yaoundé coordination office, the mission implements activities in nutrition, food security and livelihoods, shelter/essential household items, water, hygiene and sanitation.

Since 2021, Première Urgence Internationale has initiated a process of skills transfer to Cameroonian civil society organizations on emergency response themes as part of the Rapid Response Mechanism. This process is leading to the gradual implementation of an emergency response led by local partners.

Première Urgence Internationale
in action

In the Far North, Première Urgence Internationale is implementing the Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) in partnership with two local organizations, CADEPI and Tammounde Speranza. This project supports some 60,000 people by providing essential household items, shelter, access to civil documentation and drinking water, while enabling them to cover their food needs with dignity thanks to the “cash transfer” modality.

In 2022 and 2023, Première Urgence Internationale extended the RRM to the West of the country, a host area for people displaced by the crisis in the North-West and South-West, in partnership with two local organizations, HURAC and Rhema Care, benefiting over 22,000 people.

In the Far North, the BENEF and PRONUT projects have reached 45,000 food-insecure people, i.e. people who do not have access to sufficient quantities of healthy, nutritious food. Thanks to these initiatives, beneficiaries now have access to drinking water in their villages. The most vulnerable people received food assistance during the lean season (the period before the first harvests, marked by empty reserves and a shortage of food from previous harvests), via the distribution of cash transfers. Finally, in the intervention zones, screening of malnourished children under the age of 5 enabled them to be cared for in health centers supported by Première Urgence Internationale.

A mother and daughter, internally displaced by the North-West and South-West crisis, Ngbetsouem II, Western Region © Hermann NGOUGNI / Première Urgence Internationale

Emergency latrines, Hile Alifa site, Logone-et-Chari department, Far North region ©Première Urgence Internationale / Zra Eliya

Registration ticket for cash transfers, Western region © Hermann NGOUGNI / Première Urgence Internationale

Nigerian refugee family on arrival in Chimtri, Logone-et-Chari department, Far North region ©Première Urgence Internationale / Zra Eliya

Fabienne Mially

Cameroon Head of Mission © Première Urgence Internationale

“Today, local civil society actors are more vital than ever to the success of emergency responses. The notion of localizing aid calls for greater involvement of local associations, closer to the areas of intervention. Thus, since 2021, PUI teams in Cameroon have progressively involved 4 local organizations in RRM emergency responses.”