Cameroon Crisis Response Plan 2021 - 2022

Cameroon Crisis Response Plan 2021 - 2022

Last updated: December 14 2021
$18,000,000
Funding required
83,600
People Targeted

IOM Vision

IOM Cameroon embraces the humanitarian-development-peace nexus vision in its strategic approach for two key pillars of the mission’s interventions: emergency response to crisis and peacebuilding and recovery. To this end, IOM Cameroon provides tailored lifesaving assistance and protection, complemented by efforts to build community-based approaches for the attainment of durable solutions, seeking to prevent forced displacement and favour reintegration by addressing the drivers of crises, supporting mechanisms of conflict management and reduction, and building resilience in communities. IOM Cameroon applies integrated approaches that respect humanitarian principles and support transition and recovery efforts and sustainable development. The varied nature of the ongoing crises in Cameroon, from the Lake Chad Basin’s Far-North region, to the North-West, South-West (NW-SW) Anglophone regions, to the East region’s refugee crisis, requires IOM to adapt response strategies to these specific contexts, strengthening resilience and ensuring no one is left behind.

Objective 1 - Saving lives and protecting people on the move
Objective
Saving lives and protecting people on the move

$3,000,000
Funding required
35,000
People Targeted
40
Entities Targeted
Internally displaced person, Local population / community, Refugee
Primary target groups
Description of People and Entities Targeted

IDPs, vulnerable host communities and IDP returnees in both NW-SW and Far-North regions, with key vulnerabilities including low access to protection, and life-saving assistance and basic services.

People with disabilities, gender-based violence (GBV) survivors, people with special needs, children and youth, identified victims of trafficking (VOTs) and people at risk of drug consumption and addiction will receive direct MHPSS assistance.

Community and religious leaders as well as displaced and returned populations and communities hosting conflict-related displaced population will receive direct MHPSS sensitization.

Funding confirmed 80%
20% Funding gap

Shelter and settlements

IOM plans to provide tailored shelter/NFI assistance to the most vulnerable IDPs, refugees outside camps, returnees, and vulnerable host communities identified through vulnerability assessments (based on national cluster guidelines and including persons with special needs, single female-headed households, elderly, families at risk of imminent eviction etc.) in the NW-SW, West, Littoral and Far-North throughout 2022, to address urgent needs and alleviate suffering. Interventions will be in line with the shelter/NFI cluster guidelines, with different modalities (e.g. in-kind distributions of emergency shelter kits or provision of transitional shelters, cash-based interventions, rental support, among others) depending on the needs, vulnerability criteria and local context, and will ensure separate spaces for men, women and families to mitigate GBV risks.

In the context of overall low availability of funds, IOM will aim at providing a more holistic rapid response assistance in line with the rapid response mechanism (RRM) and strengthen the Area RRMs in both crisis areas.

Initiatives will include:

  • Provide NFI and emergency shelter kits (in-kind or conditional cash);
  • Provide transitional shelter solutions (in-kind or cash-based initiatives solutions);
  • Distribute RRM Kits, including shelter, NFI, dignity and WASH kits;
  • Support host communities through cash-based interventions (CBI) for range of purposes including shelter construction and rehabilitation, cash for work, cash for NFIs;
  • Produce and disseminate information, education and communication (IEC) materials for community sensitization and inclusion as well as share technical guidance on shelter construction;
  • Train local young people including young women in shelter construction techniques and form of housing assistance committees.
Funding required
$2,000,000
Funding confirmed
$485,172
Last updated: 02 Apr 2023
Plan types
24%
Funding confirmed
76%
Funding gap

Mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian response

Following the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on MHPSS in Emergency Settings and IOM’s Manual on Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergencies and Displacement, the Organization will provide MHPSS services to conflict-affected populations in the NW-SW as well as the Far-North region of Cameroon with a range of needs, including GBV survivors, children (especially if unaccompanied or separated), and victims of trafficking (VoT). Initiatives will include:

