Welcome to the United Nations
The African Centre for Community and Development focuses on agriculture, communication for development and capacity building of vulnerable sub-populations. The Green Cradle project focuses on integrating women and youth in agriculture, agroforestry, education and conservation. Activities include farming of cassava, pepper, vegetables, non-timber forest products, protection of natural biodiversity, research and promotion of tested practices in order to spur startups and replication across Cameroon and Africa. These activities have resulted in the publication of over 630 multimedia clips on YouTube, including radio programmes. The organization is implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in the areas of ending hunger, improving food security, protecting natural resources including land and water-based ecosystems, education, fighting climate change, creating viable partnerships, innovation, resilient/climate-smart communities and poverty eradication. The Centre integrates all Sustainable Development Goals as strategic pillars, invaluable to the future we want as well as to restore the fractured parameters of life on the planet now impacted by wars, hunger and diseases.
Poverty eradication in the community
The African Centre for Community and Development's activities create employment and provide better access to healthy proteins, hence improving food security in Cameroon and Sub-Saharan Africa. For almost two years, the Centre has worked with over 200 diverse stakeholders including women and youth, in agricultural processes including pepper farming, research, tissue culture in plantains, pig farming, poultry farming, snail farming, duck farming, goat farming, agroforestry, cassava farming and workshops/training programmes which favour knowledge sharing for communal innovation. These processes eradicate poverty as Cameroon and the region face huge unemployment challenges, poverty, food insecurity and poor vocational skill sets necessary in a continent with one billion people.
How our project impacted people’s lives
Loveline, who works at the cassava initiative of the African Centre for Community and Development has been able to earn money to send her three kids to college. She also has saved money as she is allowed to gather rotten twigs from fallen trees at the Green Cradle project of the organization. This process helps to reduce the energy cost of Loveline's household as the twigs are used to cook meals like beans which take a long time to cook. This is also a bonus for her as cooking gas is unaffordable for many poor households. Loveline also benefits from direct access to cheap cassava and other products farmed at the African Centre for Community and Development which she can transform or sell to community stakeholders. Since she became an active worker in the organisation, she has more pride and confidence in herself. It is impossible to forget her jubilantly saying, “I have learnt a lot from African Centre for Community and Development. I have been taught how to be a better woman, who knows her society and can take care of her children. I thank God.”
Lessons learned and recommendations for the future
The African Centre for Community and Development has learnt participatory, holistic and bottom-up approaches to sustainable development. We pride in our capacity to mobilize social capital. We work with diverse stakeholders who help us to be a leading voice in Africa and the world's future development. We have learnt that women and youth must be involved in agriculture/development activities in order to sustain economies, fight poverty, end hunger and reduce the impacts of climate change across Africa. We communicate tested practices and promote knowledge vital for communal innovation/growth.
The organization believes that the Sustainable Development Goals will be better reached with more funding to upscale and develop a vocational training centre in Cameroon to offer capacity building tools in areas such as fisheries, livestock keeping, bamboo transformation, waste recycling, permaculture, agroforestry, conservation, project planning, management, business, apiculture, post-harvest technologies, greenhouse technologies and handicrafts. This will spur startups, reduce inequality, hunger and the impact of climate change and other environmental issues. Integrating these strategies with a mobile/satellite radio station is vital for greater impact.
The organization is thus accepting partnerships in all areas of work and in its bid to develop freshwater fisheries/duck/livestock production at the Green Cradle project. This will bring more youth and women into profitable vocations, increase access to proteins, healthy food, end hunger/poverty and curb youth unemployment. With the right support, the African Centre for Community and Development will do even more for Cameroon and the global development agenda.
Learn more about the African Centre for Community and Development.