AAFEBEN TRAINS AND RAISES AWARENESS AMONG COCOA FARMERS' COOPERATIVE BOARD MEMBERS ON THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS

Through a workshop held on January 30, 2025, at the Lobéké National Park conservation services, AAFEBEN trained and raised awareness among cocoa farmers from 02 cooperatives.

Written on Friday, January 31, 2025

Through a workshop held on January 30, 2025, at the Lobéké National Park conservation services, AAFEBEN trained and raised awareness among cocoa farmers from 02 Baka and Bantu cooperatives in Mambélé.

Since 2020, AAFEBEN has been committed to supporting cocoa farmers in communities bordering the Lobéké National Park, with funding from FTNS through the conservation services and WWF. Several activities have already been carried out, leading to concrete results on the ground. To reinforce these results and achieve new objectives, FTNS, through the BRIDGE project, aims to provide additional support to ongoing initiatives by implementing a market-based approach to promote community engagement in wildlife conservation and climate change mitigation in the peripheries of Lobéké National Park. The BRIDGE project aims for 4 main outcomes to support cocoa farmers: producers systematically work in organized groups at each phase of the cocoa value chain and increase their income; cocoa farmers have access to inclusive, sustainable, and long-term self-sufficient financing; producers have access to certified markets; farmers engage in the processing of high-quality cocoa and other non-timber forest products.

As part of achieving these results, AAFEBEN has carried out several activities since June, including informing producers about the BRIDGE project and its areas of intervention, as well as raising awareness about the concept of cooperatives according to OHADA law. Efforts have also been dedicated to identifying major concerns, expectations, and recommendations, and organizing general assemblies for two cooperative groups: Baka and Bantu.

Furthermore, AAFEBEN has monitored the action plan related to holding general assemblies, prepared stakeholders for the establishment of the platform, and provided training on group dynamics. In addition, we facilitated the identification of individuals for opening savings accounts and setting up the multi-stakeholder platform.

The objectives of this workshop were to raise awareness and train key stakeholders on certification, and to inform the cooperative about the study conducted by RAINFOREST and the proposed certification action plan.

Ultimately, the workshop organized in Mambélé enabled the training and sensitization of members of the Baka and Bantu cooperatives on the requirements, advantages, and disadvantages of certification. Participants validated the study conducted by RAINFOREST and developed a certification action plan for their cooperatives. This action plan will serve as a roadmap for accessing certified markets and improving product quality. The workshop also strengthened the commitment of the cooperatives and fostered the exchange of experiences among members, thus contributing to the sustainability of certification initiatives.