Visionary Reports

For more than a decade, the women of Mbonjo, a village in Cameroon’s Littoral region, have been at the forefront of a fight for land and justice. Their struggle, supported by the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA) project, began in response to multinational corporations seizing their ancestral land for large-scale farming. On Tuesday, a delegation of leaders from 15 GAGGA-supported organizations visited the village September 2,2025 to evaluate the project’s impact, just one part of a three-day workshop in Douala with participants from the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cameroon.In the main time,GAGGA is a global initiative that provides funding and support to environmental and gender justice movements. Its core mission is to empower local, women-led organizations. Led by the Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres, GAGGA partners with organizations like Mama Cash and the Global Greengrants Fund (GGF). The GGF, in particular, has a long history of financing grassroots environmental initiatives worldwide.The GAGGA program’s purpose is two fold: It provides grants to grassroots organizations, women’s funds, and NGOs working on environmental and women’s rights issues, It trains and empowers women’s groups from numerous villages including Bonalea, Dibombari, Fiko, Mbonjo, and others—that have been affected by agro-industries like Socapalm, CDC, and PHP in Cameroon.

Through the program, women have been able to develop income-generating activities and advocate for their rights. Projects have included creating community gardens and launching a campaign against contractual plantations, which women say directly threaten their land and livelihoods.However,the human cost of land seizure was a major topic of discussion during the evaluation visit. Emmanuel Elong, the National President of Synaparcam a valuable GAGGA partner organization that defends community interests, explained the devastating effects of land loss. He noted that three major agro-industrial companies Socapalm, CDC, and PHP have taken vast amounts of land, leaving villagers with little to no space for farming.”We don’t have land to farm,” Elong said. He explained that women are often attacked by company security guards or the military when they try to access what little land is left to gather food. “This is the main reason our visitors are here today to help us find new ways to earn a living since our land is gone.”Enerstine Victor from the Dynamic Association of Misaka shared similar struggles, noting that her community’s crops are often destroyed by flooding. Without other means of income, they are left with nothing. “When the water takes our crops, we are just sitting,” she pleaded. “We are asking for help.”Furthermore,Samuel Nnah Ndobe, coordinator of the Global Greengrants Fund’s Central Africa Advisory Board, provided a broader context for the GAGGA program. He explained that it was created to bridge the gap between women’s rights and environmental justice, as the two are intrinsically linked.”Women are the ones who suffer the most from environmental destruction,” he said. In many communities in the Global South, women are the primary caregivers and providers. When their land is taken, their ability to feed their families is jeopardized, which can lead to conflict and domestic violence. Ndobe added that women also face increased risks of gender-based violence, including rape, when they attempt to access their former lands.GAGGA’s mission, he said, is to give women a platform to voice their concerns and influence policy-makers by providing the resources and training they need to advocate for their rights.Nnah Ndobe expressed his satisfaction with the progress made so far. He noted that partner organizations like Synaparcam have created safe spaces for women to meet and discuss their issues. Women in the Mbonjo area, who previously had no access to land, have been trained in agro-ecological farming practices and have even created a market to sell their produce. The program has also helped women revive the use of traditional seeds, which are not only cheaper but also more resilient to climate change.Nevertheless,speaking to the women, GAGGA official Dr. Aminata Niang urged them to be “assiduous” and work together. She praised their effective use of grant funding, citing the new peasant market as a prime example of their success. She also highlighted the program’s role in helping women organize to defend their communities against corporate plantations and preserve sacred sites.”The study will allow other workers to see that thanks to this funding, women in Cameroon, women in the DRC, and African women and also young men and women are doing great things,” Dr. Aminata said. She concluded by emphasizing the importance of continued solidarity among the women, noting, “If two people do one thing better than one person, we have to continue this dynamic.”While much has been accomplished, there is still more to be done. GAGGA continues to foster collaboration between women’s rights and environmental organizations, ensuring these intertwined issues are addressed collectively for a more just and equitable future.

By Henry Wana