In December 2025, as part of the NATURA Sud-Est project financed by the European Union and piloted by UNESCO, INADES-Formation Cameroun carried out a major school support operation for 82 Baka pupils living around the Lobéké National Park (in the EST region of Cameroon). The project, which has a strong social and environmental impact, aims to encourage indigenous children to go to school and strengthen community support for conservation issues.
In the dense rainforest of South-East Cameroon, where exceptional biodiversity and ancestral indigenous traditions coexist, access to education remains a major challenge for Baka communities. This is the background to the action carried out from December 1 to 10, 2025 by INADES-Formation Cameroun, contracted by UNESCO to implement the Southeast NATURA project, a program financed by the European Union and dedicated to preserving ecosystems and strengthening the rights of indigenous forest peoples.
As part of this project, INADES-Formation Cameroun is supporting ASBABUK, one of the main associations representing indigenous forest peoples. The aim of this partnership is to implement the annual action plan resulting from the memorandum of understanding signed between ASBABUK and the Ministry of Forests and Fauna (MINFOF). This protocol provides for the facilitation of access by indigenous peoples to the resource areas of four of Cameroon’s protected areas, including the Lobéké National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
In addition to natural resource management, this agreement places particular emphasis on the social and educational dimension, seen as an essential pillar of sustainable community involvement in conservation efforts.
A scholarship scheme to break down educational barriers
As part of this initiative, INADES-Formation Cameroun has carried out a vast campaign to distribute school scholarships to Baka pupils attending schools in localities bordering the Lobéké Park. A total of 82 pupils from four public elementary school and three secondary schools in the districts of Moloundou and Salapoumbé, in the Boumba-et-Ngoko department (Eastern Region), benefited from this support.
At YENGA village public school
The scholarships distributed include essential school supplies, personal belongings to facilitate regular school attendance, and social support to reduce the socio-economic barriers to school attendance for indigenous children.
Alongside the distribution of the scholarships, INADES-Formation Cameroun organized several awareness-raising sessions for parents and pupils from indigenous communities. These discussions focused on :
- The importance of schooling for Baka children,
- The relationship between education and improved living conditions,
- The role of knowledge in sustainable natural resource management,
- The future of young people as a driving force for the conservation of forest ecosystems.
This integrated approach aims to build a shared understanding between families, local authorities and the students themselves, in order to strengthen community support for educational and environmental issues in the long term.
By supporting the schooling of Baka children, INADES-Formation Cameroun is contributing to greater social inclusion and opening up new prospects for a population that has long been marginalized. On the environmental front, the initiative is part of a participatory conservation strategy, in which local communities become key partners in protecting the park and its resources.
As they leave the wooden classrooms of Moloundou, the Baka pupils proudly hold their new bags and notebooks. In their eyes is a promise of a future where education will no longer be a privilege, but a right fully exercised.
And behind this promise, the benevolent shadow of a solid partnership between INADES-Formation Cameroun, UNESCO, the European Union, ASBABUK and the communities, making the school a bridge between tradition and modernity, between forest and citizenship.
Marguerite MOMHA, Communication INADES-Formation Cameroun
