To improve land security and rights of at least 20 communities through land use planning, legal empowerment, advocacy and geospatial technology by 2029

Land security and rights of vulnerable communities are under serious threats from companies, and political and economic elites. Land is of utmost importance to local and indigenous communities. Land means everything including means of livelihoods, identity and culture, source of peace and security. Local and indigenous communities depend on land for agriculture, livestock grazing, water, environment, culture etc. For these communities, losing land means losing lives. In Cameroon as in many parts of Africa, pressure on rural lands is on the rise caused by the expansion of agricultural plantations, agro-industries, logging activities as well as population growth and development activities. The acquisition of rural lands has been in many cases illegal and plagued with irregularities, fraud, and abuse of community land rights. Expropriation, grabbing and infringement into community lands and abuse of rights defenders is escalating. According to Global Witness, nearly 200 land and environment defenders were killed in 2023. It is crucial to protect local and indigenous community land rights in order to secure the livelihoods, identity, culture and way of life of the present and future generations. Advocacy to improve people-centered land governance frameworks through collaboration with various sub-national, national and international networks, coalitions and public institutions remains a key priority to COMAID. In addition, strengthening the capacity of communities and their defenders to assert their rights and agency, access justice and effectively defend themselves is now more important than ever. COMAID and its partners will intensify the work with local communities and rights defenders experiencing various forms of land-related abuses. We will continue to innovate and deploy strategies and tools such as land use planning, psychosocial and legal empowerment, advocacy, and geospatial technology to protect the land rights of vulnerable communities in Cameroon. As a result, we will consolidate and expand our work to ensure we improve land security and rights of vulnerable communities through land use planning, legal empowerment, advocacy and geospatial technology, while seeking to protect the rights of land rights defenders.

To ensure sustainable management of ecosystems, landscapes restoration, biodiversity protection, and climate change adaptation and mitigation by communities through initiating and leveraging environmentally sustainable, equitable and community-based models and mechanisms of resource management and conservation.

Climate change and biodiversity loss are two interrelated and most defining environmental crisis of our time. Cameroon experiences various climate hazards including droughts, floods, strong winds, heat waves, wild fires, soil degradation and invasive plants and insect species. Conversely, communities exhibit inadequate adaptive capacity to withstand these extreme events. Vulnerability to climate change is only worsening. Cameroon is part of the Congo Basin, which spans across six countries in Africa, and home to some of the world’s largest tropical rainforests. The basin’s forest is vital for mitigating climate change due to its size and variety, as well as its role as a carbon sink, and therefore a very critical climatic region of global importance. Ecosystems and biodiversity that support life in communities is also declining. The fragility of ecosystems and biodiversity, and the decline in natural resources is mainly due to human activities and climate change itself. Cameroon has a rich biodiversity and encompasses diverse ecosystems in four ecological zones including Sudano-Sahelian, the savanna, the coastal, and the tropical forest zones. The country is habitat to species listed on the IUCN Red list of Threatened Species. For example, the Bannerman's found in the western highlands of Cameroon is endemic to the country. Despite its ecological and economic potential, Cameroon’s ecosystems and biophysical landscapes are fast degrading. The World Research Institute report reveals that Cameroon is among the top ten countries for tropical primary forest loss in 2023.[1] The high rate of forest and landscape degradation in Cameroon is having a severe impact on ecosystems and livelihoods of rural communities. Critical awareness and action towards biodiversity protection, restoration of degraded landscape and sustainable management of natural resources are necessary to reverse this trend and improve livelihoods, ecosystems, and biodiversity. COMAID is committed to leveraging its long experience in using community-based landscape restoration and natural resource management models to continue supporting restoration and sustainable natural resource management processes at scale. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) has emerged as a promising approach to addressing societal challenges such as food security, disaster risk, water security, human health, etc., while providing human-wellbeing and biodiversity co-benefits. We will work with communities to enhance uptake and implementation of NbS as part of our inclusive, equitable and sustainable landscape restoration, management, and climate change adaptation efforts. Hence, to realize this, COMAID will work to ensure sustainable management of ecosystems, landscapes restoration, biodiversity protection, and climate change adaptation and mitigation by communities through initiating and leveraging environmentally sustainable, equitable and community-based models and mechanisms of resource management and conservation.

