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Overview
In 2024, Chad grappled with a complex humanitarian crisis driven by regional conflict, climate shocks, and economic instability. The country experienced its worst-ever recorded lean season, leaving millions of Chadians severely food insecure. Prolonged droughts disrupted agricultural production, leading to reduced yields of staple crops such as millet and sorghum, while unprecedented flooding affected over 1.9 million people and destroyed 432,800 hectares of crops across the country. These compounded shocks severely undermined the livelihoods of communities largely dependent on subsistence farming.
The ongoing Sudan conflict further exacerbated the crisis, with 722,000 new refugees arriving in Chad since April 2023, bringing the total refugee population to 1.3 million. Most of the new arrivals settled in eastern Chad, an area already struggling with high levels of food insecurity. By the end of 2024, 1.8 million children under five faced malnutrition, underscoring the scale of Chad’s nutrition crisis and the urgent need for continued humanitarian intervention.
WFP’s 2024-2028 Country Strategic Plan (CSP) for Chad is aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2 (Zero Hunger) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). Through integrated and coordinated interventions, the CSP addresses both immediate humanitarian needs and long-term resilience building, supporting the Government of Chad in achieving sustainable food security and nutrition outcomes.
In 2024, WFP reached 3.7 million people (55 percent women), with 62 percent assisted through unconditional general food assistance (GFA). WFP delivered assistance through USD 73 million in cash-based transfers (CBT), 60,657 metric tons (mt) of in-kind food assistance, and capacity-strengthening initiatives. The use of CBT in emergencies played a critical role in enhancing resilience to droughts and other shocks while ensuring timely assistance and boosting the local economies. Chad was WFP’s seventh-largest CBT operation globally, assisting 1.9 million people with USD 73 million in transfers between March to December 2024, an 86 percent increase compared to 2023. Despite this success, WFP faced challenges in scaling up cash assistance due to limited network coverage, know your customer (KYC) requirements restricting mobile money use, and low engagement from financial service providers (FSPs) despite outreach efforts. Consequently, WFP relied solely on Express Union and Airtel for cash distribution. FSPs' limited capacity for innovation and digital solutions further constrained CBT expansion and operational flexibility.
Chad’s high vulnerability to climate change underscores the urgent need for proactive disaster risk management. In 2024, WFP implemented its first anticipatory action activation in Chad, aimed at protecting lives and livelihoods ahead of riverine floods in N'Djamena. Despite challenges in implementation, this milestone marked a critical step in mitigating the impact of climate-related risks through anticipatory action. Working in close collaboration with the Government of Chad, WFP initiated a long-term project to support the establishment of anticipatory action systems designed to enhance national capacities to proactively manage climate shocks.
Chad’s malnutrition crisis remained severe in 2024, with 1.8 million children under five facing acute malnutrition, particularly in the east and south. WFP’s nutrition interventions targeted children aged 6-59 months and pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls (PBWGs) in high-burden areas, reaching 543,700 beneficiaries through specialized nutritious foods (SNFs) and social and behavioral change communication (SBC) initiatives for malnutrition supplementation and prevention. To improve access to locally available nutritious foods, WFP introduced the Cash for Prevention (C4P) programme in four Sahel provinces, benefiting 33,500 PBWGs and children under two while also supporting local markets and reducing reliance on imported SNFs. In collaboration with UNICEF and national health authorities, WFP integrated severe and moderate acute malnutrition management, strengthening the continuum of care through capacity-building for health workers and community volunteers and improving nutrition service quality and coverage in high Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate areas.
WFP’s school feeding programme supported over 484,000 students across 625 schools, including those in crisis-affected areas, safeguarding education and nutrition outcomes. The Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) initiative sourced food from smallholder farmers, injecting USD 14.6 million into the local economy and strengthening local food systems and livelihoods. The programme also integrated nutrition-sensitive social messaging, promoting healthy eating habits while improving school attendance and retention.
WFP strengthened community resilience, self-sustainability, and climate adaptation in Chad by expanding its Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) activities, rehabilitating over 3,941 hectares of agricultural and grazing land, improving irrigation systems, and enhancing flood control infrastructure to mitigate climate risks. Over 202,000 beneficiaries received USD 3.8 million in cash-based transfers (CBT), stimulating local markets and reducing reliance on imports. WFP also integrated nutrition-sensitive approaches within resilience programming, reaching 105,000 children with preventive nutrition interventions and providing 160,000 schoolchildren with diversified meals through the Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programme. Through the Haguina Initiative, WFP, in partnership with UNHCR, IOM, and FAO, identified 25,000 hectares of land to support refugees, returnees, and host communities in achieving self-reliance and economic integration.
Under the ResiTchad initiative, WFP, in collaboration with UNICEF and the Government of Chad, enhanced infrastructure development in refugee-hosting areas, supporting the construction of schools, classrooms, and health centers. Capacity-strengthening efforts focused on policy development, system strengthening, and human capital development, ensuring sustainable resilience-building interventions and fostering national ownership. Additionally, WFP is introducing climate-smart agriculture in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture to improve food security and climate adaptation efforts - the activities are planned for 2025.
WFP prioritized strengthening the national social protection system, working with the Government to support a transition away from predominantly seasonal assistance and towards more regular and adaptive social protection programmes. WFP-UNICEF-World Bank efforts are fostering improved coordination between government bodies, enhancing the social registry (RSU), supporting grievance and redress mechanisms, and supporting payment systems to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of the national social protection system against a backdrop of chronic vulnerability and multiple shocks.
WFP harnessed its comparative advantages and strengthened its partnerships with the Government, UN agencies, INGOs, and communities to contribute towards SDG 2 (zero hunger) and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals). WFP worked with stakeholders to meet critical needs while leveraging opportunities to support national systems, including the implementation of resilience programmes, contributing to SDG 17.
WFP also collaborated with the Government of Chad to strengthen early warning systems, emergency preparedness, and food security monitoring mechanisms. WFP’s partnerships extended to local communities and civil society organizations, ensuring that interventions were informed by local needs and realities. Data-sharing agreements with UNHCR and IOM facilitated accurate beneficiary targeting, minimizing duplication and maximizing impact. Joint programming with UNICEF and FAO further amplified results, particularly under nutrition, school feeding, and resilience building. WFP continued to provide technical support and effectively provide critical logistics services and air services through the WFP-managed United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) to the humanitarian community, enabling quick transport of relief commodities and teams. Collaboration with government entities, humanitarian organizations, and development partners was central to WFP’s strategy in 2024.
Chad is experiencing increasing food security and nutrition conditions. With over 3.7 million projected to face severe food insecurity in 2025, WFP must receive the funding to scale anticipatory action, make longer-term investments to build resilience, and provide emergency food assistance. Without this support, any improvements made in 2024 will be wiped out, with millions at risk of taking desperate measures to feed themselves and their families.