In regions Africa and Cameroon and in groups Cameroon and Africa

North West South West

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2022-10 Factsheet - North West South West

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@SHUMAS support to a vulnerable IDP with a large family including mattress and rental support.

Highlights

During the month of October, the Shelter Cluster has reached 2992 households with Shelter and NFI assistance. Activities included distribution of NFIs, distribution of emergency shelter kits, and rental assistance. The Shelter Cluster also finalized its draft of the Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023. The needs are particularly accute in shelter while funding availability for a more quality shelter response seems to be decreasing. The analysis of needs reveals that 885,211 people are in need of shelter within the Northwest and Southwest regions, while amongst internally displaced people in the Littoral and West Regions, 98,697 people are in need of shelter. During this month, Shelter Cluster partners also used several of the Shelter Cluster tools including the Shelter kit checklist and the standardized household form to seek feedback from the affected population on their priorities in terms of shelter needs. CGI roofing sheets, tarpaulin, and nails ranked particularly high amongst their requests. 

NFI(HH)

Shelter(HH)

Coverage against targets

Need analysis

During the month of October, the Northwest and Southwest Shelter Cluster worked with the Shelter sector in the Far North to analyse overall shelter severity of crisis affected populations in Cameroon. The analysis was done according to the type of tenure arrangement that IDPs have to stay in their shelters, the type of shelters in which they are residing, the condition of returnee and IDP shelters, and an estimate of vulnerable populations left behind in villages that were burnt intentionally throughout the crisis. 567,673 people in need are in the Northwest region of which 264,213 are returnees, 225,516 are internally displaced people, and 77,944 are non-displaced people. 317,538 people in the Southwest are in need of shelter of which 150,758 people are returnees, 132,915 people are internally displaced, and 33,865 are non-displaced. A draft of the HNO and some of the overall analysis is available on the Shelter Cluster website with the final version to be worked during the course of the next month: https://sheltercluster.org/north-west-south-west/documents/draft-humanitarian-needs-overview-northwest-and-southwest-crisis

Shelter Cluster partners Caritas, UNHCR, and NRC also started to use some of the Shelter Cluster tools that had been put in place this year including the Shelter Kit Checklist and the standardized household needs assessment. 906 households were assessed in several subdivisions in the Northwest and Southwest.  When asked about their priority needs, the 51% stated they would prefer receiving corrugated iron roofing sheets, 35% said they would prefer to receive tarpauin, 33% said they would need nails as a priority shelter tool, 28% said they need plywood, 26% said they would need rental support, and 23% mentioned labour support. A snapshot of the main findings is available on the Shelter Cluster website: https://sheltercluster.org/north-west-south-west/documents/nwsw-cameroon-october-snapshot-needs

As there is a lot of hope that cash assistance would support a better shelter response, the Shelter Cluster has been focusing on putting guidelines in place that address some of the challenges in the region. A guidance note on transfer value and also some important mainstreaming of protection, environmental considerations, and shelter outcomes was published this month: https://sheltercluster.org/north-west-south-west/documents/shelter-cluster-guidance-transfer-value-and-monetization-shelter

Response

Northwest

  • ASWEDO provided NFI support to 10 IDP households which included buckets and mattresses. 
  • Caritas continued its distribution in Fundong Subdivision in Boyo Division that it started in September. During the month of October, 334 households were reached with NFI kits in Fundong. Caritas also began the distribution of light shelter kits in Njinikom. 597 households  in  Fundong and 396 households in Njinikom received light shelter kits in October.  
  • CRS provided a top up of voucher for NFI assistance to 27 households who did not redeem their vouchers in the previous months or had technical difficulties. 
  • NRC used the shelter kit to assess the needs of displaced households in Donga Mantung. A BOQ for each household has been done and the households will be given the materials they need to do light and medium repairs to improve their shelters. NRC is equally hiring technicians to help the beneficiary households with labour and then transport support. Training for shelter committees on the e-voucher modality was also completed.
  • NRC had additional funding to support 5 additional households with cash for rent in Sisia village in Bamenda and beneficiaries received the cash transfers in October. 
  • Sister Emmanuel Magdalene Homecare Training Centre continued to support 15 households with rental assistance. 
  • SHUMAS continued to support 23 IDP students with rental assistance while they seek better livelihood opportunities in communities in Bamenda. SHUMAS also supported one vulnerable IDP in Fundong household with a multisectoral response which included rental support and NFI distribution. 
  • UNHCR conducted a needs assessment to select beneficiaries for their cash for shelter program. The agency plans to assist 250 households in Bamenda. 

Southwest

  • DRC is preparing to distribute NFIs and light shelter kits to 755 households in Munyenge in Fako division with distributions to begin in November. Villages in Lilale and Likoko will also be assessed and assisted.
  • NRC began the cash transfers to 50 households in Tancha village in Kumba to support their payment of rental assistance for the next 3 months. Similar to the program in Sisia in Bamenda in the Northwest Region, NRC will be monitoring the shelter and protection outcomes to ensure that beneficiaries are living in good shelter.  
  • Caritas has carried out distributions of Shelter and NFI kits in Meme Division. 600 households received NFI kits with 200 households each in Konye, Kumba 1, and Kumba 3 Subdivisions. 1850 households in Meme also received shelter kits within the same subdivisions. 
  • UNHCR assessed beneficiaries for a cash for shelter support programming to be carried out for 250 households in Buea, West Coast, and Limbe 1. 

Gaps / challenges

  • There is a lot of pressure currently on Shelter Cluster partners. During this period of the year, partner agencies are focusing on implementation while there are also requirements for agencies to plan for next year and report activities. Agencies are under a lot of pressure to deliver while also trying to ensure that they are able to respond in the next year. A number of tools and technical recommendations have been put in place by the cluster to accompany partners in a better shelter response, and it is important that partners follow these to do no further harm while responding to shselter needs.

  • The Shelter Cluster's capacity to respond to the needs is limited by funding as not many have realized that the shelter response would mitigate many of the protection issues in the Northwest and Southwest. There is a need to sensitize donors about the need for the shelter response to become more adequate to the shelter needs, which will not be possible without the required resources.
  • Shelter Cluster partners are in the most part in a distribution mindset and need to gradually shift to an outcome mindset to improve the quality of the shelter response being delivered. A post distribution monitoring tool is drafted to support partners in ensuring that outcomes are measured thereby also improving accountability to affected populations.