Cameroon:CEFORA installs crisis management, assists 100 IDPs

By Christopher Ambe

CEFORA donates to some Buea IDPs

The Center for Rural Action (CEFORA), a Buea-based civil society organization aimed at empowering rural communities and improving on their livelihoods, last Thursday, September 19, assisted  one hundred (100) IDPs  in Buea rural with farm inputs and seedlings. 

CEFORA is one of eighteen (18) Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), with the support of Japanese government recently granted about 180 million FCFA to them to help effect “Early Recovery and Social Cohesion” in the crisis-stricken English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

CEFORA was selected by the UNDP as one of its grant beneficiaries based on a project, it designed that aimed at ensuring food and nutrition security for IDPs/host communities through on-farm training, transformation and consumption of improved varieties of selected short cycle crops.

The assistance given out by CEFORA  to the 100 IDPs  included farm inputs and tools, as well seedlings) and it came immediately  after  CEFORA  installed a  12-member local crisis management committee, headed by Chief Ndongo of Bonakanda village.

The double-event, which took place at the palace of Chief of Bova 1, was presided at by Hansel Ekwa Itue, founder/project coordinator of CEFORA, which was created in 2010 and gained legal status in 2013.

Mr.Ekwa Itue said since 2013 CEFORA’s activities have focused on empowering local communities with the view to improving their standards of living.

“ We have been working with women on advocacy; campaign against  violence against women; equipping women and girls with sustainable agricultural practices; training women to be economically viable by upgrading their leadership skills,” the coordinator of CEFORA said.

He said although CEFORA is headquartered in Buea, it can intervene in other rural communities across Cameroon.

For now “we are working with IDPs in Upper Buea villages such as Bova, Bonakanda, and also IDPs in IRA-Ekona”

He said the 100 beneficiaries of the farm tools and seedlings were expected to carry out sustainable agricultural practices and to cultivate short-cycle crops such as maize, beans and vegetables

“By so doing these IDPs can recover within a short period to become independent somehow; they will harvest crops from their farms for home consumption and sell some to meet their other needs. We shall follow-up to ensure we cultivate with them through our technical expertise.

“CEFORA thought it is far better for them to cultivate their own crops than waiting for a bag of rice from donors which comes after six months or so.”

CEFORA coordinator pointed out: “Through this initiative, we are promoting social cohesion, which will lead to peace-building”