Refugees and IDPs would integrate nat. dev’t plan through FDS
By Eratus Ndueh
The Forced Displacement Survey, FDS, a data collection survey on forcibly displaced person will soon be bolster in Cameroon by virtue of a partnership agreement ink between the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, and Cameroon’s National Institute of Statistics, NIS, on February 15, 2024 in Yaounde in the presence of the representatives of the government and other partner organizations.
The FDS is a recently introduced programme designed to streamline and standardise surveys that collect data on forcibly displaced people, including multi topics data on the socio-economic and living conditions of Refugees, asylum-seekers and nationals who live in proximity.
The initiative will be mainstreamed by the NIS, a body known for maintaining global standards and for its expertise in international and national surveys, through the collection of data process planned for June and July 2024.
Cameroon hosts about two million persons including one million internally displaced persons, 460,000 refugees and asylum-seekers and 466,000 IDP returnees. The refugees are predominantly from the Central African Republic and Nigeria, while the internally displaced persons mainly come from Cameroon’s Far North, North-West, and South-West regions.
Most of the 332,000 Central Africa Republic refugees reside in towns and villages in Cameroon’s eastern facade, while nearly 120,000 Nigerian refugees live in Cameroon’s Far North Region.
The multi-sectoral needs assessment carried out in March 2023 found that access to drinking water, food, health, and education remain the priority needs of IDPs and returnees. In almost all the locations assessed during this round, key informants mentioned protection and/or security issues linked to the displacements, among others.
According to the pipeline program by the UNHCR-NIS, Refugees and IDPS will henceforth be included in national and local development plans for their problems to be aptly addressed.
“To include refugees and IDPs effectively in national and local development plans and provide an appropriate response, we need quality data,” said Olivier Beer, the UNHCR Representative in Cameroon.
While to Joseph Tedou the Director General of the National Institute of Statistics “This memorandum of understanding will capacitate the NIS to conduct surveys to inform the decision-making of the government.”
Of the 16 countries earmarked for this survey, Cameroon is one of 3 countries chosen for the pilot phase. While reducing the burden to provide information on affected populations, the FDS will be comparable across countries and, over time, in alignment with international statistical standards and comparable with other international and national surveys.