To promote sustainable food systems and agribusinesses in the agricultural, livestock and other key rural economic sub sectors through inclusive and gender-responsive value chains development and nature-based agricultural solutions in 10 communities

Poverty and food insecurity are among the major threats to the daily life of Cameroonians in both urban and rural areas. The MDG 1 on the eradication of poverty is struggling to be achieved in Cameroon because more than eight (8) million Cameroonians still live below poverty. The SDG #2 aims to end hunger, achieve food security, and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. Reviews show the immense challenge of achieving the zero-hunger target. The world is back at hunger levels not seen since 2005, and food prices remain higher in more countries than in the period 2015–2019. Along with conflict, climate shocks, and rising cost of living, civil insecurity and declining food production have all contributed to food scarcity and high food prices Over 60% of Cameroonians earn a living in agricultural, agribusiness and other rural sectors. The hope for reducing poverty and food insecurity in Cameroon remains greater investments in agricultural, agribusiness and other promising sectors. The agricultural sector has its own challenges including low productivity, post-harvest storage losses and the effects of climate change. In most vital agricultural sectors, low productivity among smallholder farmers is caused by lack of agricultural financing, unsustainable farming methods, low soil fertility, fragmented marketing systems, and poor transportation and storage infrastructures. The long abusive use of chemical inputs to improve soil fertility has instead negatively affected soil health in Cameroon and all of SSA. COMAID seeks to facilitate access to agricultural financing for unbankable smallholder farmers, while supporting them to improve soil health and productivity through sustainable farming systems and nature-based agricultural solutions that are resilient to climate change. We will also support farmers/community organizations to access profitable markets and services in major cities. Our aim is to promote inclusive, gender-responsive and climate-resilient value chains with strong market potential that involves and empowers vulnerable communities as a means to tackle poverty and food insecurity. We will also partner with communities to invest in relevant action-research, demonstration sites and climate-resilient agribusinesses that create income and jobs for communities as well as additional resources for the organization’s development work, and ensure overall rural prosperous, inclusive and sustainable communities. Consequently, we will reduce poverty and food insecurity by promoting sustainable food systems and agribusinesses in the agricultural, livestock and other key rural economic sub sectors through inclusive and gender-responsive value chains development and nature-based agricultural solutions in and with communities.

To enhance communities’ self-governance and the revival of indigenous knowledge and bio-cultural diversity in at least 5 communities through community dialogues by 2029

Enhancing communities’ self-governance and the revival of indigenous knowledge and bio-cultural diversity is crucial to addressing the ecological, social, economic, and climate crisis that is plaguing humanity today. Local and indigenous communities are endowed with invaluable and often unique knowledge and practices that have enabled them to live in harmony with Nature from creation. Their cosmologies have proven them to be the best in local territorial governance, spirituality, production & prosperity, climate change adaptation, and socialization. Unfortunately, this knowledge has been undermined by colonization, capitalism, and anthropocentrism with the insensitive human dominance in the bigger web of life. The result has been the multiple ecological, social, economic, and climate crisis that is plaguing humanity today. Indigenous traditions and cultures are fast eroding and most of the colonized countries have demonized their religion, lost their identity, values and the ancestral way of living in balance and harmony with Nature. What we are witnessing is a systematic and interrelated crisis that is affecting every part of the world. There is a need to restore the human-earth relationship that will bring the desired healing and balance to respond to the multiple ecological and climate shocks in order to sustain future generations to come. This can only happen if we undertake the journey back to ‘roots’ to revive and restore indigenous and ancestral knowledge that has proven successful to build efficient and healthy societies. COMAID Staff have acquired Training on Earth Jurisprudence with the Gaia Foundation and will support communities to engage in community dialogues to reweave their basket of life and revive their governance systems, food systems, ancestral belief systems, regenerate healthy ecosystems and preserve all forms of life. Therefore, we will pilot activities aimed to enhance communities’ self-governance and the revival of indigenous knowledge and bio-cultural diversity in some communities through community dialogues.

To strengthen the institutional capacity and performance of COMAID as a reputable and effective development organization through capacity development and thought leadership, partnership strengthening, policy, systems and tools upgrade, visibility and gender mainstreaming.

Strong institutional capacity and performance of COMAID is essential to achieving its mandate and building its reputation among communities, partners and stakeholders. COMAID has grown consistently since its creation in 2009. This growth can be explained by its adherence to its vision, staff and board commitment, programming effectiveness, and trust by its partners and local communities. It is important to consolidate and expand this growth. As such we aim to continue improving our professionalism and impact through sustained progress in key areas of our organization. We will continue investing in staff and board development, gender-sensitive recruitments, performance assessments, organization policy review, financial management and accountability, soft and hard infrastructure development, partnerships strengthening, thought leadership in areas of expertise, gender in programmatic, Human Resource and policy domains, and organizational visibility. The decentralization process in Cameroon is making progress with municipal councils now having the authority to make planning and development decisions since 2019. We will leverage local governance frameworks to enhance localization of development through partnership with local councils, development partners and communities as part of the SDGs review recommendations on localization. As such, we will continue strengthening the institutional capacity and performance of COMAID as a reputable and effective development organization through capacity development and thought leadership, partnership strengthening, policy, systems and tools upgrade, visibility and gender mainstreaming..

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