The implementing partner organizations of the PĂŽle de Connaissances de l’Agriculture Biologique en Afrique Centrale (PCAC) project and several actors in the organic agriculture value chain met at the Cameroon National Episcopal Conference (CENC) đ„đ¶ January 18 to 19, 2023 to form the basis for the functioning of a network of organic actors.
Leader of the Networking Output of the project “Knowledge Cluster of Organic Agriculture in Central Africa” (PCAC), Inades-Formation Cameroon led the reflection works that took place from January 18 to 19, 2023 in YaoundĂ©, more precisely at the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (CENC), located at MvolyĂ©. The realization of this activity gathered the five partner organizations of the implementation of the said project (Inades-Formation Cameroon, CPF, GADD, SAILD and CIPCRE) and several actors of the value chain of Organic Agriculture in Cameroon (Input suppliers, seed producers, wholesalers and processors of the value chain) coming from various localities of Cameroon (Maroua, Bamedjou, Baham, Mbouda, Bamenda, Soa, Mekong, Bamenda, Bamenda, Bamenda, Bamenda, Bamenda), producers, wholesalers and processors of the value chain) from various localities in Cameroon (Maroua, Bamedjou, Baham, Mbouda, Bamenda, Soa, Mbalmayo, Bafoussam, Dschang, Ebolowa, Esse, Bandjoun and YaoundĂ©).
Moderated by Mr. MEIGNO Raphael, Technical Assistant for the ACCP platform and networks at Inades-Formation Cameroon, the work took place in a crossroads. Prior to the launch, participants were introduced to the ACCP/CCAB project led by the five partner organizations mentioned above. The objective of this meeting was to carry out reflections in view of the elaboration of the basic texts of functioning of a network of actors of the Organic Agriculture in Cameroon.
It should be recalled that the ACCP project is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fĂŒr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH within the framework of the financial support of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of the Special Initiative “One World Without Hunger / One-World-No-Hunger” (SEWOH). This project is taking place in five regions of Africa, namely: Central Africa, North Africa, West Africa, South Africa and East Africa.
The content of the toolkit for the operation of the network under construction was developed by a consultant. This toolkit included the following texts: the association’s Statutes, the Internal Regulations, the Ethical Charter and the Policy Documents (gender, environment). These different documents presented to the participants formed the basis of the reflection work that will be elaborated by constituted groups. These groups met in plenary to present and analyze the various proposals made in these texts.
The first phase of the workshop was devoted to presenting the advantages and disadvantages of different organizational models. After several hours of work, the participants proceeded to the compilation of the various parts of the document. The exchanges and discussions, fed by reviews, led to the choice of the associative form as the organizational model of the network. The name chosen was the following: Network of Organic Actors of Cameroon ( RABIO-CAM).
A view of the participants during the group work
The second phase saw the creation and the setting up of the bases of the functioning of the network of actors of the Organic Agriculture. Here, the emphasis was on sharing experiences among participants. The reflections continued in groups formed the day before and these groups worked on the texts of environmental, gender and ethical policies. Some of them dealt with environmental policies while others with gender policy and the ethics charter. In addition, another group worked on the statutes and internal regulations of the network.
The work ended with a plenary session and the formulation of a summary of recommendations to the consultant.
Marguerite MOMHA, Communication Inades Formation Cameroon.
