Living conditions of 416 households improved through income generating activities and agriculture
The sustenance of livelihoods through income-generating activities and agricultural activities is at the heart of the objectives of the RIPDI project led by the APDEL. The project had initially planned to empower 365 households in all project intervention sites (Dschang, Babadjou, Galim, Bamenda I-II-III and Santa). Given the high needs in the communities, the project partners extended the beneficiaries to 416, though there is still a lot of households in need of livelihood support. So far, 229 households have been empowered in income-generating activities, such as hairdressing, catering, sale of basic necessities and livestock, while 178 others have been supported in agricultural activities. The beneficiaries include 90 men and 326 women, of whom 349 are IDPs and 67 are hosts. These beneficiaries underwent training on managing income-generating activities, drawing up a business plan, farming and agricultural techniques, before being provided with start-up capital (in cash and in kind). The nature of startup capital depended on the category of beneficiary: for those doing income-generating (petty business) activities, each received cash ranging from 50,000 to 75,000 FCFA; and for those in agricultural activities, each received farm inputs, such seeds, bio-fertilizer (DI-grow), manure, and sprayers equivalent to 50,000 FCFA per beneficiary. All these beneficiaries are regularly monitored by the project team, with the collaboration of partners and experts, such as MINADER. “I am an internally displaced person and I come from Bamenda in the North-West of Cameroon. I have been in Babadjou currently since 2016 until now. When I arrived here with my children, my first year was very complicated and I struggled to find a place to live with my children and find work, but without really having any. I thank the people of Babadjou because they allowed me to have small jobs to do and one day I received a call from a friend telling me that there is an association called APDEL which will be there to identify people in need and help them. (…) The financial support that APPEL gave me was like a big open door to my family, it helped us so much to the point where to this day I am able to feed my family, send my children to school and I I'm very happy about it. So thank you to APDEL because thanks to this NGO I have my own business and I take care of my family by paying my rent and feeding us.Thanks again». NDOUM Dorothy Che, IGA beneficiary and member of the VSLA of Babadjou