ReliefWeb

OVERVIEW

Over the first quarter (Q1) of 2017, RRRP partners provided multisectoral assistance to over 200,000 refugees in Cameroon (86,000), Chad (8,600) and Niger (105,000).
The prolonged nature of the crisis has had a devastating effect in north-eastern Nigeria and the region. In addition to serious protection concerns, and inadequate access to education, food and nutritional insecurity have reached extreme levels. So far, there has been no indication that displacement can be attributed primarily to a lack of food as the vast majority of those displaced continue to cite conflict and insecurity as their main reasons for flight. Notwithstanding, although humanitarian aid reaches territories in Nigeria’s worst affected states, food security and malnutrition are worsening. During the Oslo conference in February, governments pledged $672 million for aid and recovery over two years. Much progress has been made to scale up the response but aid organizations may run out of funds by June, if pledged funds are not received in time.

Cameroon

As of 31 March, Minawao camp hosted over 63,000 Nigerian refugees and an estimated 22,900 were living with host communities.
Protection actors in Minawao camp made encouraging progress: Border guards were trained, monitoring visits to detention centres were carried out and persons of concern (PoCs) received legal assistance.
In order to enhance peaceful coexistence between refugees and their hosts, selfmanagement structures were reinforced in Minawao and awareness-raising activities were carried out to prohibit the exploitation of natural resources in the vicinity of the camp. Progress was made in the education sector with classrooms built and existing ones improved; enrolment rate at pre-school level was met at 99% and at 111% for the primary school level. Other sectors in which noteworthy progress was made include livelihoods & environment, shelter & NFIs and health & nutrition.

Chad

Chad hosted over 8,600 Nigerian refugees as of 31 March, 5,500 of which live in Dar Es Salam camp with the rest settled in host communities in the ‘Lac’ region. In addition, the region is home to some 120,000 IDPs.
Response was prioritized in the food security, health, protection and WASH sectors. To address the needs of host communities receiving surrendered persons previously associated to Boko Haram, an inter-agency response plan was finalized in March and a CERF Rapid Response Contribution is expected to be released shortly. It will include a protection component to set up a protection monitoring system in the return areas. Nutrition actors scaled up assistance through cash transfers and voucher distributions and refugees receive an estimated 2,100 Kcal/p/d. WASH actors worked to maintain the quality and quantity of water available in Dar Es Salam camp and in host communities through the construction of boreholes, and training on WASH infrastructure maintenance.

Niger

Niger hosted over 106,000 Nigerian refugees, 120,000 IDPs and 15,000 returned nationals as of 31 March. Over 8,400 refugees live in Sayam Forage refugee camp, and 10,2921 IDPs live in Kabelawa camp. The rest are settled in host communities and spontaneous settlements, mainly along the RN1 road in the Diffa region.
Protection coordination was enhanced, with the participation of all protection actors, and emphasis was placed on protection mainstreaming across all sectors. In order to facilitate government leadership in the spontaneous settlements, community-led site management structures were established in three sites. In terms of shelter response, the construction phase of the Urbanization Project was initiated in Chétimari and the first structures were completed in March.
In the camps, school attendance improved as a result of advocacy for the provision of equipment and teachers but access to education outside the camps remained challenging owing to increased PoC movement and military search operations.