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RELUFA
Network
Fighting Hunger
in Cameroon |
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by Jaff Bamenjo, RELUFA National Coordinator
Our whole team of RELUFA was in shock when Valery Nodem announced that he was moving on to assume other challenges, but we were consoled to learn that he was going to continue his work with the Presbyterian Hunger Program. A few months later I was selected by the Board of Directors for the role as Network Coordinator, and RELUFA's General Assembly of members affirmed my appointment during their meeting in March.
My work with RELUFA goes back to September 2009, when I was recruited for a period of three months to help in research and organization of logistics for RELUFA's documentary film on the Chad Cameroon oil pipeline project. After intensive study and field work, which took the documentary film crew through villages along the 1,070 km (665 miles) pipeline route from the Cameroonian port city of Kribi to the Doba region in southern Chad, my time of work with RELUFA was technically supposed to come to an end in December that year. But, I was asked to stay on and join as permanent staff for RELUFA's Extractive Industries Program, an offer I immediately accepted.
Jaff (right) with other staff representing RELUFA within the Cameroon Food Sovereignty Coalition (COSAC) at a national agricultural show |
Integrated programs
As time passed, I became truly immersed and dedicated to this work.
By extension, the other RELUFA programs also caught my interest and curiosity: Food Sovereignty with Community Grain Banks, Self Development with the Credit Against Poverty loan program, and Trade Justice with the Fair Fruit project. Through all of these programs, I came to understand that the problems identified and the alternatives proposed make huge changes in the lives of the communities. I could see their relevance in a context like ours where they not only present a coping strategy for the poor and marginalized, but also include general advocacy campaigns with like-minded civil society groups to change the system that underpin these injustices.
I am personally concerned for the poor and marginalized in our society and detest all forms of social injustice. This is why RELUFA’s work quickly caught my interest. My Christian background has strongly influenced the values I stand for. I grew up as a Christian of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon PCC, receiving Christian Education in Sunday School, with the Young Presbyterians (YP) and in the Christian Youth Fellowship (CYF) during my youth age.
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Jaff Napoleon Bamenjo grew up in the village of Kumbo in the North West Region of Cameroon.
After obtaining his Government Common Exam (GCE) Advanced level Certificate, he enrolled in the University of Yaounde II, where he graduated with a Bachelors in Political Science. He then proceeded to do his Masters Degree in Development Studies at the Institute of Social Studies in De Hague, the Netherlands, with specialization in the Politics of Alternative Development.
Jaff is an active member of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC)
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This change comes at a time when RELUFA is also transitioning as organization to consolidate and widen its base through thematic platforms. I am eager to pursue the good work that over the years has been done by my colleagues and predecessors, while also seeking to improve on any weaknesses to move RELUFA forward.
It is clear that the task ahead is immense, and our means limited. We are thankful for the faithfulness of our partners, for their solidarity and support over the years. I hope to live up to the trust that has been confided in RELUFA, so that together we can continue to seek economic, social and environmental justice for the poor and contribute in improving the world.
As comrades in the same fight, I am looking forward to working together!
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by Franck Hameni Bieleu, filmmaker
My name is Franck Hameni Bieleu, and I am a young Cameroonian filmmaker of 30 years old. I was born in Paris, when my parents were studying there. In 1982 they decided to return to Cameroon, where I grew up until I was 16 years old and returned to France for my schooling. One thing leading to the other, I ended up studying filmmaking in Great Brittain at the London Metropolitan University.
The very first documentary I made after finishing my studies is “What Hope for the African Youth” (2008), which talks about the despair of young Cameroonians and young Africans in general in the face of poverty, bad governance and corruption that are eroding their country. While I was shooting that film, I happened to come upon the story about some Mayor from a town called Njombé in the Littoral Province of Cameroon, who had been imprisoned, tried and condemned for standing up against a multinational. That seemed a very interesting topic to me, and I decided to make my next movie project about it.
It is ironical that « The Big Banana » was originally supposed to present the story of a Mayor fighting for this community, but has ended up becoming a documentary about the exploitation of bananas and its social-, economic- and environmental impact on the local community. Because, after a little research, it dawned on me that the Mayor's story was only the tip of the iceberg.
As I was gathering information about the topic, I discovered that Njombé-Penja is a town rich in natural resources due to its volcanic soil that is very fertile and favorable for fruit and vegetable production, i.e bananas, but its community is extremely poor.
