Donate for Chad
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Help for Chad
A country marked by conflict: In Chad, Help is committed to helping displaced families from Sudan and the Lake Chad region. We also promote income opportunities for young people and women through agricultural projects.
How is Help providing support in Chad?
Strengthening resilience and creating prospects
In Chad, a country that is already suffering from drought, water shortages are a major challenge. The growing number of refugees from Sudan is adding to the situation. Help supports over 100,000 people in the east of the country, both Sudanese refugees and the host population: among other things, we are drilling wells and distributing food and other urgently needed relief supplies.
In the provinces of Lac and Ouaddaï, we focus on improving the income of young people and women: We promote cooperatives in the cultivation of vegetables as well as fishing. True to our principle of empowerment, we equip the cooperatives with seeds, fertiliser, tools, boats and fishing nets and provide the necessary infrastructure such as wells, pumps and storage facilities. We also train the project participants in sustainable practices, financial knowledge and conflict resolution. They can then earn enough money to provide for their families by selling their produce.
When building wells in Chad, we largely rely on solar wells and train water committees to maintain the wells. In 2013, we opened the largest solar-powered water system in Chad in the Am Nabak refugee camp in the east of the country and were even honoured with the German Solar Prize for this project.
A harvest to live on
Djamila lives in the province of Ouaddai in eastern Chad – a region where people suffer from scorching heat, droughts and famine. "Our harvests were very meagre, we often went to bed hungry. From the little we had, we tried to sell something at the market so that we would at least have a small income. But everyone offered the same vegetables at the same time. That ruins the prices," reports Djamila.
To enable people like Djamila to earn a living from their own resources, we have already strengthened the local infrastructure in the past by building wells. Together with our local project partner, we are currently distributing free seeds and tools to young farmers and providing them with training on how to grow vegetables efficiently and market their harvest.
Help trains us and supports us with the necessary gardening tools. We now cultivate large areas and earn better money.
Djamila, 27 years old
What is the situation like in Chad?
Conflicts, climate change & disasters
Despite its rich oil resources, Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world. Violent conflicts and the consequences of climate change characterise the country, which has also been experiencing an economic crisis since 2015. As a landlocked country that borders seven countries, Chad is predestined for refugee movements. Many people cross the country on their way to the north or seek refuge in Chad due to the uncertain situation in their home countries.
A large part of the population lives in extreme poverty and many people have no access to clean water, sanitation, food or medical care. Climate change is also leading to an increase in extreme weather events such as severe flooding.
Since 2003, Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad have also been dependent on support from aid organizations such as Help. They fled the conflict in Darfur and are still unable to return to their home region. Since April 2023, there has been heavy fighting in Sudan, as a result of which hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes. 1.1 million of them are seeking refuge in Chad.
Your donation creates empowerment: Help to give young people and women in Chad long-term prospects.
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Q&A
Due to the consequences of climate change and the resulting poor harvests, 2.8 million people in the country are currently experiencing food insecurity.
Chad has become the epicentre of refugee movements due to the escalating conflict in its neighbouring country. The country is currently harbouring over 1.1 million refugees from Sudan. The entire infrastructure is under great strain.
The region around Lake Chad has been affected by a severe humanitarian crisis for years. Climate change-related droughts and heatwaves have led to the surface area of Lake Chad shrinking by 90 per cent since 1960. This is a catastrophe for the local population, as the majority of people are dependent on fishing and agriculture. Added to this is the violence of armed groups such as Boko Haram, which have been threatening the population for years. Many families have been forced to leave their home villages. There are now around 2.5 million displaced people and refugees living in the Lake Chad region. Despite the scale of the crisis, the situation at Lake Chad rarely makes it into the media - it is a forgotten crisis.
Our projects in Chad are supported by the following donors:
- Aktion Deutschland Hilft
- German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Since 2012, we have been working closely with our partner organisation AHTD in Chad, which was founded by employees of the former local Help office and is now one of the largest Chadian aid organisations.