Cameroon Clears Final Steps for $38.6 Million World Bank Safety Net Loan

Cameroon has taken another step toward securing additional funding for its Adaptive Social Safety Nets and Economic Inclusion Project, with President Paul Biya authorizing the Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development to sign a $38.6 million credit agreement with the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessional lending arm.

The authorization, contained in a decree signed on July 22, 2026, clears the way for the agreement to be signed but does not mean the funds have already been released.

The additional financing, worth about CFA21 billion, is intended to strengthen a program that expands social protection for poor households while helping unemployed urban youth access income-generating activities and entrepreneurship opportunities.

Funding has been in the works since 2025

The financing has been under preparation for more than a year. In April 2025, then World Bank Country Director for Cameroon Cheick Fantamady Kanté announced plans for an additional $35 million to support the project. The amount was later revised upward to $38.6 million, according to the presidential decree.

The World Bank finalized the project’s additional financing package in August 2025, explaining that the new operation would replenish the resources needed to continue the program’s various activities.

The decree therefore does not launch a new financing package. Instead, it authorizes the signing of an agreement that has been under preparation since 2025.

Expanding social protection and youth employment

The project has two main objectives.

The first is to expand the country’s social safety net system and strengthen its ability to support vulnerable households during economic, food, health, or climate-related shocks.

The second is to improve access to income-generating opportunities, entrepreneurship training, and business support for unemployed young people living in urban areas.

The program combines several interventions, including cash transfers to poor households, labor-intensive public works, economic inclusion programs, entrepreneurship support, the development of a national social registry, and the modernization of government payment systems.

According to the World Bank, the employment component includes a business plan competition supporting 2,000 young entrepreneurs, while a broader economic inclusion program targets 65,000 unemployed urban youth through training and start-up assistance.

Building on an existing program

The World Bank approved an initial $160 million IDA credit for the project’s second phase in March 2022. The operation was designed to directly benefit 217,500 people, including poor households, young adults between 18 and 35 years old, and internally displaced people.

The Cameroonian government was authorized to sign that financing agreement in October 2022, and implementation began in December 2023.

The current phase builds on the country’s first social safety net program, launched in 2013 with $50 million in World Bank financing. That program targeted 65,000 poor and vulnerable households in the Adamawa, East, North, Northwest, and Far North regions, as well as about 5,000 households in Yaoundé and Douala.

Funds are not yet available

Although the financing has now cleared another administrative hurdle, the presidential decree does not trigger the release of the funds.

The credit agreement must first be signed, enter into force, and meet the conditions required before disbursements can begin. The pace of funding will then depend on project implementation, progress toward agreed objectives, and the World Bank’s validation of eligible expenditures.

The additional financing is primarily intended to extend and expand activities already underway rather than launch a new program.

Its success will ultimately be measured by how effectively the new funding translates into cash transfers for vulnerable households, income-generating opportunities for young people, and lasting economic inclusion outcomes.

Ludovic Amara