Over 500 million dollars announced to support an integrated, complementary, and coordinated regional response to the crisis in the Lake Chad Region

The commitment was made during the High-Level Conference on the Lake Chad Region held in Niamey from 23 – 24 January 2023. The two-day Conference brought together over 30 countries, international organisations, and more than 100 civil society organisations in the capital of Niger. The Conference aimed to ensure that the people of this hard-hit region have humanitarian assistance and protection and foster solutions for durable solutions, including the voluntary return, reintegration, and resettlement of returnees and displaced persons (refugees band internally displaced persons) in a dignified manner.

For two days, participants discussed how to improve humanitarian assistance and the protection of civilians, stabilisation, building resilience, and crisis prevention leading to sustainable development. Participants also agreed to work in an integrated (according to the NEXUS Humanitarian-Stabilisation-Development) and coordinated way to address the challenges of sustainable peace in the Lake Chad Basin.

After Oslo in 2017 and Berlin in 2018, the Third High-Level Conference on the Lake Chad Region was organised for the first time in Africa. The Conference ended on Tuesday with reaffirmed commitments by LCBC Member States and partners to an integrated, coordinated, complementary, and sustainable regional response.

As such, LCBC Member States and institutional donors pledged over $500 million to support an integrated, complementary, and coordinated regional response to the terrorism crisis in the Lake Chad region, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press release published on Wednesday, 25 January 2023.

Thanks to the Regional Strategy for Stabilisation, Resilience, and Recovery of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and field activities of the Multinational Joint Task Force deployed by the four countries concerned (Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad), interventions of stakeholders, notably the governments of Member States, civil society organisations, supported by technical and financial partners, the security situation has improved considerably. The improved security situation has created a favourable climate for the re-establishment of state infrastructure, the provision of essential social services, and the revitalisation of economies in the area.

However, according to participants, much remains to be done. The High-Level Conference on the Lake Chad Region is one of the appropriate responses to address the growing humanitarian needs, root causes, and interconnected dimensions of the crisis in the Lake Chad region.