The local manifestations of a globally enforced market-driven economy have changed Cameroonian society. The marginalized have no longer access to basic goods and services necessary for their adequate survival. Subsistence farmers have been expelled from their fields for the plantations of agro- exportbusinesses. Local communities are disrupted by the practices of lumber, oil and mining companies. At an alarming pace Cameroon's rich and highly diverse tropical rainforests are disappearing to satisfy foreign markets. Cameroon's debt service burdens the nation's ability to tend to the population's need for agriculture, education, health care and infra structure. Cameroonian traditions and customs that used to express values of solidarity for the communal good are becoming extinct. The Christian community at large has turned inward, not heeding the Scriptures' call to plea for the poor and the oppressed.

Cultural as well as religious traditions teach communities inclusiveness and solidarity. As a Cameroonian faith-based network, RELUFA stresses the importance of recognizing, identifying with and strengthening those values.

CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAM

In its training activities, RELUFA intends to:

• Enhance the understanding of religious values and traditions on human economic interactions
• Reassert the value of cultural practices and expressions of solidarity in money-less communities
• Build awareness about logics and mechanisms of the market economy
• Increase understanding in the dynamics of the current global economy
• Share experiences of successful economic alternatives

STRATEGIC PROGRAM

RELUFA is actively campaigning for Economic Justice in the Extractive Industries of Central Africa. The network is advocating the plight of communities effected by the Chad Cameroon Oil and Pipeline Project and is as founding member of the Cameroonian branch actively involved in the worldwide Publish What You Pay (PWYP) campaign. PWYP calls for transparency in the Extractive Industries.

Advocacy activities in solidarity with the subsistence farmers of Njombe are in the planning.