Cameroon

Cameroon

Country Program

Welcoming refugees, supporting communities at risk.

In Cameroon since 2014, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) World Service responds to internal needs caused by crises and conflicts in neighboring countries. It assists refugees from Nigeria and the Central African Republic (CAR), as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs), host communities, and returnees. In 2021, the country program provided 243,000 individuals with access to education and vocational training as well as other livelihood opportunities. At the same time, social cohesion and conflict prevention activities ensure the sustainability of these achievements.

Cameroon is currently hosting refugees from the Central African Republic and Nigeria, as well as a number of people internally displaced by cross-border fighting between Boko Haram, attacking Nigeria, and Cameroonian coalition forces in addition to the socio-political crisis that persists in the North West and South West of Cameroon.

These two protection and displacement crises are made worse by chronic food insecurity and malnutrition, especially in the Extreme North region. The influx of refugees and IDPs has overstretched the resources of the host communities which have welcomed them, and as a result, humanitarian needs have increased substantially. The highest needs are in the areas of protection, food security, and malnutrition, as well as water and sanitation (WASH), shelter, livelihoods, health, and education. More than half of the people in need are women and children.

Update 27 January 2023

Making Minawao Refugee Camp Green Again: New Trees, New Hope

A little over a year after planting trees in and around the Minawao Refugee Camp in Northern Cameroon, the new forest is growing, improving the land and lives of the people living there.

 

Produced by: LandLife

In three years, refugees transformed a desert landscape in Minawao, Cameroon, into a luscious green oasis with the support of the LWF Cameroon and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).“We have shade from the sun, the soil has improved and the trees attract water” said Lydia Youcoubou, a Nigerian refugee.

What we do in Cameroon

Partners and donors

Aminatou Abubakar, president of the women’s association in Minawao refugee camp, speaks at a public event about the dangers of spontaneous and unassisted return to Nigeria. Photo: LWF/ C. Kästner

ACT Church of Sweden

Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR)

Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe

Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA)

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Germany)

Kerk in Actie

UEPAL

United States Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration

World Food Programme (WFP)

 

Help us make a difference in the lives of people in need in Cameroon and other places throughout the world.

242,5k
People
benefited from LWF support services in 2021
29,371
people
were sensitized on peaceful cohabitation
13,195
households
received livelihoods support
6,058
students
received educational support

Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert