Saturday 21 November 2015

CLIMATE CHANGE WORKSHOP REPORT




GLOBAL HAND SIMPLIFIED COOPERATIVE SOCIETY
 


GLOHA - SCOOPS




GLOHA - SCOOPS

 


TITTLE: REPORT ON A ONE DAY TRSINING WOEKSHOP ON CLIMATE CHANGE HELD AT CEAC BOKOVA ON 20th NOVEMBER 2015


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SIX FARMING GROUPS WITHIN BUEA ARE BENEFICIARIES OF A ONE DAY TRAINING WORKSHOP ON THE THEME; BUILDING CAPACITIES AND CREATING AWRENESS TOWARDS CLIMATE CHANGE: MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION ORGANIZED BY GLOHA – SCOOPS


Presented by:
EVAMBE THOMPSON ATRA
CEO GLOHA – SCOOPS

21ST Nov. 2015                                                                 
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Global Hand Simplified Cooperative Society (GLOHA-SCOOPS) is based in Buea Town (Vasingi), Buea Sub-Division with registration number; SW/AR-0112. It is a transformed Common Initiative Group (GLOHA-CIG) registered with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and governed by Laws No 92/006 of 14/08/92 on cooperative societies and Common Initiative Groups and decree of implementation No 92/455/PM of 23/11/92.The group members range from farmers, small business persons (especially girls) and students and graduate. GLOHA –SCOOPS has as its main aim to carry out Agriculture (food crop and animal husbandry), Promote Eco-friendly activities (conservation, waste management etc) and Community Education.         
In the domain of agriculture, Buea has an ideal climate that favours’ the growth of many food and cash crop especially maize, plantain cassava, yams, banana, rubber etc.The group is encouraging activities that will that can enhance living standard and likewise beneficial to the communities, and the ecosystem.
. This area is dominated by forest; the Mount Cameroon area which rises up to about 4100 meters above the sea level. Some villages (41 villages) share direct with the park for instance Upper and Lower Boando, Ekonjo, Mapanja, Buea Town, Ewonda, Bova I & II, Bonakanda and Boteva etc are situated at the foot of the Mountain and highly involve in agriculture almost dependent on the natural resources.
            GLOHA - SCOOPS is bounded in North by Mount Cameroon, South by Tiko, to the West by Limbe and to the East by Muyuka. The land scope of the Buea-municipality is characterized by gentle slope, streams and business ventures from mile 14 to the Governor’s office.
            Mount Cameroon area is a tropical rain forest with good fertile soil for Agriculture. Some of the communities have reliable natural flowing streams and water catchment area which constitute a major source of water like Wolikawo, Moli, Vasingi and Koke catchments. This area is characterized with two seasons the dry and wet season which last for five and seven month respectively.
            Rainfall is between 3000-8000mm depending on the month – August and September however register the harvest with up to 8000mm.
            Its population is estimated at about 109,000 with women and youth population more than half of the total population. The Christian religion is the dominant religion practiced here but still there are some Muslims, and some villages still hold fast to their traditional religion. The Sub Division is characterized by many ethnic groups that contribute greatly to the Socio-economic and Cultural development of the villages. A significant number of people from other part of the country and out of the country are also settling in this area. Bakwerian are the tribe that exists in the area with English and French being the official language.
            Buea is divided into court areas namely Bonjongo Court Area, Muea Court Area and Buea Court Area. The main occupation of the Zone is agriculture.
DETAIL REPORT
The one day workshop design to educate farmers on the eventualities of climate change and providing possible mitigating and adaptation strategies that farmer can implement to boost their output while on the other hand maintaining a healthy ecosystem.
            The workshop envisaged a population size of twelve (12) participants from six groups and partners like the Mount Cameroon National Park and an agric technician who doubles as the director for the Community Education and Action Center under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. 
            The workshop was designed to have three main presentations; Climate Change vs. Agriculture (by GLOHA-SCOOPS), Farming Techniques (by Agric Technician) and Ecosystem and Conservation (by Mount Cameroon National Park).
            In the course of the workshop, 8 (eight) of the 12 participants were present including a student from the university of Buea (German), the three facilitators and the secretary of GLOHA – SCOOPS. In the course of the workshop, participants were introduced into new concepts like ecological zones of Cameroon, climate change trend of Cameroon, the effects of extreme weather conditions on agriculture and farmers, possible mitigation and adaptation strategies (which can be applied locally and less costly), added value chain, cooperatives, Ecosystem, conservation of natural resources, and strategies to produce and multiply an economic or improve tree species by grafting, budding etc.
            In the course of the workshop, participants were much interested in taking action towards as they made the following recommendations;
Ø  Farmers should plant trees in their farms and on the boundary of their farms
Ø  Farmers should do more of intensive rather than extensive farming
Ø  Organic fertilizer should be encourage amongst farmers
Ø  More groups and communities should be sensitized and trained
Ø   Seed multiplication and tree planting training should be organized
Following these concerns, at the end of the workshop farmers were given an evaluation form through which the workshop was evaluated as follows;
A Diagram Showing Participants Evaluation of the Workshop
S/N
THEME
FAIR
GOOD     (%)
VERY GOOD (%)
TOTAL (%)
1
Time management
22.2
55.6
22.2
100
2
Language used

