ONG ORCAPE

Our areas of expertise

Agriculture, livestock, environment, education, water and sanitation, health, gender, employment: the fields in which ORCAPE supports rural communities.

A comprehensive approach to rural life

ORCAPE works where peasant families face their daily difficulties: producing and selling, gaining access to land, water, healthcare, school and financing. Our work covers eight areas of expertise, which contribute to Sustainable Development Goals 1 (no poverty), 4 (quality education), 5 (gender equality), 8 (decent work), 10 (reduced inequalities), 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and 17 (partnerships).

In each of these areas, we work with government services, decentralised local authorities, traditional chiefdoms and technical partners.

Agriculture

Organising producers and facilitating access to improved seeds, in connection with agricultural research.

  • Seeds and know-how: agreement with the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD) to make research results available to small family farms.
  • Value chains: awareness workshop for plantain sector stakeholders in Bertoua, bringing together ten cooperatives, on the procedure for subsidising agricultural inputs and equipment (2022).
  • Land and financing: workshops on access to land and financing negotiation for young agricultural entrepreneurs, with the National Consultation of Peasant Organisations of Cameroon (2018).
  • Quality: participation in a seminar on the registration of local products with a view to organic certification (2017).

Livestock farming

Supporting livestock farmers in agro-pastoral areas.

  • Collaboration with SODEPA to support and supervise farmers in animal production areas.
  • Support from the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries (MINEPIA), in particular for the provision of working premises.
  • In each branch, a “livestock” project manager supports families in choosing and monitoring their activities.

Environmental protection

Promoting responsible management of land and natural resources, together with traditional chiefdoms and communities.

  • Community dialogue: awareness-raising with village chiefs in the East (Ngoutou, Konga, Tikondi, Ngouko, Miambo, Azomekout, Mvanda, Ekpwassong) on the importance of land management.
  • Reforestation and community forests: reforestation campaign in the East and training of Bélabo communities on the legality and traceability of timber from community forests (2019).
  • Independent forest monitoring: ORCAPE took part in the training of community leaders held in Ebolowa (2016).
  • Green jobs: training of about a hundred people in Bertoua and its surroundings in trades such as eco-friendly charcoal production and beekeeping (2016).
  • Clean cities: clean-up and awareness campaigns in Bertoua.

Education and capacity building

Strengthening the capacities of managers and local stakeholders, and supporting rural schools.

  • Rural schools: donation of school supplies and teaching materials to the Saint Sébastien Catholic primary school in Lablé, Bafia (2023).
  • Team training: leadership, management and institutional development workshops (2022), followed by the adoption of management tools in Yaoundé, Bafia and Bazou (2023) and during the seminar of 13 March 2025.
  • Girls’ education and digital technology: ORCAPE has set itself the goal of promoting girls’ education and rural entrepreneurship through the use of information and communication technologies.

Water and sanitation

Helping rural communities gain access to water and better sanitation conditions.

  • Waste and plastic pollution: advocacy workshop bringing together the administration, women’s associations and civil society organisations in Yaoundé (2018), and city clean-up operations.
  • Hygiene: integration of menstrual hygiene management into our teams’ training modules.
  • Awareness: mobilisation around World Water Day, on 22 March.

Health

Raising awareness, preventing and offering voluntary testing, in particular against HIV/AIDS.

  • Regular awareness campaigns, with counselling workshops, condom distribution and voluntary testing (2022 – 2023).
  • Awareness caravan on HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence among young people and communities, with several hundred young people tested free of charge (2019).
  • Development of HIV prevention messages for women and girls, with UN Women and the National AIDS Control Committee (2018).

Gender and women’s empowerment

Women are at the heart of rural transformation: in the “peasant atom” model, rural women become leaders in managing the household’s everyday affairs.

  • Training: capacity-building module on gender mainstreaming in programmes, for the heads of ORCAPE’s Gender section.
  • Mobilisation: “HeForShe” campaign in Bertoua (2018), which mobilised 600 women and girls and reached nearly 5,000 people; support for the fight against violence against women.
  • Access to land and financing: round table on women’s access to and control of land resources (2018) and educational talks with rural women on access to financial resources (2019).
  • Rural women: every 15 October, ORCAPE joins the International Day of Rural Women.

Decent employment and rural entrepreneurship

Our ambition is for every peasant family to become an “emerging peasant atom”, that is:

  • insured with the CNPS (social security fund) and covered by social protection;
  • holding a bank account to manage its income;
  • owner of a small or medium-sized enterprise;
  • connected to the internet to promote the products of its activity.

In the longer term, ORCAPE plans to create structures dedicated to savings, insurance and solidarity (ORCAPE Finances, ORCAPE Assurances, ORCAPE Foundation).

Our method: atomisation

A peasant atom is a household. To get to know and support it, an atomiser fills in three forms:

  • the village form: chief, population, basic services, dominant sectors, land potential, priority needs;
  • the producer organisation form: members, activities, needs;
  • the atom form: the family’s activities, chosen activity, current situation and needs.

The project unfolds in three stages: organise the peasant environment, mobilise rural communities, then transform the peasant environment. Learn more on the PROTRAMAP page.

World days to mobilise

ORCAPE joins the United Nations world days that overlap with its areas of expertise:

  • 8 March: International Women’s Day;
  • 22 March: World Water Day;
  • 1 May: International Labour Day;
  • 5 June: World Environment Day;
  • 4 July: International Day of Cooperatives;
  • 6 July: World Rural Development Day;
  • 15 October: International Day of Rural Women;
  • 16 October: World Food Day;
  • 17 October: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty;
  • 24 October: World Development Information Day.

Work with us

Are you a local authority, a government service, an organisation or a company working in one of these fields? Write to us at contact@orcape.org. See what we have already achieved on our Our achievements page.