This program will improve communities’ knowledge of land governance, while helping them to keep abreast of the land reform process currently underway in Cameroon.
Communities living near agro-industries located in the Ocean department and around the Autonomous Port of Kribi will soon be able to obtain information on recent research developments linked to the land reform process through the Land Voice program, an education and awareness-raising program on land issues and governance in Cameroon. These are the main points to emerge from the mission carried out by a team from the Réseau de lutte contre la faim on April 16.
Radio station managers and the project team seized the opportunity of this visit to review the framework for collaboration and rule on the difficulties observed to date. On this occasion, they worked on setting up a system for assessing the program’s impact on communities. Between technical difficulties, logistics and financial needs, everything was scrupulously scrutinized with a view to improving the program’s audience and making it a benchmark program.
Broadcast every Monday from 11 a.m. and rebroadcast on Saturdays at the same time on 102.4 FM radio Nkuli Makeli in Kribi, Land Voice is intended as a popular education approach, and is just as much part of the dynamic of information monitoring and community capacity building. During the 52 minutes of the program and through the sections that make it up, questions such as expropriation for public utility, compensation, management of a community forest, land royalties, involuntary resettlement of people, obtaining a land title in Cameroon and many others will furnish the exchanges. The ” expert opinion ” section will shed light on land governance. Better still, the sharing of ideas and experiences will make a significant contribution to raising awareness on subjects that have long been topical.
For Mr. Guy Lebrun Ambomo, head of the mission, the aim is “to offer vulnerable communities the opportunity to be informed of their rights, so that they can better defend, claim and promote them.
Knowledge of their rights is a real need for many communities in the department of l’Océan, and the themes developed in these broadcasts cover various subjects linked to land governance, because as the saying goes, ‘No one is supposed to be ignorant of the law’.
The program is broadcast on Mondays at 11 a.m. and repeated on Saturdays at the same time. To be closer to the community, a summary in local languages is produced.
The Land Voice program is part of the activities of the LANDCAM research-action project, which can be found at www.landcam.com. The project is jointly run by the Réseau de Lutte contre la Faim (RELUFA), the Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement (CED) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). The LANDCAM project aims to secure land and resource rights and improve governance in Cameroon.
Visit www.landcam.org for more information on land governance in Cameroon