  • Build MHPSS capacity and train pertinent actors including government, UN Agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society, e.g., in basic MHPSS, Psychological First Aid (PFA) and communication skills;
  • Provide MHPSS emergency kits which include a range of items such as soap, children’s toys, whistles, torches, cloth for clothes making;
  • Provide direct MHPSS assistance through the deployment of community-based and multidisciplinary Psychosocial Mobile Teams (PMTs);
  • Construct community safe spaces, child friendly spaces and safe spaces for women in coordination with the communities;
  • Organize community-based socio-relational activities (e.g., creative and art-based activities, sports and play, socio-cultural activities) to address psychosocial needs and strengthen community networks, as well as to aid GBV survivors, VoT and other vulnerable groups;
  • Build the capacity of traditional doctors on the identification of mental disorders and the referral of people in need to relevant MHPSS-services and health centres for ongoing management, if needed;
  • Integrate MHPSS into other humanitarian sectors including the further mainstreaming of MHPSS considerations into Shelter/NFI and protection activities.
Funding required
$1,000,000
Funding confirmed
$22,324
Last updated: 02 Apr 2023
Plan types
2%
Funding confirmed
98%
Funding gap

Multi-sectoral support

Includes funding which supports multi-sectoral interventions or cannot be attributed to a specific activity area.
Funding confirmed
$1,894,241
Last updated: 02 Apr 2023
Plan types
IOM Staff Speak to Community Members During Monitoring Visit, East Region, Cameroon. @ IOM Cameroon, 2020
IOM Staff Speak to Community Members During Monitoring Visit, East Region, Cameroon. @ IOM Cameroon, 2020

Objective 2 - Driving solutions to displacement
Objective
Driving solutions to displacement

$10,950,000
Funding required
43,500
People Targeted
70
Entities Targeted
Former combatant / fighter, Internally displaced person, Refugee
Primary target groups
Description of People and Entities Targeted

IDPs, vulnerable host communities and IDP returnees in North-West, South-West, West, Littoral and Far-North regions, with key vulnerabilities including low access to protection, livelihoods and basic services including education and healthcare.

Population affected by agropastoral conflicts, including herders and farmers, refugees, women and youth in the East, North and Adamawa regions of Cameroon. All stakeholders involved in conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms in these regions (commissions consultatives and local conflict management committees).

All stakeholders of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus task force through strategic direction and coordination as well as additional contextual knowledge for targeted high-quality programming.

Funding confirmed 17%
83% Funding gap

Durable solutions

IOM will continue its active participation in the humanitarian-development-peace nexus (HDPN) task force to unite key stakeholders, including UN agencies and governmental counterparts, that are working on the development and implementation of durable solutions for displacement affected-populations. IOM plans to:  

  • Lead/support the development and implementation of the strategy to adopt the HDPN approach to mainstream  humanitarian, development and peace interventions, notably in the areas identified by the task force as priority to receive these interventions;
  • Apply principles from IOM’s framework on the Progressive Resolution of Displacement Situations in planning of emergency response, peacebuilding and community stabilization programmes to build community resilience and address factors causing displacement, by working to improve access to basic social services, durable livelihoods and greater economic opportunities, protection and inclusive governance;
  • Continue and improve IOM’s stability index to guide coordination with additional stability and human security related indicators for decision making and programme design in the Far-North with other HDPN task force agencies, both for the identification and engagement of municipalities on areas of convergence for improved nexus programming in Cameroon and increased advocacy towards nexus programming;
  • Review the DTM return intention survey through further consultations with HDPN task force members to take into account their needs for informed targeting and planning.
Funding required
$750,000
Plan types

Community stabilization

IOM's community stabilization initiatives are dedicated to engaging local communities and stakeholders in addressing the root causes of conflict and instability to support their transition away from crisis towards a resumption of functioning social, economic, and political life. These initiatives follow a community-based approach that guarantees local buy-in, involvement, and ownership throughout all stages of the process. Planned activities include: 

  • Organize social cohesion activities along zones at risk of increased tensions and conflicts, both:
    • horizontally within and between community members such as addressing tensions between herders and farmers caused by climate change and unmonitored transhumance practices; and
    • vertically by reinforcing the relationship between communities and local governance structures and the provision of basic social services and shared resources.
  • Apply conflict mitigation and resolution methods to promote peaceful transhumant campaigns, including:
    • using the Transhumance Tracking Tool for geographic targeting and an early identification of the root causes of conflict;
    • reinforcing institutional and communal conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms as well as promoting dialogue on the sharing of natural resources including water; and
    • implementing socio-relational and recreational activities with a focus on social cohesion and conflict resolution, such as sport and play activities, cultural activities and rituals, or creative and art-based activities.
  • Promote localization through capacity building trainings on dialogue on agropastoral conflicts;
  • Support the participatory local decision-making processes to define priority activities that would contribute to conflict mitigation or resolution (e.g. community infrastructure or communal activities to cater for the passage of transhumant movements and restore natural resources available), and support relevant line ministries to respond to this collective prioritization;
  • Organize community dialogue and consultation processes in the Far-North region through inclusive dialogue on community grievances to identify the factors leading to frustration and a sense of being left behind that trigger the exploitation and recruitment of youth by NSAGs;
  • Develop and implement community violence reduction interventions, including through quick-impact projects and local grant mechanisms.
Funding required
$5,700,000
Plan types

