Cameroon — Far North — Stability Index Report 1 (March — April 2021)

The crisis currently affecting the Lake Chad Basin (LCB), which has displaced 3,125,239 Internally Displaced Persons as of May 2021, is one of the worst humanitarian situations in the world. The crisis, which is affecting North-East Nigeria, Far North Cameroon, Lac Province in Chad and Diffa Region in Niger, has generated widespread displacement and engendered a deep social, political, economic and health crisis.

In the Far-North region of Cameroon, 82,586 households of 514,747 individuals have been displaced as of March 2021 (DTM Mobility tracking Round 22, March 2021). Constant insecurity added to lack of access to food and basic public services such as water or health highlighted by Multi Sectorial Needs Assessments (MSNA, December 2020) affects mobile and host populations in the Far North region and weakens community resilience against exploitation by Violent Extremist Organizations. 

At the same time, 124,310 returnees have come back to their locations of origin (DTM Mobility tracking Round 22), thanks to a better access to arable land (55% of locations) or the improvement of the security situation (38% of locations). Returnees represent 24 per cent of the populations affected by displacements in Cameroon. This points to the importance of addressing root causes of the crisis in the LCB, of strengthening resilience and sustainable development, and finding durable solutions for displaced populations, in order to favour durable returns. 

To this end, IOM has been implementing, since 2019, the Stability Index (SI), the purpose of which is to evaluate the perception of stability of areas hosting displaced and returned populations in the LCB. The SI also seeks to understand which factors most influence a location’s perception of stability, so as to identify areas of priority intervention and inform transition and recovery programming, with the ultimate aim of strengthening stability on conflict- and displacement-affected regions. This report presents the result from the latest Stability Index round conducted in March and April 2021 in Cameroon.