Japan offers FCFA 840 million FCFA to boost nutrition for Cameroon’s displaced population

The Japanese Government has offered $1.4 million (approximately FCFA 840 million) to provide food aid to refugees and internally displaced people in Cameroon.

The country signed a partnership on September 8 with the United Nations World Food Program which will coordinate the humanitarian outreach.

The WFP’s Country Representative in Cameroon, Wanja Kaaria, said the money will help the organisation provide vital nutrition to over 44,000 refugees, internally displaced people and vulnerable local populations in Cameroon.

This will be provided through a two-year project that ends in September 2025.

“It allows us to provide immediate food and nutrition assistance to the neediest families while enhancing their capacities to become more resilient to climate and external shocks. This brings us one step closer to our goal of zero hunger in Cameroon,” said Wanja Kaaria.

Dire Humanitarian Situation

Most of those the WPF will be targeting with food are refugees from the Central African Republic as well as internally displaced persons from the Far North Region and the English-speaking Regions of Cameroon.

Over 4.7 million people in Cameroon urgently need humanitarian aid, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report published last month.

The organisation said it is targeting 2.7 million people with humanitarian aid this year, which is estimated to cost US$ 407.3 million.

The Japanese Ambassador to Cameroon, Takaoka Nozomu, said food is a very important component of Japan’s cooperation with African countries, and he believes this donation will help strengthen his country’s ties with Cameroon.

“Providing food is basic for nation-building and peacekeeping, and so Japan is very dependent on WFP for effective delivery of food and transportation, as well as making sure that our assistance reaches the most vulnerable people, including children,” Ambassador Takaoka Nozomu said.

This is the second offer his country has made to Cameroon in less than a month. On August 24, the Japanese Government offered the Ministry of Public Health a refrigerated truck meant to help in the storage and transportation of vaccines.

Japan’s humanitarian package also touched the Central African Republic, where the country has offered $1.9 million (approximately FCFA 1.1 billion). The WFP said the money will be used to improve nutrition and education, through school meals, for thousands of people affected by “devastating levels of hunger and humanitarian needs” in CAR.