Cameroon - Support Project for the Empowerment of Forcibly Displaced Persons in the North

The Project to Support the Empowerment of Forcibly Displaced Persons and Host Communities in the Far North of Cameroon (PAADF) is a technical assistance initiative aligned with Cameroon’s Vision 2035, which aims to transform the country into an emerging, democratic, and united nation while ensuring inclusive and sustainable growth as well as high-quality, equitable, and inclusive human and social development. The Bank’s intervention is crucial in addressing the humanitarian, climatic, socio-economic, and intercommunal crises affecting refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees, and host communities in the Far North of Cameroon. The necessity and urgency of the project are grounded in the current crises that have severely impacted these communities. At the same time, humanitarian actors face limitations in their responses due to the multiplicity of crises, and this lack of assistance increases competition over the community’s limited resources and exacerbates intercommunal tensions. By facilitating access to civil documentation, promoting social cohesion, and contributing to the empowerment of vulnerable groups through improved access to basic financial services, the project is fully aligned with the country’s development priorities, thereby supporting sustainable and inclusive development. Spanning three years (36 months), PAADF is structured around three main components: (i) Strengthening community-based protection; (ii) Supporting improved access for forcibly displaced women and youth, as well as host communities, to basic financial services and entrepreneurship; and (iii) Institutional support and project coordination.