The multinational, called Plantation du Haut Penja (PHP), of which the French Company Fruitière in Marseille holds 60%, while the American Dole Food Company owns in its turn 40% of Fruitière, allegedly did not pay local taxes to the municipality, which slowed down the town’s development and hardly allowed for any growth. On the other hand, the plantation workers were receiving a pathetic average monthly wage of 23000 CFA, which is less than the minimum set by the State, for a close to 14 hour working day.
To my great surprise, I also learned that the working conditions and salaries were not the only listed injustices in the region, there was something even more disturbing: the large scale expropriation of small farmers. In fact, due to increased demand on the European market, PHP is aided by local and national elected representatives who have their personal interest in the banana sector. For example the Minister of Commerce is the President of company’s Board of Directors, and the region’s Congressman is no one else than its Director for Foreign Affairs. They ease the process of expropriation of Cameroonian small holders, and whoever resists such decision finds himself jailed, just like the Mayor.
My investigations into the expropriation of farmers, allowed me to come upon RELUFA in Njombé. I was pleasantly surprised to run into Christi Boyd, a collaborator of RELUFA, who shared with me about their initiative called “Fair Fruit”. Fair Fruit brings together two distinctly different groups of producers, the one being fruit farmers and the other fruit processors, and it facilitates the export of the dried fruit to the US, where it is sold through their distributor, Partners for Just Trade. I was particularly drawn to the initiative because the two groups of producers are made up of families who have been expropriated by PHP and the initiative gives them the upmost opportunity to earn some income and create a micro-economy that is independant from the mass productions by PHP.
My encounter with RELUFA could easily be seen as a symbiosis. Many of the people featuring in the documentary have been introduced to me by them, and RELUFA meticulously arranged for me the connections to be able to meet up in the US with their trade partners. This allowed me to show the routing of the production from the grassroots in Njombé to the consumers in the US and I am deeply grateful to them for that. By including this initiative in my documentary, I wanted to show one of the many alternatives to circumvent the omnipresent transnational company. I sincerely believe that if this kind of initiative could be multiplied, the community of Njombé Penja could only benefit.
My interest in making this kind of documentaries is solely to inform the public, and to trigger debate so that this sector will be reformed to improve the living conditions of the local residents in these regions. Their voices do not carry far enough to be heard. I hope with all my heart that the film will play its role and will not have been made in vain for the sake of the people in Njombe. Consumers in the West have the power to influence the multinational thugs by calling out to them and if necessary by boycotting bananas that are the product of human exploitation.
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by Bernadet Neutel, Fair Fruit Project Coordinator
As the new coördinator for RELUFA´s Fair Trade dried fruit project, called FAIR FRUIT, I have been working with the RELUFA team since September, 2010. I am Dutch and moved to Cameroon in August 2009, together with my husband Marcel. Being a Christian, I believe that God has given us the task to take good care of the people and the environment around us. Therefore, my husband and I came to Cameroon to use our background and skills in order to make a change in a setting where hunger and poverty are still real problems.
Bernadet was directly intrigued by RELUFA and its Fair Fruit project |
During my first year in Yaoundé, I worked for a Cameroonian investment fund, where I was providing assistance to companies and designing new communication materials. And although I was directly working with clients in my job at the investment fund, I felt that I could not really have an impact on the marginalized people in society, and that is where my passion lies. Therefore, I started looking around for other opportunities and that is how I came in touch with Christi Boyd, mission worker of the Presbyterian church USA and involved in RELUFA from the very first hour. She told me about RELUFA and the FAIR FRUIT project, which directly caught my interest. FAIR FRUIT has been started as a reaction to economic injustice, is directly working with marginalized people and shows that it is possible to start a sustainable project in a way that is fair for all parties involved. It was just the right fit for me.
Christi had been in charge of setting up the FAIR FRUIT project during the pilot stage and she has done a great job. When I started working with RELUFA, FAIR FRUIT was already a well functioning project with a clearly defined philosophy, good quality products, a beautiful package and a client base, both in Cameroon and the USA. However, there was a true need for a professional feasibility study with which a clear strategic plan could be developed.
When Beatrice was still small, her mother had been taken off the field she farmed to feed her family |
Christi had already been working with the farmers and dryers, and gathered a lot of information on the production process, the costs involved, Fair Trade certification, organic production, etcetera. So we sat down together to structure those data for me to start doing the calculations that formed the basis for the feasibility study. Within three months the feasibility study was completed and a first draft of the strategic plan established.
FAIR FRUIT is a project with many different aspects, which all come together in the strategic plan. First of all, the project needs to be sustainable. Our aim is not to make profits, but to create a situation in which the project can finance itself. This means that both the production costs, but also investments and additional assistance to the farmers should be financed from the sales of the product. In this way, we can create a sustainable income generating project for both the farmers and the dryers. While doing the calculations, it became clear that it is possible to reach this situation with FAIR FRUIT within the coming two years, if we increase the production to full capacity.
