Harvesting Hope: How Communities Are Reviving the Lake Chad Region

Kouloudia Sub-Prefecture, Chad, July 2025-Under the midday sun Achta, a farmer and member of a women producers' group, rhythmically pounds millet grain with a wooden mortar, preparing a meal for her family. Just a year ago, their land was abandoned after years of drought and insecurity. Today, she has harvested enough to feed her children and sell surplus in the market.

Achta's story reflects a broader transformation across the Lake Chad Basin. For decades, the region has been battered by conflict and climate change. Once the sixth-largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Chad has shrunk by nearly 90% since the 1970s. The basin turned to cracked earth and contested territory, devastating livelihoods and displacing millions of people. An armed insurgency beginning in 2009 ravaged communities across Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, uprooting families and disrupting farming, fishing, and trade. More than 49 million people have been hindered from pursuing their livelihoods due to these combined pressures.

Within this context, in 2020, the governments of Cameroon, Chad, and Niger joined with the World Bank and other partners to launch PROLAC, a $170 million initiative to support recovery and development in the region. PROLAC works across countries and communities to restore livelihoods and local economies while fostering regional cooperation.

Reclaiming the Land

In five years, PROLAC has directly supported more than 434,000 people, establishing irrigation systems, rehabilitating water basins and polders, and distributing seeds and equipment to help farmers recover from the effects of drought and conflict.

In western Chad for instance, 2,400 hectares of long-abandoned polders have been restored and equipped with solar-powered pumps, replacing expensive fuel-based systems. Meanwhile, the development of oasis basins in Niger is opening pathways to hundreds of jobs and catalyzing rural growth, particularly through women-led value chains in onion and pepper production, and in Cameroon's Far North, PROLAC swiftly rebuilt hydraulic infrastructure and restored roads following the devastating 2024 floods, helping to minimize livelihood disruptions and ensure communities regained access to markets quickly.

In Chad, the restoration of polders and the installation of low-cost solar panels has expanded agricultural production, boosting livelihoods and access to water. Photo Credit: PROLAC Chad Project Implementation Unit. A dune stabilization site around Niger's Réréwa Krilama Oasis Basin employed 130 households to rehabilitate 110 hectares of land. Each household earned 110,000 FCFA through the project. Photo Credit: PROLAC Niger Project Implementation Unit.

Building Jobs and Connecting Markets

Agriculture alone cannot rebuild a region. PROLAC has focused equally on creating immediate employment while building the infrastructure farmers need to succeed. Through labor-intensive public works, the project is employing 50,000 people-many of them youth or women who had few employment opportunities during years of conflict. These individuals are rehabilitating nearly 300 kilometers of roads so farmers can reach markets, digging irrigation canals to bring water to dry fields, building storage facilities to protect harvests, and stabilizing sand dunes to prevent erosion of farmland. The jobs provide immediate income for families, while the infrastructure they build creates lasting benefits.

Cameroon: With PROLAC support, hydraulic infrastructure constructed has strengthened flood management and proved vital during the 2024 devastating floods. Photo credit: Odilia Renata Hebga / World Bank Group.

Over 100,000 people, nearly half of whom are women, report increased yields and better-quality crops as a result of these interventions. Local markets, once silent, are again filled with the sound of trade.

"Before the project's intervention, this market consisted of a few sheds built with non-durable materials that could be destroyed by wind and rain. But thanks to PROLAC, the market is now built with durable materials and opens every week," says Alhadj Ousmane, a trader at the Ndarangou rural market in Chad. "We have also benefited from solar panels, a wire fence that prevents animals from wandering, and solar freezers for food preservation and the sale of fresh water. This also brings in a little money for the market management committee to pay maintenance workers."

Farmers in Cameroon's Fotokol Market sell their produce in a newly rehabilitated facility. Photo Credit: Odilia Renata Hebga/The World Bank Group.

A Region Transformed by Resilience and Unity

The story of PROLAC is one of resilience and transformation. Across Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, livelihoods are being restored and improved, laying the groundwork for long-term development gains. Equally important, it is helping rebuild the social contract between citizens and the government by channeling investments through local authorities who work directly with communities to deliver tangible improvements. In a region where drought and conflict respect no borders, PROLAC's regional approach has enabled the countries to share information and coordinate security, so roads and markets stay safe and shared water resources are managed more effectively.

As dawn breaks again over Lake Chad, the sight of bustling markets and farmers tending fields is a testament to what has been achieved. A region once defined by crisis is now defined by opportunity and resolve. Challenges remain-pockets of insecurity, climate unpredictability, the sheer scale of needs-but each harvest and each job represent a step forward.