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Cameroon Gender and Environment Watch: Empowering Women through Forest Regeneration and Agroforestry A CONVERSATION WITH SEVIDZEM ERNESTINE LEIKEKI, FOUNDING MEMBER AND BOARD CHAIR OF THE CAMEROON GENDER AND ENVIRONMENT WATCH (CAMGEW)

What is the Cameroon Gender and Environment Watch (CAMGEW), how did it originate, and what’s the impact of your work?

Since its establishment in 2007, CAMGEW has focused on protecting the environment while meaningfully engaging communities, especially women and youth. We see forest regeneration activities going hand in hand with women’s empowerment and environmental education.

The forest is at the core of our community’s livelihood. All our activities rely upon the health of the forest. If it is compromised, then our lives are heavily affected as well. That’s why at CAMGEW, we focus on the sustainable management of Kilum-Ijim Forest through forest regeneration and agroforestry. We started by planting trees and engaging our community members in bee farming, which created many new jobs and became the primary income source for many families. So, the community saw the forest as a precious resource to safeguard. Agroforestry is a win-win solution for the Kilum-Ijim Forest community, as it tackles both economic and environmental challenges.

As of 2021, we planted more than 104,446 trees to improve the livelihood of Kilum-Ijim Forest communities. We trained over 800 farmers in agroforestry techniques for soil conservation and sustainable crop production.

How does CAMGEW’s forest regeneration work empower women in the community?

With the experience of working in the Kilum-Ijim Forest area, I realized that forest conservation could be best managed directly by the local communities. However, it unveiled power dynamics within the communities, still dominated by patriarchy. That’s why it is of fundamental importance to make women’s voices heard locally, nationally and globally. CAMGEW’s and my mission is to make it happen.

When it comes to managing the forest sustainably, we often rely on the unique set of knowledge and practices that belong to women. Women and youth are key development actors whose rights to education, ownership and management of natural resources still have to be defended.

Women and youth are key development actors whose rights to education, ownership and management of natural resources still have to be defended.

What impact has your work had on the women of Kilum-Ijim Forest communities, and what is yet to be done?

We facilitated the inclusion of more than 2,000 women and girls in tree nursery development and bee farming. These activities have long been considered to belong to men only, so this work had to do a lot with behavioural change and awareness-raising.

Rural women work on the land, plough the soil and take care of the farm. Their lives are often dependent on the availability and quality of natural resources. As a result, they are often the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss. Yet, their voices are hardly ever heard at the decision-making tables. The inequality of access to knowledge and ownership of natural resources is still a challenge we plan to address as CAMGEW.

Over the last few years, your advocacy work received significant international recognition. CAMGEW won the Gender Just Climate Solution Award in 2019, was recognised as TOP100 Young African Conservation Leaders 2020, Equator Prize in 2019, you spoke at COP26 and were included in the BBC list of 100 Women in 2021. Can you tell us about what inspires and motivates your work and continuous commitment to advancing women’s rights?

I believe in transforming gender roles, empowering youth and caring for nature. These three elements unfold quite naturally, given my upbringing. When I was growing up, it was not so frequent for a household to invest in girls’ education. My parents did it, and I will be eternally grateful to them. That faith they had in me is my greatest inspiration to give back to my community and empower other girls and women to be the agents of change. This is my way to give back and pass the love and faith that my family has put upon me.

Sevidzem Ernestine Leikeki is a founding member and Board Chair of CAMGEW. She is a passionate gender equality advocate and leads women’s empowerment work. CAMGEW is a community-based organization working on forest regeneration and agroforestry for sustainable livelihood in the Kilum-Ijim Forest area in North-Western Cameroon. CAMGEW, a BES-Net partner, was awarded the Equator Prize in 2019, which honours outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Credits:

Images courtesy of CAMGEW