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Chad’s humanitarian situation sharply deteriorated throughout recent years, driven by internal fragility, regional instability, and the accelerating impacts of climate change. Chad is facing multiple overlapping crises, stretching government and humanitarian response capacities to their limits.
The country’s resources are under immense strain, and food insecurity has seen a sharp increase; the combined effects of drought, flooding, conflict, and displacement have devastated the scarce livelihoods and essential resources such as water and agricultural land.
Chad is one of the world’s poorest nations, and it is bearing the overwhelming humanitarian burden of the Sudan conflict. It hosts a large population of refugees, but its long-standing legal tradition of hospitality is under immense pressure since April 2023, when civil war broke out in neighboring Sudan triggering new waves of mass displacement.
The majority of the displaced are women and children, exhausted by their long journey and in urgent need of food, water, and safety. As the conflict in Sudan shows no signs of ending, the number of people seeking refuge in Chad is expected to continue rising.
DRC has been present in Chad since 2024, responding to the essential needs of Chadian populations, refugees in the eastern part of the countries, and migrants in the northeastern region (Borkou, Ennedi, and Tibesti).
To meet urgent needs in Chad and given the multidimensional crises affecting all aspects of protection, DRC has designed a country program using an integrated approach aimed at saving lives while strengthening the resilience and empowerment of the most vulnerable communities.
By placing local actors at the center of its approach, DRC intends through collaboration with experienced partners to respond to urgent protection needs and ensure access to essential services, while also addressing longer-term challenges and the root causes of conflict.
This iterative approach, which operationalizes Nexus efforts, makes it possible to combine immediate emergency assistance including the provision of humanitarian aid and basic services with medium-term actions focused on strengthening resilience and the capacities of local actors, community-based organizations (CBOs), refugee-led organizations (RLOs), and longer-term interventions aimed at reinforcing social cohesion and supporting recovery.
The Sahel Regional Fund (SRF) is a joint regional fund managed by NGOs and hosted by DRC. Chad is one of the countries that the SRF supports. FCDO, the main donor, provides financial resources to deliver flexible, multi-year funding. This mechanism enables the SRF to support five international NGOs and three national NGOs in Chad to respond to the most urgent humanitarian needs in the most difficult-to-reach areas, particularly in the Lake Province and the east of the country.
