25-08-2025 | di COOPI

Chad, COOPI's support for the rights of Sudanese refugee children

The difficult humanitarian situation caused by the conflict in Sudan, which has been going on for over two years, has prompted COOPI - Cooperazione Internazionale, in partnership with UNICEF, to carry out the “Project to strengthen protection services and mechanisms for children affected by the crisis in Sudan”. From April to the end of 2025, COOPI will be working in the camps of Zabout, Djabal, Kerfi and the Daguessa returnee site in Chad, where 9 “Child Friendly Spaces” have been set up to assist separated, at-risk and unaccompanied children. In the Spaces, children can find emergency and hygiene kits, latrines and psychological and psychosocial support.

The civil war that broke out in Sudan in April 2023 has destabilised the countries of north-east Africa, particularly Chad, which has taken in almost 1.3 million people, 87% of them from Sudan. The refugees come mainly from the states of West Darfur and North Darfur, and according to the latest figures published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), most of the migrants are located in the eastern provinces of Chad, where there are 721,700 Sudanese refugees.

The COOPI project aims to create community spaces to support children close to the host communities, such as children's clubs, made up of 12 members per club, i.e. 48 members for the four camps. Actions for children have also included the identification of 60 Transitional Foster Families (TFs) who can take in unaccompanied children before they are reunited with their families.

The programme offers an emergency response and capacity-building approach in two important areas: creating an environment that respects children's rights, and promoting factors that make it possible to respond to emergency situations. 

The facilitators and child protection committees have the role of strengthening community structures, with mental health activities in the 9 Amis spaces, taking care of very vulnerable children and providing protection kits to help bring families together. These centres are essential for identifying and preventing vulnerable children and ensuring their protection.

The programme will help to train and support transitional foster families and to raise awareness in local communities of the importance of protecting children in a war context, in particular the risks of forced recruitment, child labour, female genital mutilation and explosive devices.

COOPI has been working in Chad since 1976 and has carried out 160 projects that have reached over 4.5 million people through a multi-sectoral approach. COOPI currently manages 8 projects benefiting nearly one hundred thousand people, in three towns and in three different areas of intervention. In the Lac, East and N'Djamena regions, it provides emergency education to displaced children and local communities, offers psychosocial support to victims of trauma and promotes peace-building, focusing on women's empowerment, gender-based violence and discrimination and conflict prevention.