Community Development
Securing sustainable livelihoods is a key part of CCID’s goal to ensure that communities are enjoying their full range of economic human rights. International human rights instruments likewise call on states parties to protect these rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. Most of our target population derives their livelihood from agriculture, primarily through subsistence and commercial farming. This indicates that ensuring that Cameroonian farmers are consistently engaged in gainful agricultural economic practices means that their well-being can only be improved.
Our interventions encourage using local material and human resources in a way that enhances economic outcomes while improving social conditions. We use formal and informal methods to promote learning and social development with the individuals and communities that we work with. Women and children in particular provide the bulk of family labor; furthermore, many female farmers live below the poverty line as their economic situation is worsened by their limited control and ownership of productive resources. These barriers to economic autonomy and prosperity thus expose women and youth to economic insecurity and other vulnerabilities.
In response, we search for effective ways to empower individuals to be in control of their livelihoods. One such way we have done so is through the provision of hand-pushed carts to women’s groups in Tole, Buea in the Southwest Region of Cameroon. A large portion of all fresh produce is lost by women farmers after harvest due to decay and other transportation-related challenges. By providing farming women’s groups with these carts, we were able to help reduce post-harvest losses, thereby improving the food security and incomes of rural women. This project fits within the broader development agenda outlined in parts 1 and 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which are committed to eradicating poverty and hunger.
To learn more about our community development projects, browse our Community Development section in our Annual Reports.