Project Detail

Neem tree and vegetable gardening for Health and Socio-economic needs in Ngoketunjia Division

Within the Northwest region of Cameroon the HIV and AIDS prevalence rate currently stands at 8.7 % (2009 statistics from Ndop Health District), over 3% above the national average of 5.5%. Amongst young people (those aged up to 30) the rate is significantly higher, with recent statistics suggesting that amongst women aged 20 to 30 the rate in many villages is above 20% (statistics from Ndop Health District).
Reducing this incidence remains a key objective of the local Health authorities and development partners, and whilst much has been and is being done, a number of key groups of people living with HIV and AIDS are relatively neglected, including HIV positive mothers of young children, elderly care givers of young children, and orphan-headed households.

The project will encourage and assist the lives of over 2000 people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS, and in particular the lives of children affected by HIV and AIDS, who are the common thread running through the various elements of the proposal. Specifically, we would propose establishing, encouraging and supporting fifteen community groups with members made up of house holds as follow: Five groups of elderly care givers (two hundred people both men and women), Five groups of HIV positive mothers of children aged under two years (two hundred mothers ), Five orphan-headed household groups (one hundred people). The project will assist the elderly care givers, HIV positive mothers and orphan headed households to plant and process neem tree for medicinal, environmental and economic benefits, also small scale gardening and beekeeping to enhance nutrition and income.
The project aim at achieving the following: raise and plant 1,000 neem trees for medicinal value , 5000 bee loving and fuel wood tree species around homes, produce and supply 200 bee hives to 100 households to provide honey for medicinal, food and income, assist in the establishment of 15 small size home gardens within the project villages to improve on nutritional intake and income, train 500 house holds on the processing and use of neem products for treatment of different illness and also train them on the prevention of mother to child HIV/AIDS transmission, basic hygiene and nutritional education and the handling of drugs. An average house hold is 4 members; therefore 500 house holds will be the project target beneficiaries and will have 2000 and more people as final beneficiaries of the project.
The project will reduce the mortality rate and improve the living conditions of 2000 elderly caregivers, orphans and HIV positive mothers in Bamessing, Bamali and Bamunka villages all in Ndop central Subdivision in Ngoketunjia Division.
The project is to contribute to the fight against climate change through the planting of 6000 assorted tree species in bee apiaries, fuel plantations and around compounds and the improvement of living conditions of people living with HIV/AIDS through gardening, honey production and the use of neem tree for health.
FAP NGO will be working in close collaboration with Ngoketunjia AIDS Fighters a non governmental organisation based in Ndop to achieve the above mentioned activities.

Neem?s effects on the immune system: According to the ancient healing system, the bark of Neem tree will strengthen an individual?s resistance to diseases. Modern clinical studies have identified a number of compounds in the Neem tree that effectively regulate immune system functions. There are immunomodulatory polysaccharide compounds, especially present in Neem bark, that apparently increase antibody production.
Neem appears to enhance cell-mediated immune response in people who are HIV positive but who do not have full blown AIDS.

The relevance of the project to the GEF/SGP Country Programme Strategy: The nursing and planting of neem and bee loving trees in private plantation will help to reduce the effect of climate change and the promotion of biodiversity conservation while income is generated from the sales honey, Processed neem products and gardens will increase household income and alleviate poverty in the region.
Project location: Bamunka, Bamali and Bamessing Villages in Ndop Central subdivision in Ngoketunjia Division

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

FOREST AND AGROFORESTRY PROMOTERS NGO CAMEROON

Country:

Cameroon

Area Of Work:

Climate Change Mitigation
Climate Change Mitigation

Operational Phase:

OP5-Y3 (Jul 13 - Jun 14)

Grant Amount:

US$ 35,605.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 18,392.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 32,770.00

Project Number:

CMR/SGP/OP5/Y3/STAR/CC/13/17

Start Date:

12/2013

End Date:

6/2015

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

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Project Characteristics and Results

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

1. Bee keeping is actually an activity that does not need huge capital and intensive labor to start and in this regard this fits people living with HIV/AIDS who does not need heavy capital. Honey itself is food and medicine and the beneficiaries after having enough for local consumption will sell surplus to generate income for the family. 2.It has bee proven that people leaving with HIV/AIDS needs a lot of vegetable and fruits for their upkeep, beneficiaries will receive practical training on gardening and a total of 15 home gardens will be established in 3 target villages each of the earmarked 15 groups will own a garden made up of leafy vegetables and garden fruits such as carrots, garden eggs etc.

Notable Community Participation

15 Project groups put in place in Bamessing, Bamali and Bamunka villages. Size of group ranges between 30 and 35 members, a total of 400 house hold women and 100 men will be targeted beneficiaries and 2000 men, women and children will benefit directly from the project

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

After the capacity building training especially for gardening with beneficiaries, 03 cooperatives will be formed at Village levels headed by women, these cooperatives shall run a micro financing scheme for its members where members can loan money and pay a minimal interest rate to continue their income generating activities.

Gender Focus

Amongst the 15 groups selected majority of them are women with children. Some of the women are single parent i.e mother of children without father. The project laid emphases in empowering these women economically since they are the backbone of the different household economy. Another significant benefit of this project will be to reduce the risk of those widowed HIV-positive mothers participating in commercial sex, often as a last resort the only source of income available to them and their children.

