Cameroon: Short stories about our beneficiaries

This is the first in a series of articles about the different groups of beneficiaries of the project “Improvement of life conditions for Central African Refugees in Cameroon”.

Since 2005, Cameroon has welcomed over 104,000 refugees from the Central African Republic who are fleeing from bandits and rebel groups that attack Mbororo settlements in order to steal cattle and kidnap women and children for ransom. For this reason, the Mbororos are forced to sell their livestock and take refuge in the neighboring country, Cameroon. The refugee population is present in over 300 Cameroonian communities. 

The Central African Republic, which ranks as one of the world’s poorest countries, has seen its conflict exacerbated since the events in March 2013. A coup d’etat lead by the rebel coalition “Seleka” overturned the former president and forced people to leave the country. Approximately, 4,200 persons left for Cameroon, 40,500 for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 13,000 for Chad and 4,800 for Congo. The access to humanitarian aid in this “forgotten conflict” is very difficult and according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – with which Sport Network is conducting its intervention – mortality rates and acute malnutrition among the population is very high. 

It is in these circumstances that Sport Network supports a group of 50 women (35 refugees and 15 Cameroonians) of the Boulembé community, thanks to the introduction of income generating activities (IGAs), in the shape of training about agricultural techniques and small business financing.

The ethnic Mbororo’s, which the refugees belong, are essentially nomadic livestock farmers and therefore do not know as much about agriculture, and for this reason their food supply is very limited. Thanks to this project financed by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), Sport Network has trained 50 women on agricultural techniques through demonstration plots of different crops. Subsequently, they put into practice their newly gained knowledge on their individual fields, thanks equally to the distribution of seeds. The new incomes enable them on one hand to improve their nutrition, and on the other hand, enable them to sell their products at the market.

The first in the series of stories will be shared in the coming weeks!

Read more about our project in Cameroon

Written by Beatriz Gómez, Sport Network's coordinator in Cameoon