North West South West
2023-03 Factsheet - North West South West
Highlights
In the month of March, the Shelter Cluster held two environmental mainstreaming workshops in which 31 Cluster participants were trained on the use of the Nexus-Environmental Assessment Tool, ECHO’s Minimum Environmental Requirements, and the mainstreaming of environmental activities in the Shelter Cluster Response. The first implementation of environmental mainstreaming in the Shelter/NFI response was also implemented through the local NGO SIRDEP.
On the 18th of March, flooding and mudslides caused the destruction of 10 homes and also damaged approximately 114 buildings impacting approximately 300 households. Twenty-five buildings were also demolished in the aftermath of the flooding as they were considered to be in no-build zones. Shelter Cluster partners in the Southwest mobilized emergency NFI support and are planning to assess the shelter conditions to inform the next phase of the response.
The Shelter Cluster reached 9658 people (1497 households) with emergency nfi and shelter kits an rental support during the month of March.
NFI
Shelter
Coverage against targets
Need analysis
During the reporting period there were less attacks on civilians with burning of homes being reported in Oku which caused displacement and the death of civilians. The Environmental workshops that the Shelter Cluster held in March also revealed the need to consider the natural environment when assessing humanitarian needs and conditions. The workshops revealed that the Northwest, Southwest, West, and Littoral Regions have considerable vulnerabilities in the area of flooding, landslides, and Harmattan winds, while human practices are contributing to soil erosion and risks of disease transmission through lack of proper solid and liquid waste management.
On the 18th of March, this situation was put into stark illustration as flooding and landslides caused the further displacement and damage to 114 buildings in Buea Town. The situation illustrated the need for Shelter Cluster to ensure that they always maintain a contingency stock and that they have a way to assess the population when lockdown days are announced which prevents the movement of cluster partners especially for non-food items.
The flooding in Buea revealed that affordability is a key aspect of access to adequate housing that is a significant need during this displacement crisis. Vulnerable IDPs and those returnees who have lost their home during the crisis often seek the cheapest land and housing. This makes them at risk of eviction, natural disaster, health risks such as cholera and lower respiratory tract infections, and protection issues such as gender-based violence and exploitation.
Response
Northwest
- Society for Initiatives in Rural Development and Environmental Protection (SIRDEP) with support from the Norwegian Refugee Council distributed emergency Shelter and NFI assistance to 2472 individuals from 450 households in Kesu village in Menchum village. For the intervention in Kesu, SIRDEP replaced the plastic plates in the kitchen set with stainless steel so that the items would last longer and over time do less harm to the environment.
- NRC directly distributed emergency Shelter and NFI assistance in 3 villages in Nkambe Subdivision reaching 1119 people from 150 households .
- IOM distributed emergency shelter and NFI assistance to 551 people from 84 households in two villages (one in Mezam and one in Bui) in response to new displacements.
- SHUMAS continued rental support to a vulnerable family of 10 and 47 IDP students.
- CRS received funding confirmation from their donor that they will be able to support 10,800 individuals from 1800 households with NFI support through voucher assistance. They have selected target communities and will undertake beneficiary registration during the next month.
Southwest
- In the response to the flooding in Buea, the Danish Refugee Council distributed emergency NFI assistance to 182 people from 46 households.
- The Danish Refugee Council also distributed emergency NFI and shelter items to 5292 conflict affected IDPs and hosts from 725 households in Kumba 3.
Gaps / challenges
The emergency situation in Buea held during the month of March in addition to the environmental workshops revealed the Northwest and Southwest regions’ vulnerability not only to the ongoing dynamics of the conflict but also to natural disaster. Given funding constraints the Shelter Cluster has lacked a stable contingency stock. Given the likelihood of both conflict and natural disaster displacements, donors should ensure that agencies that are able to hold a contingency stock on hand are able to preposition kits for the eventuality of emergencies.
Access and the lockdown days that are often declared in the aftermath of such emergency situations limit the movement of humanitarian actors to immediately assess and provide relief to affected populations. Other Clusters have more mobile national partners who can conduct data collection despite the lockdowns, so the Shelter Cluster had to depend on the Protection Cluster’s first list which did not contain any of the indicators found in the Shelter Cluster’s Standardized Tool. This slowed the response. In the future, there needs to be a better interagency preparedness plan in place so that partners who are doing data collection in the field are able to be aware of the tools the Shelter Cluster has and to save time in such emergencies.
Data analysis was a gap that the Shelter Cluster was able to fulfil in the Buea humanitarian response for much of the humanitarian community including beyond the Shelter Cluster. This illustrates the importance of this skill and having resources available to perform this function.
The Shelter Cluster needs to ensure that there is a cluster contingency plan in place but also work on building the capacity of partners on emergency response. Given the protracted nature of the crisis and the access challenges, the humanitarian community is not accostumbed to responding to such situations.
Buea flood situation received more attention than other natural disasters of a similar scale due to the fact that the location was more accessible than other conflict-affected areas of the Northwest and Southwest. It is important that the humanitarian community does no further harm in the targeting of its intervention which requires improved and steady access negotiations, as often many people are left without assistance due to access and security limitations.
