Local Partner: Réseau des Populations Autochtones et Locales pour la gestion durable des écosystèmes forestiers d’Afrique centrale (REPALEAC)
Background and objective:
Covid has impacted thelivelihoods of the indigenous peoples who depends on daily subsistence. Indigenous women are the most vulnerable and highly affected as most of them like the case in the West region of Cameroon are internally displaced due to the Anglophone crisis. With the Emergency fund to REPALEAC, these women were mobilized to produce facemasks and produced 4000 facemasks under the supervision of the officials of the Ministry of Health. These facemasks were distributed to indigenous peoples as a preventive measure. Besides facemasks, these women were also trained in the production of soap, one of the most important preventive material. These women are producing products that are used in fighting against the coronavirus and in return they are empowering their livelihoods and therefore make them a bit autonomous. However, these women lack working tools such like sewing machines, a common workplace (they are using two sewing machine and working from home). There is a need to support these women with working tools so that while working for the prevention of covid19, they can enhance their livelihoods and make them less depended to their husbands who are also very vulnerable.
This project targets 30 indigenous women who previously have knowledge in sewing and soap production with the aim to ehance the livelihoods of 30 indigenous women while preventing the spread of covid19 , empower the economic soap production of 30 indigenous women who are internally displaced and structure the indigenous women into an income generating activity.
Local partner information: REPALEAC is a network of organizations from Central Africa with the mission to protect and promote the rights and Social Development of Indigenous Peoples in Central Africa.
