CRS in Cameroon

Cameroon is situated in Central Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea. The country is described as “Africa in miniature” because of its cultural and geographical diversity. Cameroon is bordered to the north by Chad, to the east by the Central Africa Republic, to the south by Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea and to the west by Nigeria. With a population of over 27 million inhabitants, Cameroon has more than 240 tribes, which are found in three main ethnic groups: Bantus, Semi-Bantus and Sudanese.

CRS Cameroon's key areas of intervention are in alignment with the CRS Global Strategy 2030.

CRS has worked in Cameroon since 1960, when programs aimed to increase food security and reduce infant mortality. Since then, CRS has adapted its programming to the changing circumstances of the country and the needs of the people.

Starting in 2019, CRS programming in Cameroon has been responding to a spillover of violence from Boko Haram in the Far North region and the ongoing insurgency in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions. Cameroon is actively hosting over 450,000 refugees, mainly from the Central African Republic, Chad and Nigeria.

Emergency Response & Recovery

Anglophone Crisis Emergency Response (ACER) project

Photo by Emmanuel Joko for CRS

With funding from USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, the ACER project is responding to the most urgent needs of populations affected by the conflict in Cameroon’s Northwest region. Since 2019, CRS and the Archdiocese of Bamenda have been providing food and household items through electronic vouchers to more than 100,000 participants from displaced families living in vulnerable conditions. The ACER project has trained 170 individuals in poultry farming and supported 60 families to start poultry farming businesses so they can meet their basic needs more sustainably in the future.

Local Leadership

Empowering Partner Organizations Working on Emergency Responses in West/Central Africa (EMPOWER-WCA)

Photo by Mabel Chenjoh/CRS

The EMPOWER project is working with 10 local humanitarian actors to improve their access to humanitarian coordination forums and strengthen their capacity to serve in leadership positions within these forums. The project focuses on strengthening policies and systems needed by these local organizations to successfully occupy leadership roles in humanitarian coordination groups. Improving local organizations’ access to leadership roles is a demonstration of CRS’ commitment to subsidiarity: those actors closest to a community facing a challenge should have the opportunity to address that challenge.

Partnership and Capacity-Strengthening

Advancing Local Leadership in the Right Way (ALLRight) project

Photo by Mabel Chenjoh/CRS

The Cameroon country program has supported the capacity strengthening of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) since the early 2000s. In 2020, CRS worked intensively to prepare NECC to become a prime recipient of the USAID/PEPFAR funded Consolidating Systems and Services for the Management of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Cameroon (COSMO) project, which NECC began implementing in 2023. The CRS-funded Advancing Local Leadership in the Right Way (ALLRight) project has continued to intensify and extend the capacity strengthening support to help NECC become a local leader in development and humanitarian work.

Social Cohesion and Local Governance

Stabilization and Reconciliation in the Lake Chad Region (STaR) Phase II project

Photo by Mabel Chenjoh/CRS

Through the STaR II project, CRS is supporting the recovery of families affected by the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) crisis. With funding from KfW, the STaR II project is improving access to basic infrastructure and services, equipping families with tools and skills to set up or improve livelihoods, reinforcing social cohesion, and improving local governance.

The CRS Cameroon country program works with the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC), the government, other faith-based organizations, civil society and local partners to promote integral human development. Through a wide range of projects, CRS seeks to respond to emergency needs, improve access to basic infrastructure, better livelihoods, reinforce social cohesion, boost financial literacy, improve local governance, enhance localization and partnerships. CRS is committed to carrying out its operations in Cameroon in a manner that honors and protects the right of all people to live free from abuse and harm.

Local Partners

• National Episcopal Conference
• Archdiocese of Bamenda/Caritas Bamenda
• Caritas Maroua-Mokolo

CRS' History in Cameroon

CRS started working in Cameroon in 1960, primarily to reduce the mortality rate of children under five. Our work later shifted to improving food supply in the northern regions of the country where there was drought-related hunger. Later, CRS moved to governance, health and HIV and malaria programming. Our current focus is on supporting internally displaced persons, improving livelihoods, fostering social cohesion and local governance, health, partner and capacity-strengthening, local leadership.

Today, CRS adapts its programming to the changing circumstances of the country and to the needs of the Cameroonian people.