Health system strengthening

Through a new partnership with WHO on stabilization and peacebuilding in the Far-North region, IOM aims to reinforce the capacities of health authorities to respond to the health needs of communities, by:

  • Supporting local community health committees or COSA (committees de santé) at the subdistrict level to organise community health consultations to collect information on community health needs.
  • Providing COSA with the necessary materials and equipment to respond to community health needs identified through dialogue processes.
  • Organizing cash-for-work activities to construct or rehabilitate small health infrastructure where needs are identified.
Funding required
$1,000,000
Plan types

Peacebuilding and peace preservation

In addition to the community stabilization activities which hold an ultimate goal to build social cohesion and peace, and building on its engagement in the Far-North region of Cameroon, IOM will:

  • Continue its support to the Government of Cameroon to collaborate with national and local partners to support the peacebuilding and social cohesion efforts in conflict-affected communities where displacement and returns may impact the fragile social fabric and increase the risk of inter-communal conflict;
  • Support the development of relevant national frameworks and strategies.
Funding required
$3,500,000
Funding confirmed
$1,903,297
Last updated: 01 Apr 2023
Plan types
54%
Funding confirmed
46%
Funding gap

Objective
Strengthen preparedness and reduce disaster risk

$1,250,000
Funding required
At risk communities
People Targeted
100
Entities Targeted
Description of People and Entities Targeted

Humanitarian, development and stabilization actors across the multi-disciplinary spectrum in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, including the Government of Cameroon and local authorities, UN Country Team, Resident Coordinator’s Office, international and local NGOs, who would benefit from additional information and coordination on specific risks such sudden displacements, large scale flooding in the Far-North and other climate related shocks such as poor harvest seasons and their impacts on transhumance patterns. Enhanced preparedness plans that will aim to create a greater value for money in case of eventual response.

Emergency preparedness

IOM will continue its efforts to reinforce capacities at all coordination levels for disaster risk management and emergency preparedness, acknowledging that preparedness activities save time and costs in potential humanitarian responses. IOM will engage government counterparts, UN Country Team members including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), NGO partners and multi-disciplinary experts in the coordination of preparedness measures, to work together to prepare for the potential impacts of natural hazards. In particular, IOM will:

  • Support the strengthening of: risk monitoring tools, minimum preparedness actions and contingency planning activities;
  • Develop pre-positioning plans for shelter/NFI interventions for faster response with a prioritization for local procurement whenever possible to support local markets;
  • Engage with humanitarian partners including local NGOs in the Far-North region, to improve emergency preparedness and response capacity to floods. This includes conducting a study to identify precise flood-prone areas and needs, and proposing, in coordination with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a yearly intervention plan to enhance disaster risk management and emergency preparedness.

 

Funding required
$250,000
Plan types

Disaster prevention

In line with the Sendai Framework priorities and in collaboration with the Capacity for Disaster Risk Reduction Initiative (CADRI), IOM Cameroon works with multiple stakeholders, including governmental counterparts, the Resident Coordinator and multi-disciplinary experts in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation to strengthen the country's risk information systems, prioritize risk reduction in national and local plans and enhance preparedness systems. Activities and measures will be designed to mitigate existing and prevent new disaster risks. In collaboration with CADRI, the following initiatives will be prioritized in Cameroon this year:

  • Map and analyse existing stakeholders, measures, capacities in-country as well as gaps in terms of disaster prevention, preparedness and response;
  • Develop a DRR action plan/national strategy in collaboration with pertinent governmental counterparts (including the civil protection division);
  • Build the capacity of relevant stakeholders on DRR;
  • Set up coordination forums/platforms engaging different specialized stakeholders, including governmental counterparts, UN agencies, NGOs and the private sector on the subject of DRR;
  • Create a common understanding of each risk at the national, regional and community level for further coordination and collaboration.
Funding required
$500,000
Plan types

System strengthening for mental health and psychosocial support

IOM plans to strengthen systems for MHPSS in crisis contexts, ensuring that systems are well prepared for sudden shocks. Initiatives will include:

