Issue
CAEPA requires strengthened advocacy and community engagement strategies in order to support women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and inclusive climate action.
How we are helping
We are supporting CAEPA to train women leaders, develop DRR action plans, engage policy-makers, and deliver inclusive advocacy and public awareness campaigns.
About the project
The Foundation’s capacity strengthening grants stream supports smaller Commonwealth civil society organisations in smaller Member States, building their expertise and enhancing their capacity to influence policy.
CAEPA Cameroon works to promote gender equality and inclusive development. To affirm its focus on women’s leadership in DRR, CAEPA is strengthening its capacity in advocacy, communication, and strategic engagement. With this grant, CAEPA will empower women to participate in climate action planning, develop and disseminate disaster risk management plans, and engage communities and policy-makers to shape inclusive DRR policies.
The key actions for this project are:
- Research and policy engagement
- Engaging a resource person to assess gaps in laws, policies and practices related to DRR.
- Developing advocacy tools, including policy briefs, issue papers and position papers.
- Hosting high-level dialogues with local and regional stakeholders to influence DRR policy and planning.
- Training and community engagement
- Training 30 women leaders from flood- and landslide-affected communities in disaster preparedness.
- Holding monthly strategic planning meetings with women leaders.
- Facilitating community dialogues to document local perspectives and challenges.
- Public awareness and media outreach
- Conducting awareness campaigns in schools, mosques, churches, women’s clubs and youth groups.
- Producing media content, including radio and TV talk shows, flyers, posters and social media messages.
- Training 20 senior journalists and editors on DRR reporting to improve public discourse.
- Local planning and policy development
- Convening meetings in the three council areas of Bamenda to develop and validate DRR action plans.
- Printing and distributing 1,000 copies of each district plan in English and local languages.
As a result of the project, it is hoped that CAEPA will strengthen its organisational capacity in research, advocacy, communications and partnership-building. Women leaders will gain knowledge and skills to lead community-based disaster planning, and new local disaster risk management plans will support accountability and action. Increased visibility, improved stakeholder collaboration, and stronger monitoring and evaluation systems will enable CAEPA to influence local and regional climate resilience strategies with a gender-transformative lens.
Project Partners
Community Agriculture and Environmental Protection Association (CAEPA) Cameroon is a national non-governmental organisation started by a group of female volunteers in 2009 who, after serving in Cameroon’s civil service, decided to offer their knowledge for the development of local communities in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. CAEPA provides community development volunteers with a forum to identify community problems and propose solutions at local, national, and international levels. CAEPA promotes gender equality and inclusive development with a focus on health, agriculture, environment, orphan and vulnerable children, human rights, and governance. CAEPA's mission is to improve the living conditions of the rural poor, especially women and girls, and Mbororo Fulani Pastoralist.
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