55.6
33.3
88.9
3
Presentation of working materials

88.9
11.1
100
4
Presentation (workshop facilitation)

33.3
66.7
100
5
Understanding of the message

33.3
66.7
100
6
Organization of workshop

44.4
55.6
100
(Source: Farmers Climate Change Workshop Evaluation Form)
          The data from the table above illustrates the evaluation of the workshop by the participants as follows; 2 (22.2%) participants says the time management was fair while 5 (55.6%) participants says it was good and 2 (22.2%) holds that the time management was very good.
            Also 5 (55.6%) participants evaluated the language used as good and 3 (33.3%) says the language that was used was very good while a masters student from the university of Buea (German) made no comment on the language used.
            In the aspect of presentation of working materials, 8 (88.9) participants indicated that it was good and 1(11.1) person held that it was very good.
            Further more, 6 (66.7%) participants held that the facilitation was very good while 3 (33.3%) said it was good.
            In valuating participants understanding at the end of the workshop, 6 (66.7) of the participants argued that their understanding was very good while 3 (33.3%) says their understanding was good.
            Lastly, 5 (55.6%) of the participants held that the workshop organization was very good while 4 (44.4) holds that it was good.     
SUGGESTIONS FROM PARTICIPANTS
        i.            Need more farmers group to be involved
      ii.            To increase the number of participant per group
    iii.            Sensitization should be done regularly
    iv.            More training on tree planting and agricultural techniques
      v.            To improve on the time frame workshop
    vi.            To move directly to an action plan
  vii.            Characters of workshop material should be made more visible and available
RESOLUTIONS
        i.            The creation of a farmers network
      ii.            Setting up of a sensitization  plan through workshop which will enable famers to share ideas
    iii.            Participants will have to sensitize the rest of the group members and submit a report of their activity (the sensitization process) on the 30th of December 2015
OBSERVATIONS
                                i.            Farmers are willing to take action in relation to climate change
                              ii.            Climate change workshops, if organized will improve on the biodiversity conservation and the livelihood of our communities especially the 41 villages that have direct contact with the Mount Cameroon National Park
                            iii.            The workshops will equally help to solve the problem of farmers wildlife conflict
                            iv.            The workshops are equally going to help farmers improve on their output, revenue through the stakeholders of this program like the Mount Cameroon National Park, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, The Institute of Research and Agricultural Development and some Cooperatives.
  
CHALLENGES
                                    i.            Inadequate training materials
                                  ii.            Insufficient staff
                                iii.            Insufficient resource
                                iv.            Transportation
                                  v.            Time management (participants)
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
                             i.               External support
                           ii.               Provision of organizations transport system
                       iii.               Using of volunteers
                       iv.                Training should be done from two days and above