DESIRE OF THE NATIONS

Ewi Stephanie Lamma is a graduate of Geology and Environmental Science from the University of Buea, spearheading research and development for 8 years in rural forest communities in the South West Region of Cameroon. After series of research, she noticed the exclusion of women in decisions towards natural resources, which triggered her advocacy for women’s rights to natural resources and decision-making platforms. Aside empowering and building the capacities of 5,400 rural women in 90 communities, Lamma is host to Eco-voice on two radios reaching 4000 listeners. Her services have recorded a 65% increase in women’s income sources and 20% involvement of women in local councils. The founder of Desire of Nations believes natural resources should be used for the benefits of all people, not monopolized for the benefit of few. She is taking a Masters in Natural Resource Management and aspiring another in Environmental 

The problem I am committed to solve is the inadequate representation of women, and the complete exclusion of rural women as stakeholders in decisions towards natural resource management in Cameroon and Africa at large. RAISE MY VOICE project will introduce creative approaches that empower and build the capacities of rural women so as to enhance their considerations in REDD and climate change projects in the Bimbia Bonadikombo Community Forest. The work will raise an awareness for women’s engagement in the REDD process and ensure that their interests are taken into consideration as they benefit from the effects of the process. It will ensure a sustainable livelihood and means of income to these women during and after project lifetime. Lastly, it will develop recommendations to enable the Cameroon government improve on its human, financial and technical resources for capacity building. 

57.1% of women in Cameroon invest in the health of the forest because it guarantees their survival and livelihood. Therefore, the rate of deforestation and degradation in recent decades has raised concerns for climate change impacts on rural livelihoods. Cameroon’s vision 2035 identifies climate change as Cameroon’s major challenge and calls for the reduction of greenhouse gases to tackle it. Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) is a climate change mitigation instrument of UNFCCC for 47 developing countries, which Cameroon is a signatory. Conclusions in the Readiness-Preparatory Plan says women, be represented at 30% minimum in management committees. REDD projects within the country are carried out around 10 ecological regions. Deliberations around this development have not fully considered the gender dimension, and only one REDD project has taken actions to incorporate a 20% gender perspective. The inadequate inclusion of women as stakeholders within climate change projects provides evidence that little has changed in the way members of the forest sector view these concerns. This has led to less individuals benefiting from forests resources; contributing to marginalization of the populations from decision-making while increasing negligence in the management of forest resources by forests users, particularly women. 

RAISE MY VOICE is a project with an aim to integrate gender equality considerations in climate policies and programmes to leverage co-benefits between gender equality and climate action. The co-benefits approach advances the view that actions to realize the less than 1.5 degree Celsius goal (climate mitigation) bring multiple benefits, including gender equality and women’s empowerment; and in the same vein, efforts to achieve gender equality, women’s human rights and their empowerment contribute to more effective climate response and action. a four-point approach is outlined to leverage women’s potential in adaptation and mitigation efforts while addressing their needs, which includes:

1) Engaging women in REDD and climate change discussions through increased capacity building and education.

2) Developing management policies that specifically address differentiated climate change impacts for women and girls;

3) Facilitating availability and accessibility of financial instruments and opportunities tailored towards combating climate change

4) Enhancing participation of women and girls in the planning, design, implementation and monitoring of REDD and Climate change projects.

The Bimbia-Bonadikombo Community Forest (BBCF) is situated in the eastern part of Limbe, South West Region, Cameroon with a surface area of 3.735 ha between latitude 40 00’46’ to 90 North and longitude 90 1311 to 130 east. it comprises 14 villages (4 forest and 10 creek) with a total population of 16,000. Early this year, my team and I embarked on a research funded by Joke Walker Hunter to assess the participation of women in decisions towards REDD+ and climate change, in BBCF. Data for this research came from the field and from an extensive literature review. Data collection tools included questionnaires and  Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools. The PRA tools were used to empower the women to assume an active role in analyzing their living conditions, problems and potentials to seek for a change of their situation enabling validation of the reliability of the questions administered to individual households. From our results, we are developing entrepreneurship support and programs that benefit these women. We will build their capacities to enhance their participation in policy and programs that impact management of natural resources. Finally, we will develop, implement and facilitate gender equity policies, strategies and programs for government bodies.

My project cuts across all three objectives of the ELEVATE PRIZE. It gives women the opportunity to be trained and empowered through entrepreneurship programs that will make them financially upright and economically worthwhile.

It creates an awareness and sensitization to stakeholders on the importance of providing a place for women in the management of natural resources. It will educate the community on the effects of climate change on both men and women alike and even more for women. The project will break the cultural believes that women cannot keep high profile positions or be involved in decision-making platforms.