  • Integrating community-based MHPSS to address the psychosocial needs of people following experiences of conflict and displacement with a survivor-centred approach in the different regions of intervention;
  • Strengthening or establishing local community structures and committees within communities and IDP settlements such as women and youth groups and conflict management committees in order to strengthen referral processes, facilitate community-based MHPSS and psychological first aid;
  • Capacity building of medical personnel in health centres and traditional doctors on the identification of mental diseases and cases of trauma;
  • Training of health personnel on psychological first aid (PFA) and communication skills, as well as referral systems for and on handling of GBV disclosures and GBV case management;
  • Engaging with health centres in the Far-North to further train and support them on the management, storage and dispersal of psychotropic drugs to persons in need of medical treatment, such as cases of severe depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and others, including on the specific stock management of drugs and on financial sustainability to ensure sufficient stocks;
  • Providing psychoeducation sessions to the communities to reduce stigmatization of persons with mental health needs and to strengthen community capacity to promote supportive environments for persons in need of MHPSS services;
  • Reinforcing protection and safety in referral pathways to ensure that no one is left behind and ensuring that international quality standards and human rights aspects are respected when referring people to clinical mental health services (especially psychiatric institutions).
Funding required
$500,000
Plan types

Objective
Contribute to an evidence-based and efficient crisis response system

$2,800,000
Funding required
At risk communities
People Targeted
50
Entities Targeted
Description of People and Entities Targeted

Fifty partner humanitarian and recovery organizations, including all rapid response mechanism (RRM) actors in NW-SW and Far-North regions, will benefit from the continued production and dissemination of reliable data on needs assessments, displacement figures, trends and intentions for more informed and appropriate crisis response planning, coordination and implementation that does no harm.

All displaced populations in the NW-SW and Far-North who will benefit indirectly from a more efficient humanitarian response overall.

Funding confirmed 21%
79% Funding gap

Displacement tracking

IOM aims to continue providing a better understanding of population displacement numbers and trends and the evolving profiles and needs of conflict and disaster-affected populations in the Far-North region of Cameroon through the regular collection, processing and dissemination of data to support partners’ programming and targeting based on accurate and up to date information. In North-West-South-West, IOM will continue to support the humanitarian community to assess and analyse needs of vulnerable populations under the coordination of the OCHA.

IOM will also engage with information management (IM) stakeholders to ensure DTM primary and secondary data is properly shared and used.

Based on partners’ needs IOM will:

  • Conduct and distribute the emergency tracking tool (ETT) to help coordinate partners’ emergency response to sudden displacements, caused by both conflict and disaster;
  • Conduct  multi-sectoral needs assessments (MSNA) that will fit into wider Humanitarian Country Team planning and be developed jointly with active clusters in the Far-North
  • Ensure the continued roll-out of, and expand, the stability index to identify ‘pockets of stability’ where the environment is conducive for humanitarian-development-peace nexus programming to converge;
  • Undertake thematic data collection and analysis such as the return intention survey and mobility tracking, aiming to inform humanitarian and transition and recovery actors on the number of internally displaced persons and returnees and their unique living conditions, future intentions and multisectoral needs;
  • Conduct data collection on transhumance flows and agropastoral tensions through IOM’s transhumance tracking tool (TTT) in order to support interventions to reduce tensions linked to unexpected movements of cattle, resource management and the subsequent small conflicts surrounding transhumance  in the East, Adamawa and North regions.

Activities covering the Far-North will support an IOM sub-regional strategy of harmonization of data collection tools, methodologies, calendars and products across the Lake Chad Basin countries (Chad, Niger, Nigeria) and the creation of a sub-regional DTM able to provide better cross-country analyses to national and sub-regional authorities (such as the Lake Chad Basin Commission, or LCBC).

In the wake of the Global Information Management, Assessment and Analysis Cell Data Entry and Exploratory Platform initiative, IOM will provide the expert panel with relevant information and advocate for common data sharing between UN agencies and with partners working on information management and statistics in Cameroon (Information Management Working Group, National Institute for Statistics, etc.).

Funding required
$2,800,000
Funding confirmed
$612,799
Last updated: 03 Apr 2023
Plan types
21%
Funding confirmed
79%
Funding gap
Operational presence in

Cameroon

15
International staff and affiliated work force
266
National staff and affiliated work force
5
IOM field office

The map used here is for illustration purposes only. Names and boundaries do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by IOM.

Figures are as of 31 December 2023. For more details of IOM's operational capacity in country, please see the IOM Capacity section.

With thanks to our current donors