ECoDAs initially focused her efforts in 10 remote communities of the Ndu Municipality but since 2017, we scaled up our efforts to reach poor and underprivileged communities in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon. Food production in these regions is produced by small-scale farmers. However, these farmers still wallow in poverty due to poor yields as a result of poor knowledge on new agricultural techniques, limited access to farm inputs and facilities, an absence of storage and processing facilities, lack of access to marketing information as well as micro-credit schemes. In the educational sector, the Regions have a number of primary and secondary schools but the many schools have not been matched with adequate infrastructure and equipment. Also, water availability still remains a big problem in the Regions as well with many villages and schools having no stand taps, where there are stand taps most are with no water flow. Many rural communities thus still depend on water from streams, rivers and springs. In addition, most villages of the regions to do not have access to electricity with bush lamps and firewood usage being the main source of lightning.
As per environmental aspects, the Regionshavean average temperature of 21-28 degrees Celsius with rainfalls between 1800mm to 2800mm. The fairly constant climatic conditions over the years support agricultural activities and agri-businesses. However, recent studies conducted in the Regions indicate that temperatures are rising and rainfall are being erratic and unprecedented including Ndu; ECoDAs headquarters which is commonly known as the coldest place in Cameroon. However, over the years, owing to population explosion and the people’s quest for survival, activities such as hunting, unsustainable farming practices, a gathering of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs), and small-scale logging has steadily evolved to achieve unsustainable magnitudes that have put the survival of most flora and fauna at stake. The situation is further exacerbated by inappropriate systems of land administration, poverty and an overall anarchy and ignorance in the handling of environmental issues in our regions.