Helene Eboto understands the challenges women face in the forests of Cameroon. Helene divides her time between her children, working the fields to feed her family, charity work and leading the Platform of Rural Women of Campo Ma’an. Photo by Marie-Claude Simard.
In their village of Akom II on the border of Cameroon’s Campo Ma'an National Park, the women leave home six days a week to dig in the fields, forage in the forests, and feed their families.
Among them is Mrs. Helene Eboto. When she has time, Helene writes about environmental, social and women’s issues for the theater. But time is a scarce commodity for Helene, a dynamic individual forever busy with her community and her family.
One of Helene’s more demanding tasks is fulfilling the duties expected of her as the President of a rural women’s group.
When she is not helping the women in her community, Helene is likely to be helping the younger people in Akom II through the agency she established to support children born out of marriage.
And then there are regular meetings Helene attends as part of her commitment to the Model Forest Project that CIFOR and partners are assisting.
Finally, and no doubt most importantly, there are the seven children Helene loves and cares for.
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Janneke Romijn, a Dutch Government funded Communications Officer at CIFOR’s Central Africa office in Cameroon, was impressed by Helene’s vibrant personality and boundless energy. She knew immediately Helen’s story was worth sharing and interviewed her for CIFOR’s web page.
Interview
Janneke: How did you become president of the Platform?
Helene: In 2004 I organized festivities for 'Rural Women's Day'. It was the first time the women of Akom II celebrated this day. It was a big success. 600 women attended.
After the festivities, I thought we could do more, like organizing ourselves in an organization.
In November 2004 I was invited to a Model Forest meeting. The role of women in the Campo Ma'an Model Forest site was at that time not very clear yet.
I proposed that we set up an organization of women, just like in Akom II, for the whole Campo Ma'an region.
By now there are many women associations across the region, which are all united in the Platform of Rural Women of Campo Ma'an. The women choose me as their president.
Janneke: What do you want to achieve with the Platform?
Helene: The platform enables rural women to exchange ideas and be strong together. I would like to lift the lives of rural women and their intellectual capacities. These capacities are not used now.
Janneke: What does a rural woman in Campo Ma’an do most days?
She goes to the field! Six days a week she works on her field and in the forest to feed herself, her husband and her many children. But rural women can do more!
We would like to commercialize our products. We produce a lot of manioc and if we organize ourselves and sell in large quantities, we can earn money.
The problem here is that we don't have markets. We hope international organizations can help us enter foreign markets with our manioc, maize and non-timber forest products.
Janneke: What does it mean to you that your organization is part of the Model Forest project?
Helene: The Model Forest project was a big discovery. With the help of this structure we hope to establish a mentality change.
We want to make better use of the resources we have so we hunt less. Although we rely on the forest a lot, the importance of forest conservation is not yet fully understood by all rural people.
Traditionally, there's not much respect for the Bagyeli pygmies and this should also change.
With my theater I want to sensitize people on social and environmental issues.
In the end, I hope the lives of women improve.
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Model Forest
The Model Forest Project involves all relevant stakeholders in jointly ensuring forests are sustainably managed. Stakeholders are those groups with a vested interest in the forest. In Campo Ma’an these might include NGO's, logging companies and local communities.
Initiated in Cameroon by CIFOR, the project is part of the International Model Forest Network and apart from Campo Ma'an, also includes Dja and Mpomo, the first Model Forest sites in Africa.
The sites were selected and legalized by the government of Cameroon in 2005. They are extremely rich in biodiversity, have conservation and production uses, and play important livelihood and cultural roles in the well-being of a number of Pygmy tribes.
Land-use decisions in the forest are taken by a group of voluntary partners. The partners for both sites in Cameroon include international and local NGO's, local authorities, a platform representing Bagyeli pygmies interests, a platform representing rural women, government officials and civil society groups.