Working with her donors and collaborators CENDEP have established a processing unit for eru (Gnetum spp), an important non timber forest product in the area. This facility is available to provide training to farmer groups that are interested in adding value to the produce prior to marketing.
At CENDEP, advocacy is never just about raising awareness about an issue, problem or situation. It is always about seeking to bring about change in the policies, practices, systems, structures, decisions, and attitudes that cause poverty and injustice so that they work for those who live in the situation.
Our principal work is the ecological restoration of degraded areas and supports to local communities’ livelihoods through Analog Forestry. To do this we discuss relevant local, national, and global environmental issues which CENDEP and the communities consider important. We started this intervention in Mbiame, Mbven Subdivision in Bui Division in the North West Region of Cameroon in 2016. In this community, land access and security of tenure were identified as one of the main problems faced by smallholder farmers in general and women in particular. So, since 2016 we have been working with the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action, GAGGA, to rally the collective power of women’s rights and environmental justice movements to realize a world where women can and do access their rights to water, food security, and a clean, healthy and safe environment.
We empower women with different advocacy approaches and techniques that enable them to access land in a more secure manner and regenerate their degraded forest lands thereby protecting their water sources, and producing clean food for their communities. In Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Uganda, Togo, and Zimbabwe, we work with local partners, providing training and backstopping on a collective advocacy plan adapted to the local realities.
