Program Description (Background) / Description du programme (contexte)
Cameroon is equally exposed to climatic shocks and clime change impacts such as droughts, floods, and landslides. These are becoming more frequent and extreme due to climate change, and have adverse impacts on health and nutrition outcomes for people in affected areas, their ability to participate in livelihood generating activities, and even their access to services and essential infrastructure such as roads, health centers, schools, and markets which may be impacted by an event such as a flood or landslide. Bush fires, commonly used to clear farmlands during the dry season pose a major risk of environmental destruction, especially in the savannah areas. These have contributed to negatively affecting crop production locally. According to the National Institute of Statistics (NIS), in July 2024, consumer prices rose by 5.4% on average over the past twelve months, mainly as a result of higher prices for local goods and services: prices of domestic products rose by 5.8%, meanwhile those of imported products rose by just 4.3% over the same period. Refugees and host communities in the Adamawa and North regions are thus left with substantial humanitarian needs in terms of food, protection and access to basic services such as health, nutrition, education, and potable water that require combined coordinated efforts to address immediate and lifesaving needs. At the same time, these populations require actions that will support durable solutions and their resilience, including livelihoods development to reduce dependance on humanitarian aid and facilitate engagement in sustainable income generating activities (IGA).
For the past years, IMC has been implementing nutrition and livelihood projects in the Adamawa and North regions with funds from WFP as part of efforts in addressing these needs. Last year, for example, IMC’s interventions funded by WFP contributed to addressing the immediate food and resilience of some 1,200 households in the Adamawa and North regions. This project is designed to continue with similar interventions aimed at scaling-up nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions through the creation of productive assets.
The proposed nutrition and livelihood action will target children under 5 years, pregnant and lactating women and girls (PLWG) and other vulnerable persons to reduce the effects of food insecurity. Focus will be placed on the prevention of malnutrition in children aged 6-23 months by providing specialized nutritious foods (SNFs), and to prevent further deterioration of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) into severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in children 6-59 months by supplementing them with the super cereal. This response is in line with WFP’s country strategy for 2022-2026 to prevent malnutrition among children and pregnant and lactating women (PLW), reducing the impact of shocks on the most vulnerable populations. The project will focus on the development of mechanisms to increase access to safe, adequate and nutritious food to crisis-affected populations that include refugees and the host population in the Adamawa and North regions with an interest in the prevention of GBV risks and improving access to sustainable livelihoods aimed at strengthening their self-reliance and supporting early recovery. This will include improving the capacity of households to engage in agricultural and livestock activities and set up small businesses according to their needs and preferences, which will enable them to meet their basic needs, improve income and savings, and in turn reduce malnutrition at the community level through enhanced food production and IGA.
IMC through this action will continue supporting government institutions (MINADER, MINEPIA, MINEPDED, MINAS, MINPROFF and MINSANTE) and municipalities in the implementation of nutrition and resilience building interventions for the vulnerable populations affected by the different crisis.
PART 2: PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Overall objective: Contribute to the improvement of the nutritional and livelihood status of vulnerable individuals and communities affected by crises and shocks in the Adamawa & North regions through the implementation of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions and sustainable livelihood development.
Specific Objectives:
Specific Objective 1: Address the immediate food insecurity needs of 5,070 vulnerable people through conditional cash transfers.
Specific Objective 2: To meet the immediate food insecurity needs and develop the resilience of 1,014 beneficiary households through the creation of productive assets.
Specific Objective 3: To prevent malnutrition in 355 children aged 6-23 months in the supported health districts through the Top-up supplementary preventive feeding (TSPF) program
Specific Objective 4: To supplement 3,820 children aged 6-59 months suffering from MAM in the supported health districts with super cereal plus
Specific Objective 5: Ameliorate access to nutritious food and healthcare services (ANC/PNC) for 779 PLW through CBT