Project sustainability

Perpetuation of initiated activities: The proposed project has laid emphasis on organizing and building the capacities of the beneficiary communities (notably the groups). This has ensured that these groups continue to lead the initiative and to initiate and carry out other activities even when the project phased out. FAP, NAFI and the Health Services are all Ngoketunjia based organisations to give them technical support. Recurrent costs: It is understood that some recurrent costs will emerge and will need to be covered after the project funding have been exhausted. Income from the different income generation activities will cover the recurrent cost. Persistence of outcomes: The participatory approach will ensure that the beneficiaries appropriate project activities and outcomes right from the onset. This shall ensure that they continue to maintain the project outcome long after the project has phased out.

Policy Impact

The recently released 4th assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identified sub-Saharan Africa as extremely vulnerable to climate change because of the high dependence of its economies on natural resources and rain-fed agriculture, and their low adaptive capacity. If traditional agricultural activities fail due to unexpected and/or extreme weather events, farmers will need to adopt new practices. Agriculture in this region, however, is dominated by small scale farmers who currently lack resources and support to shift to new practices. This project is to contribute to the fight against climate change and biodiversity through tree planting and the improvement of living conditions of people living with HIV/AIDS through gardening, bee keeping and the use of neem tree for health. This project will therefore enhance the Economic empowerment of women and Reduce stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS as part of government policy in 2010 to 2020 Growths and Employment strategy paper.

Capacity - Building Component

Training of community members on nursery establishment ; 03 training sessions on bee keeping carried out in 03 villages ; Training of community members on gardening ; Build capacities of 300 beneficiaries in 06 sessions on hygiene, nutrition, sanitation and handling of Drugs.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

World Wetland Day and world Environment day?s celebrations shall actually be the medium to promote Public awareness of Global Environment. Presentations and tree planting shall actually be the activities of these days.

Project Results

*To promote home gardening for nutritional, health and income; 214 community members living with HIV AIDS (120 women, 74 men and 30 youth) have been trained on home gardening , training modules and training reports are available. 15 functional home gardens (all gardens were above 250m2 each) in place in 3 villages (5 per village) with more than 3 assorted species of plants, these gardens acted as demonstration plots. 3 inter urban vendors were contacted who deal with Douala and Yaounde markets, they were intereted in huckle berry, some local Ndop and Bamenda vendors were interested in Okra, Cabbages and pepper which are some of the main crops cultivated and consumed in these areas.

*To promote hygiene, nutrition, sanitation and handling of Drugs 15 groups with HIV/AIDS were regrouped for the project activities. 07 groups are in the process of legalization into cooperatives instead of CIGs. Most of them have CIG legal status. 07 groups? capacities build on the formation and management of cooperatives, training modules and training reports are made available. 204 Beneficiaries capacities build in 06 sessions on hygiene, nutrition, sanitation and handling of Drugs, training modules and training reports are made available. Strategies to raise shares through the cultivation of specific garden crops meant for share has been put in place. Three (03) groups are currently practicing revolving loan scheme.

**6000 and more trees were raised and planted in the first phase of the project and the second phase was to support the tree planting initiatives in the different communities, seeds and polythine pots were bought and distributed to 9 community members interested in nursery establishment and tree planting in their communities, the number of nurseries have increased from 3 to 9nurseries.

**More thanl 80 bee hives have been bought, distributed and installed in private plots and apiaries, honey and other bee products for consumption are now available within the communities. There is increased income from the sales of honey and job opportunities from bee keeping.

**200 litres water containers/ pipes and insecticide bought distributed to target women in Bamali, Bamunka and Bamessing to intensify their gardening activities, more than 12 vendors were buying vegetables from these women and selling to big towns and some of the women producing became vendors.

** 03 Functional micro credit schemes for women groups in Bamali, Bamunka and Bamessing. 30 women and youths shared experiences on garden micro enterprise with women groups in Small Babanki and Tanka women in Mankon, they are now emplementing the lessons learnt during the exchange visit in their farms.

***A total of 8 hectares of water catchment land were protected and enriched with 2000 trees seedlings from the project in Bamessing Village. A total of 7 hectares of sacred forest land were protected and enriched with more than 4000 trees from the project, these areas have been used for apiaries in Bamessing and Bamunka Villages. Close to 10 hectares of land planted with tree as private fuel plantation, apiaries, boundary demarcation and in farms in Bamessing, Bamali and Bamunka villages. Reduction on the use of chemical pesticide and fertilizers through the introduction of natural pest control measures and the introduction of composting to obtain organic fertilizers.197 community members living with HIV/AIDS trained on tree nursery establishment. (Youths 53, Women 91 and men 53). A total of 28 hectares and more have been protected and enriched which has reduced erosion , increased vegetation cover, foster conservation practices in communities, reduced the pressure on the small patches of forest for fuel wood and other domestic uses, encourage the planting of environmental friendly tree species in communities and Off-set ed CO2 and given oxygen.

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Indicators

Biophysical

Hectares of globally significant biodiversity area protected or sustainably managed by project 5

Empowerment

Number of women participated / involved in SGP project 45

Livehood

Number of households who have benefited* from SGP project 50

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