Our History

The Centre for Nursery Development and Eru Propagation (CENDEP) was created in 1999 as a farmer group and legalized as a Common Initiative Group (CIG) on the 19th of July 2000. Over the years CENDEP evolved into an agriculture and forestry extension service provider. It now engages in activities ranging from sustainable agriculture promotion, plant domestication, restoration and protection of degraded forests especially those that serve as watersheds. In this way CENDEP is contributing towards improving the economic well-being and quality of life for individuals, communities, and nations. We do this in collaboration with government, private sector, civil society, and international organizations with whom we share a common vision.

The founding members of CENDEP where farmers who that were trained on how to grow Eru, a forest vegetable that was at the risk of disappearing due to unsustainable harvesting.

After the training they decided to stay together so as to share experiences on the knowledge they had acquired. They adopted the name Centre for Nursery Development and Eru Propagation, CENDEP. CENDEP later embarked on extending the skills and knowledge acquired to other farmers in the region in order to promote the conservation of the resource and to improve the livelihoods of the farmers. Today CENDEP has evolved to address other environmental needs as well as needs of grassroots farmers, recruited skilled personnel to meet emerging challenges and extended its activities to other parts of the of Cameroon and the central African region.

CENDEP’s contribution towards poverty reduction and environmental protection at grassroots level has progressed so far, thanks to financial and institutional support from national and international donors and other strategic partners. In order to respond adequately to the needs and challenges among its target population and to fulfill the dual need for livelihood improvement and biodiversity improvement, CENDEP adopted as mission statement: “To become a lead organization in Cameroon engaged in building capacities of grassroot organizations for the sustainable management of natural resources and in the production and marketing of non timber forest products and agricultural products of economic importance towards poverty alleviation”.

Our activities in each community are intended to culminate in a standard of living that meets basic human needs and provides a sense of well-being, dignity, and quality of life for the local people. Through our activities, the local people should be able to directly or indirectly have or improve access to adequate shelter, nutritious food, clean water and sanitation, safe and secure environment. Thus, we aim to contribute in creating a more equitable and sustainable world where everyone has access to basic needs and opportunities for personal growth. The activities we embark on are community-led, inclusive and responsive to the needs of the people.

These include: