On the occasion of World Water Day 2023, we question the Water, Climate, Development and Gender Program (WACDEP-G) in Cameroon. Implemented by the National Meteorological Directorate of the Cameroonian Ministry of Transport (MINT) and the Global Water Partnership in Cameroon (GWP-Cmr), the program promotes the inclusion of women in the management of water access projects in the context of climate change. In northern Cameroon, where the program is implemented, access to water is more difficult. Low rainfall and prolonged droughts make water resources scarce, jeopardizing rain-fed agriculture and food security. Murielle Elouga, the head of the Water, Climate, Development and Gender Program (WACDEP-G) in Cameroon, answers AFRIK 21’s questions.
Toute l'actu sur la protection de l'environnement
On the occasion of World Water Day 2023, we question the Water, Climate, Development and Gender Program (WACDEP-G) in Cameroon. Implemented by the National Meteorological Directorate of the Cameroonian Ministry of Transport (MINT) and the Global Water Partnership in Cameroon (GWP-Cmr), the program promotes the inclusion of women in the management of water access projects in the context of climate change. In northern Cameroon, where the program is implemented, access to water is more difficult. Low rainfall and prolonged droughts make water resources scarce, jeopardizing rain-fed agriculture and food security. Murielle Elouga, the head of the Water, Climate, Development and Gender Program (WACDEP-G) in Cameroon, answers AFRIK 21’s questions.
The program you are in charge of has been working for three years to involve women in the integrated management of water resources in Cameroon. What progress have you made in this area?
The « Water, Climate and Gender Development » program is implemented by the Global Water Partnership in Africa (GWP-Caf) and aims to take into account gender in the planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of projects in the water and climate resilience sector. During its implementation over the last three years, we have accompanied the Ministry of Water and Energy in taking gender into account in the law on the water regime, which is currently being revised.
Indeed, after an analysis of this law, we realized that it speaks more about the population in general, without taking into account specific social categories, i.e. youth, women, men, disabled people, and many others. We believe that by integrating the gender issue in this law, it will condition the development of policies to improve access to water for the population as a whole. Another advance in the program is that we have helped to remove the barriers around a disease related to the consumption of drinking water with high fluoride content. Dental Fluorosis. By conducting scientific and sociological studies in northern Cameroon, we realized that this disease, which gives a certain yellowish color to the teeth, is not related to hygiene, nor even to any curse. It is indeed a disease linked to the consumption of water with a high fluoride content. A pathology that affects women on a social level.
Access to water remains a challenge for the populations of the Northern parts of Cameroon, and particularly for women. What improvements are you advocating in this part of the country?
What we are advocating is to involve women at all levels of decision making, to put them at the heart of water-related activities and to provide them with more tools and training on water and climate change issues. Given that the water cycle is increasingly being altered due to the vagaries of climate change impacts.
Beyond that, it is interesting to listen to these women. To have their endogenous and traditional knowledge in order to better involve them in all issues related to water management, conservation and supply. Also, to facilitate women’s access to water, it is important to develop or promote endogenous technologies that are already implemented in the localities, but which need financial support or accompaniment from the State and development partners.
World Water Day 2023 is celebrated under the theme « accelerating change ». What should farmers and rural communities in Cameroon and elsewhere understand?
This theme challenges farmers and rural communities in Cameroon and elsewhere on their ability to adapt to water-related change. A change induced by the impacts of climate change. So if we must adapt to this change, we must be more informed and equipped, know the importance of the water resource and develop endogenous techniques for its conservation. Also, rural women need to know that they are at the very heart of water resource management and conservation, although they need the support of public authorities, both in technical and financial terms. They also need the support of development partners, whether in terms of logistics, techniques, or finance, to be able to carry out their local water resource management initiatives and improve access or water security.
World Water Day is a day to raise awareness on sustainable water resources management. What is your comment on Cameroon?
As far as Cameroon is concerned, I advise the authorities to apply integrated water resources management (IWRM). Because we need water in all areas of economic activity. We need it for electricity, in the health sector, the agricultural sector, and the industrial sector. So water is a matter for all actors, decision-makers, planners, users. And all of them must contribute in one way or another, according to their role, according to their responsibilities, to the elaboration of laws, to the development of policies, to planning and to implementation at the operational level. Beyond the sectoral management of this resource, collaboration is needed to create a balance in the management of the water resource, in the rationalization of this water, according to economic and even social priorities. Women have a major role to play in promoting integrated water resources management. It is important for women to be more leaders and to act even at the local and operational level. They must be actors rather than mere beneficiaries.
Interview by Boris Ngounou
L’accès à l’eau, que ce soit pour la consommation humaine, ou pour un usage à des agricole ou énergétique, devient davantage difficile dans la région de l’extrême –Nord Cameroun. Dans cette région caractérisée par des températures grimpant parfois jusqu’à 42° Celsius, les pluies ne tombent que sur 30 à 100 jours par an. En pareil circonstances, avoir de l’eau en quantité et en qualité, s’avère quasi impossible, notamment pour les femmes.
Pour réduire la vulnérabilité des femmes face aux problèmes d’accès à l’eau, le gouvernement camerounais et le Global Water Partnership – Cameroun, promeuvent l’insertion des femmes dans les projets de gestion intégrée des ressources en eau. Une démarche pilotée à travers le programme Eau, Climat, Développement et Genre (WACDEP-G). Dans le cadre dudit programme, une vingtaine de femmes leaders d’associations féminines de la Région de l’Extrême-Nord, viennent une formation sur le contrôle des informations météorologiques. On en parle dans ce nouveau numéro d’Environnementales, merci d’être à l’écoute.
Boris Ngounou
CAMEROUN : le GWP-Caf place les femmes au cœur de la gestion des ressources en eau
L’accès à l’eau, que ce soit pour la consommation humaine, ou pour un usage à des agricole ou énergétique, devient davantage difficile dans la région de l’extrême –Nord Cameroun. Dans cette région caractérisée par des températures grimpant parfois jusqu’à 42° Celsius, les pluies ne tombent que sur 30 à 100 jours par an. En pareil circonstances, avoir de l’eau en quantité et en qualité, s’avère quasi impossible, notamment pour les femmes.
C’est tout le sens de l’atelier sur les changements climatiques et ses répercussions sur l’environnement tenu le 5 octobre 2022 à Yaoundé (Cameroun). l’USFE, entendez » United Voice to Serve Forest and Environment « , vient de bénéficier d’un accompagnement de l’ONG international Global water partnership. Cet atelier vise entre autres à fédérer les efforts de ses partenaires pour faire du Cameroun un pays émergent en 2035.
Compte tenu de l’ampleur des défis qui pèsent sur la biodiversité et l’environnement naturel, en raison des activités humaines, le monde est appelé à faire face aux conséquences des changements climatiques. Un phénomène qui menace les moyens de subsistance d’un milliard de personnes dans plus de 100 pays. Face à cette situation, des mesures urgentes sont à prendre pour sauvegarder et protéger la vie humaine. Et pour faire face à ces dangers sur l’humanité, le Programme Eau, Climat, Développement-Genre (Wacdep G) du GWP Cameroun, dans ses missions régaliennes se propose d’accompagner l’initiative de Tree for Hope dans sa mise en œuvre des investissements genre – transformateur dans le secteur de l’eau. C’est pour outiller les principaux bénéficiaires que sont les femmes et les enfants que Wacdep G a décidé d’accompagnement cet atelier.
En mettant en exergue l’approche Tree for Hope, il est également question de valoriser l’agroforesterie (qui associe la plantation des arbres et des arbustes), qui est une solution efficace à la lutte contre la faim et la pauvreté. C’est d’ailleurs dans cette logique qu’un site expérimental a vu le jour à Ahala Barrière en banlieue sud de Yaoundé.
Au sortir de cet atelier, il sera question de mettre sur pied un cadre de compréhension de l’encrage de l’initiative Tree for Hope dans le programme Wacdep G mais aussi d’informer et de susciter l’intérêt du grand public et des institutions gouvernementales.
Elie Nlend
CAMEROUN : le Global Water Partnership apporte sa contribution à la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique
C’est tout le sens de l’atelier sur les changements climatiques et ses répercussions sur l’environnement tenu le 5 octobre 2022 à Yaoundé (Cameroun). l’USFE, entendez » United Voice to Serve Forest and Environment « , vient de bénéficier d’un accompagnement de l’ONG international Global water partnership. Cet atelier vise entre autres à fédérer les efforts de ses partenaires pour faire du Cameroun un pays émergent en 2035.
The non-involvement of women and girls in the water and climate sector is hampering Cameroon’s efforts to achieve universal access to water. The Cameroon National Water Partnership (GWP-Cmr), in collaboration with the Cameroon Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family and UN Women organised a gender café on 17 August 2022 in Yaoundé, for the inclusion of women in decision-making circles on the water and climate sector.
Institutional arrangements for the development and management of water resources rarely take into account the primary role of women as the main users of water and custodians of the living environment. This lack of recognition considerably hinders the achievement of objectives in terms of access to water and climate resilience. This is the observation made in Cameroon by the Cameroon National Water Partnership (GWP-Cmr).
To reverse the trend, GWP-Cmr and its partners, the Cameroonian Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family (MINPROFF) and UN Women, are campaigning for the inclusion of women and girls in the water and climate sector. During a gender café organised in Yaoundé (capital of Cameroon) on 17 August 2022, these three entities sensitised stakeholders on the socio-cultural constraints and obstacles linked to taking gender into account in the water sector. « The patriarchal system does not give women a voice. They have knowledge that they would like to share, but do not dare to do so, because of shyness and lack of self-confidence that characterise them, due to their family upbringing, » explains Murielle Elouga of GWP-Cmr.
The studies conducted by the organisation show that the distribution of social roles is disadvantageous for women in terms of household water supply. The modes of access to and management of land are still dependent on a customary and patriarchal logic (74.4% of men are landowners against just 39.6% of women). Women are exposed to security crises and demographic pressure on water and land resources.
Including the gender approach in water policies
The three northern regions of Cameroon (Adamaoua, North and Far North) are among the main study areas of GWP-Cmr. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, these three regions need about 7,500 boreholes to be safe from lack of drinking water. This harsh reality is the result of the low rainfall in this northern part of Cameroon, which has only 30 to 100 days of rain per year.
To effectively eliminate water stress in Cameroonian communities, a consequence of climate change, the GWP-Cmr studies recommend, among other things, the revision of water policies to include gender-transformative approaches that not only recognise the systematic inequalities between men and women, but also address the root causes of these inequalities.
The studies carried out by GWP-Cmr are part of the Water, Climate, Development and Gender Programme (WACDEP-G) implemented by the Global Water Partnership – Central Africa (GWP-Caf). WACDEP-G aims to promote a transformative gender approach in the water and climate sector, addressing gender inequalities. The programme, which started in 2020, will run for three years (2020-2022) and includes capacity building activities for women in the water and climate sector, knowledge sharing, gender institutionalisation in the water and climate sector and fundraising.
Fanta Mabo
CAMEROON: Marginalisation of women, an obstacle to access to water
The non-involvement of women and girls in the water and climate sector is hampering Cameroon’s efforts to achieve universal access to water. The Cameroon National Water Partnership (GWP-Cmr), in collaboration with the Cameroon Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family and UN Women organised a gender café on 17 August 2022 in Yaoundé, for the inclusion of women in decision-making circles on the water and climate sector.