RELINT 2024: In Cameroon for Those Forced to Flee
In the Western Region of Cameroon, thousands of people have been forced to abandon their homes due to the crisis in the Anglophone regions. Entire families, women, children and young people find themselves in conditions of extreme vulnerability. MSP is present with the RELINT 2024 project, a three-year initiative to strengthen the capacity of local actors and civil society in hosting internally displaced persons, asylum seekers and refugees.
The project is funded by the Italian Ministry of the Interior for a total of 1,200,000 euros, with a Ministry contribution of 1,080,000 euros. This is not emergency assistance: the goal is to restore to those affected the conditions from which to start again.
What we do concretely
The project targets two main categories: displaced and refugee women of all ages and minors between 12 and 17 years old, including refugees and asylum seekers. For women, the vocational training center IFP MARA in Bafoussam offers courses in dressmaking, hairdressing, hospitality and computer secretarial work. Each course includes transport, meals and childcare: because it's not enough to open a door — you have to make sure people can walk through it.
For young people, the project guarantees school enrollment in the Bandjoun and Bafang areas, educational materials and payment of tuition fees. For unaccompanied minors or those in particularly vulnerable conditions, residential facilities, psychological and physical screenings, integration activities and documentation support are provided.
Four hundred stories to be given a future
The number of direct beneficiaries is 400. Four hundred people from whom a war they did not choose has taken away stability, home, and life path. The fieldwork reminds us every day that development is not an abstract concept: it is measured in a mother's ability to support her children, in a young person's opportunity to return to school, in a diploma that opens a door that flight had closed.
MSP works in close collaboration with local actors and civil society organizations of the Western Region to ensure an intervention rooted in the territory, respectful of local dynamics and oriented toward long-term sustainability.