Fair Fruit in a Douala supermarket |
When we increase the production, we also need to find new markets for our product, which is a second pillar of our strategy. In November last year, I started a marketing tour in the two main cities of Cameroon: the diplomatic capital of Yaoundé and the industrial capital of Douala. It is good to see the large local interest in our product. FAIR FRUIT is now sold in nearly all major supermarket chains, several large hotels, the offices of national and international NGO´s, and schools in Cameroon. Besides, we have been looking to broaden our market in the USA and in Europe.
A third aspect of the strategy is Fair Trade certification. By starting the FAIR FRUIT project, RELUFA wanted to show that it is possible to create a fair product within a larger philosophy of creating just trading systems and responsible production practices.
Bernadet in a working session with lead dryer, Daniel Hamaha, to increase transparency and ensure fair prices for all parties |
In order to obtain the Fair Trade status for our product, we studied different certification agencies in order to see which label would fit best with our project. At the same time, we are improving the structure and operations, and increasing the transparency within the project, in order to apply fully to the Fair Trade standards. We are discussing with the farmers to see how we can fix prices on a level that is fair for both farmers and dryers and feasible for the project.
Furthermore, in order to make the project more environmentally friendly, we are moving towards a 100% organic FAIR FRUIT product. However, there currently are still a few agricultural inputs used with the pineapple, that do fully meet organic standards. Therefore, in cooperation with the farmers, research has been done on how to replace these products, and recently we have found a local resource and supplier. Altogether we anticipate a shift in the very near future!
Victor Lemoufou and Flaubert Tanefo are shifting towards organic propineapple production |
Another way to make our project more environmentally friendly is to change the energy source for the drying process. Currently, the dryers use gas ovens, which is costly and not environmentally friendly. Christi had already done a thorough research on various forms of green technology that could be applied for the drying process and replace the gas as fossil fuel. That way we have found an interesting solar drying system with a backup biomass burner that runs 100% on renewable energy. This oven will decrease a large part of the production costs and at the same time give us an environmentally friendly production process. We are currently in the process of finding funds to finance the purchase of this system for our project.
In the six months that I have been working with RELUFA, I already feel part of the family.
My vision was to use my skills and background in the FAIR FRUIT project in order to be able to really make myself useful for RELUFA, but also for the dryers and farmers in the FAIR FRUIT project. It is fulfilling that after six months, I can see that my input is appreciated and that with my background I can really bring the project to a more professional level.
Every time I work with the dryers and farmers and see the impact it has on their lives, it motivates me to continue with even more enthusiasm than before. Farmers expressed already several times to me that FAIR FRUIT has brought the hope back into their life. Who would not want to do everything to make sure that this hope will be translated into a sustainable income generating activity that helps the farmers to take care of their families!
RELUFA's FAIR FRUIT team, including most of the farmers and dryers plus staff |
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Cameroon: +237 22 21 32 87
USA: www.partnersforjusttrade.org/fruit |
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by Jaff Bamenjo, RELUFA Coordinator
 From the 14th to the 19th of February 2011, a team of RELUFA staff conducted a field visit to Mobilong in the Yokadouma subdivision in south east Cameroon, a few kilometers from the border with the Republic of Central Africa. The aim of this visit was to evaluate the contribution to the social and economic development of revenue allocated to the local communities from the exploitation of natural resources in their territories, in light of a new diamond mining project to be started at Mobilong. Coincidentally, this region is also home to the indigenous people group of the Baka, a minority group also referred to as "pygmies", who live side by the side the Bantu population in the villages where they are found. But it is sad to note how these people are systematically sidelined from the benefits accruing from the exploitation of natural resources in their territory.
The pygmies are considered as the most ancient people to have lived in the forests in Africa. By nature, they are withdrawn, very reserved and hardly live outside their natural habitat which is the forest. In most countries where they are found, they are totally absent from the administrative and political structures. In Cameroon, the pygmies live mostly in the southern region of the country in the equatorial forest, and represent about 0.3% of the national population. Generally, they live in small settlements and agglomerations, and depend essentially on hunting, fishing and gathering for their livelihood.