I joined Forests, Resources and People (FOREP) Cameroon in June 2013. As a volunteer, I browsed for funding sources and coordinated other volunteers through proposal writing. In January 2015, I was appointed project manager where I led a team of eight in research within Mamfe, Nguti, Akwaya and the Takamanda National Park. Considering that, we worked in rural communities we did not hail from; we faced challenging situations of limited access to water, internet, and health care. Through it, all my team kept a great record of maintaining community sanity, meeting project targets and deadlines. Motivated and inspired by my reactiveness in FOREP, the management, based on recommendations from colleagues, promoted me to the position of Research and Development Manager. As part of the design making body of FOREP, I was able to contribute to shaping policies and programmes. In 2016,  while working through several of our project communities, I noticed the exclusion of women in decisions towards natural resources. I brought this up during management meetings and I was delegated to ensure gender is mainstreamed in projects. From then, I engaged my team in organizing advocacy projects on women’s access to natural resources and decision-making platforms in rural communities.

I lost my dad at the age of four. I clearly remember seeing my mom pushed about by uncles to hand over my father’s land documents because she was a woman and had no son but two daughters that could not defend their father’s name. I recall her losing all my fathers’ properties including hers, which they considered was bought with his money. The tradition forbids women from owning land. They can only have access to it when they are married or have a son. I made up my mind to own land and buy land for her when I grew older. While in school I grew passion for all subjects that had to do with land and got admission to study Geology and environmental science in the university. After graduation, I secured a place to volunteer at Forest, Resources and People where I clearly understood how to shape my vision, which is to enhance responsible decisions on sustainable natural resource management in Cameroon while influencing environmental policies, and sharing innovative strategies that support the implementation of environmental management approaches in Africa. Ever since, I have worked to advocate for gender inclusion in natural resource management decisions.

My Bachelor’s degree in Geology and Environmental studies alongside my 8 years of professional experience enabled me in 2016 to lead my team to train 200 women on bush mango processing and 1,440 people on beekeeping. I single handedly raised funds to support the establishment of 2,000 beehives in 30 communities within the Southwest Region. In 2018, I prompted the formulation of 20 forest management policies that stirred the construction of 30 nurseries with 110,000 trees for revamping degraded forests sites. This year with funds from New England Biolab Foundation, I led my team to establish a nursery of 5,000 tree species with an aim to combat climate change and Natural disasters in Limbe. To facilitate our, work we organized the “Miss Environment pageant 2020 to empower young girls towards environmental protection. It brought together the Mayor of Limbe I council, the Regional and Divisional delegates of Environment, 10 Nongovernmental organizations, 2 TV stations, several media houses and over 150 individuals. After the event, I developed a program to engage the winner of the contest in school outreaches, community sensitization, tree planting and video content development towards environmental protection. I am also host to Eco-voice on two radios reaching out to 4000 followers.  I write articles on environmental issues, design and publish monthly newsletters on climate change resources, updates, and actions reaching 400 subscribers on our Facebook page. 

After the government sold out 70,000 hectares of forestland to HERAKLES, for their palm and rubber plantations without consulting local authorities, we indulged in a research on the communities affected by the decision.

On getting to one of the affected communities (Talangai), they did not give us room to express the reasons for our visit. They mistook us for collaborating with HERAKLES to deprive them of their inheritance.

This led to an uproar of over 50 youths who pursued us out of the village with knives. We managed to escape with the help of an elder and later sent an apology letter to the community for the mistake we made, plunging into their community without permission.

We had a target to meet, so as team lead,  I convinced my team to reach out to another community, this time through a letter of inquiry. Our request was granted and we obtained   permission to work in the new community.

However we learnt never to thrust our way into a community without sending an inquiry in approval of our coming. After engaging this method, we have not faced such an embarrassment in the last 5 years

The Kenyang community of Ayong, Southwest Region, Cameroon, is a merge of over 835 people from diverse tribes. Fear of facing the consequences of a destabilized political economy restricted community members from attending our inception meetings. For us to have best results, we needed community members to be present. As the team lead, I needed a stable team alongside full community engagement for the best results. I decided to take my team for a one-day retreat to discuss the challenges and together come up with feasible actions. I delegated roles, led a sub-team of three to visit the local authorities to highlight the challenges, and sought support. The authorities summoned a second community meeting where; I presented our work permit, and communicated the project goal with the help of an interpreter this time. I lobbied from the community, six volunteers as enumerators and negotiated a town crier to inform community members on their security during the project lifespan. Their involvement eased our work so that we met up with deadlines and completed 500 predestined questionnaires. To revive my teammates, I requested that the management grant us a workday off on our return.