Funding from CERF helps families rebuild resilient homes and livelihoods in Cameroon’s Far North

When torrential rains flooded Baléma village in Cameroon’s Far North in 2024, 75-year-old Mahamat Adoum lost everything: his home, his crops and his sense of stability. Alongside hundreds of thousands affected by the floods, he fled with his family of eleven to seek safety.

It was one of the region’s worst climate disasters in recent years. In Logone and Chari department alone, 356,730 people, including 21,115 refugees, were affected or displaced as floodwaters submerged homes, schools, health centres and cropland.

With support from the OCHA-managed UN Global Emergency Fund (CERF) – including dedicated resources from its new Climate Action Account – UNHCR and its partner Public Concern provided emergency shelter and essential household items to families like Mahamat’s. Afterwards, climate-resilient shelters were constructed with the participation of displaced families themselves, helping communities better withstand future floods while restoring both protection and dignity.

“Today, my family lives in safety and dignity,” Mahamat said. “We have regained our self-respect and peace of mind.”

CERF’s rapid response funding reached more than 26,000 people across the flood-affected region, delivering life-saving shelter, protection and basic assistance.

As needs evolved, additional CERF funding, including from its Climate Action Account, helped shift the response from immediate relief to more durable, climate-resilient solutions in protracted displacement settings such as Minawao refugee camp, home to more than 80,000 people.

There, Ali Abatcha, a Nigerian refugee who fled violence in 2016, has begun rebuilding his livelihood through climate-adaptive farming. On land allocated by the state, and with the CERF-supported installation of a borehole for irrigation, he and fellow refugees harvested more than 50 tons of sorghum and millet. Reliable access to water is helping farmers manage erratic rainfall and longer dry spells, reducing the risk of crop failure and food shortages.

Now, with a vast portion of land and a reliable water source, Ali is preparing to grow tomatoes and cucumbers for the entire community.

“These are essential vegetables,” he said. “They nourish us, and they can sustain us.”

By supporting climate-resilient shelters and irrigation systems, CERF’s Climate Action Account is helping families in Cameroon’s Far North move beyond immediate survival. The funding is enabling communities affected by both conflict and climate shocks to rebuild safer homes, restore food production and strengthen their resilience to future disasters.

Read how CERF funding, including contributions to the Climate Action Account, has helped families in Cameroon’s Far North move from crisis toward recovery: https://www.unhcr.org/africa/news/stories/surviving-sahel-stories-resilience-cameroon-s-far-north

Posted February 2026

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