Women and children of the Pygmy settlement at Ampire near the diamond mine of Mobilong during a community meeting with the RELUFA team |
Over the years, pygmies in Cameroon are gradually abandoning their nomadic lifestyle and increasingly living sedentary lives. They are therefore faced with similar social and economic problems like all other groups in the country. But regrettably their own problems go beyond those of other groups since they have no representation in the council, legislative and the political structures of the country. They are absent from most aspects of national life and therefore do not enjoy the same rights and obligations as other citizens. By design or omission, the pygmy people have no land ownership rights and the majority of them lack identity documents, a prerequisite for any citizen in most countries. A typical pygmy agglomeration is characterized by abject poverty, no access to education, health care and sanitation.
The forest reforms of the 1990s in Cameroon attempted to provide an answer to the development of local communities through the institution of a framework to allocate royalties generated from the exploitation of forest resources to local communities. These reforms were engaged by the government with the support of the World Bank and introduced by law No. 04/01 of January 20th 1994. They are partly aimed at promoting the local participation, social and economic benefits of local councils and communities through local management of forest revenues. According to the 1994 Cameroon forest law, industrial logging companies operating in Cameroon pay an Annual Forest Royalty which is shared between the central government, the local councils and the local communities near forest concessions.
Jaff holding a diamond found in the Ampire village |
But for the pygmies, industrial logging greatly affected their livelihood which is largely dependent on the forest. Even though it can be argued that their situation worsened due to increased industrial logging which reduced their free access to the forest in their localities, they have not benefitted from annual forest royalty allocations. This is the case with the pygmies living in the village of Ampire near Mobilong in Yokadouma sub division, and host to Cameroon's newest diamond mining site..
The forest reform law as been designated to serve as model for the government's allocation of revenues from the exploitation of oil, mining, and gaz. But the pygmies have been relegated to the background as far as the allocation of sub national revenues from the exploitation of natural resources in Cameroon is concerned. This is clear from the annual forest royalty allocations from where pygmies have drawn little benefits despite the needs expressed by their communities. Since they have not benefitted from annual forest royalties, the same thing will likely happen with the impending royalties from the diamond mining project and the pygmies in the Ampire village do not hesitate to express their frustrations and concerns.
Ampire is a small pygmy settlement found in the forest in the south east of Cameroon and located a few kilometers from the site of an impending diamond mining project. In Ampire, there is no health centre, pipe borne water and the village school is a one room shack with no benches
A primary school in the pygmy village of Ampire |
Following the 1994 Cameroon forest law, annual forest royalties are allocated to local communities where there are logging concessions. This was meant as a strategy to allocate revenue for the socio economic development of local communities living closer to forest concessions with industrial logging activities. But experience has shown that the pygmies are kept at the fringe as the situation in the Ampire village indicates. Although the debate on the management of revenue from natural resources in Cameroon has shifted from the central government level to the local councils and communities, little consideration is given to the pygmies who are marginalized in this process and can instead be considered as the principal victims of the exploitation of natural resources in their territories be it logging or mining projects.
Although local forest royalty from the forest has been going to local communities in Yokadouma for the last 18 years, pygmies villages have not benefitted as their villages have remained without basic social services for all these years. They denounce the sociological composition of the management committees chosen to manage the annual forest royalty and consider that the absence of special consideration given to them as a minority as pure neglect. Practically, the indigenous baka pygmies were not represented in the management committees for over 17 years of annual forest royalty allocations until recently with the enactment of the joint ministerial order of 3rd June 2010 which makes it mandatory for pygmies to henceforth have a representative in the management committee. According to them, they have not benefitted from annual forest royalties with the chief village declaring that although they had asked for the construction of a village school and a health centre, these have not been given. The newly designated representative of the village in the forest royalty management committee complained that he is hardly listen to during meetings even with his bad French as he puts it.
C&K Diamond mining project site at Mobilong |
Even if most studies have concluded that annual forest royalties have in general not led to significant social and economic development in the local communities in Yokadouma, the situation of the pygmies is peculiar because they are the least considered but suffer most from the exploitation of natural resources in their territories. Besides, Cameroon has now opted to open up its mining sector to industrial mining projects most of which are located closer to the settlements of the pygmies like the Mobilong diamond project promoted by a Korean company C&K.
But still, no framework exists in Cameroon to ensure that they capture any benefits at all from such projects despite the appalling living conditions in their village. Their bitter experience with the management of annual forest royalty is pushing them out of their reserve and they do not hesitate to vent out their anger now when asked about it. That is why an advocacy campaign for effective local revenue allocation and management at the local level has been conceived within RELUFA so that revenue from natural resources can contribute to the social and economic development in all segments of the local communities without any discrimination. |
RELUFA, BP 1003, Yaoundé, Cameroun, telephone +237 22 21 32 87
Copyright © 2008 RELUFA. All rights reserved.
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