FacebookXYouTubeLinkedIn
communication@well-grounded.org

admin

About admin

This is a test of user profile update, using lea's picture and this text instead of an actual biography. Here is a new paragraph

Hope is not an endangered species

2022-03-11T13:45:15+00:00August 30th, 2019|

Albert Einstein once said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”. His words came to me when I was asked to write a blog piece about the biodiversity crisis. I started reading about how scientists in Alaska have identified that global warming is happening far faster than anybody feared. About glaciers in the Himalayas melting twice as fast as previously predicted, causing drought and famine for large parts of South Asia. How insect populations in Europe have crashed. To call it an “environmental crisis” makes it seem somehow out of our [...]

New multi-stake holder collaborations to start in Cameroon

2022-03-11T13:45:15+00:00January 9th, 2019|

There were almost 25 participants at the three day workshop organized by Well Grounded in Yaoundé: associations of small- and medium-sized businesses, civil society organisations and community forest groups met and exchanged about their experiences of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). In 2010, Cameroon signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the European Union to develop legal wood trade and improve forest governance. Large exporting companies quickly benefited from the opportunities offered by the VPA. Civil society has played an important role in the negotiation and implementation of this agreement, advocating for the common good, particularly that of indigenous and neighbouring communities. [...]

How to set good indicators for your projects

2022-03-11T13:45:10+00:00September 14th, 2018|

More and more, our donors, beneficiaries and the general public are requesting rigorous and objective evidence of the efficiency of our action. Beyond accountability requirements, good indicators also help us to assess the quality of our programmes, and correct them if necessary. In this article, you’ll find a few tips to define and use indicators in the conception and follow-up of your projects, while avoiding the most common mistakes! But to start with… What is an indicator? An indicator is a factor or a variable that can be measured objectively. It is, used to reliably assess the changes obtained or the [...]

How to write a successful proposal

2022-03-11T13:45:10+00:00May 8th, 2018|

Donors are like you and me: they are busy people, and often don’t have enough time to thoroughly review all the applications they receive. If you make their work easier, you will greatly increase your chances of catching their eye, by following these simple steps: Select the right donor Sending the same proposal to any donor you hear about won’t work. The first step is to thoroughly research available donors and to build up a simple document (it can be an excel sheet!) containing a list of donors most relevant for your organisation (ex. those that share the same overall vision [...]

Complaint abandoned, but systematic human rights violations continue for indigenous Baka communities in Cameroon

2022-03-11T13:45:10+00:00March 15th, 2018|

In September 2017, Survival International announced that it had withdrawn from OECD mediation with WWF, following its 2016 complaint lodged against them in relation to (inter alia) mistreatment of the Baka in Cameroon connected with its conservation activities. While Survival International's formal complaint might be at an end, the serious abuses of indigenous peoples’ human rights associated with conservation activities in Cameroon (and elsewhere) are persistent, real and ongoing, and reflect fundamental problems with the approach of many large conservation actors. At an international level, there has been a longstanding engagement by leading conservationists in support of human rights (often provoked [...]

Diversity and Inclusion: Human rights in the community forestry process in the DRC

2022-03-11T13:45:09+00:00March 2nd, 2018|

Securing local communities and indigenous peoples’ rights is a major challenge in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The situation of Human Rights is among the most critical in the world. The rule of law is applied erratically and the goods, including land, are regularly stolen. Laws that favour a potential recognition of traditional practices and rights of rural populations often remain hollow. However, Community forestry, a set of procedures, modalities and practices relative to forest management by local communities in view of their socio-economic development, has been adopted as one of the forest management modes in the DRC. Thanks to [...]

Useful free resources for CSOs: tested and approved tools

2022-03-11T13:45:09+00:00February 1st, 2018|

Working in a small organisation is not easy. Financial and human resources are scarce, and although civil society organisations (CSOs) are aware that there are countless free resources and tools out there that could make their life easier, they are often so overloaded that they can’t invest the time needed to find out where they are and which ones would correspond to their needs. Here are a few resources we find useful, on issues that small CSOs often request support for; we hope they will allow you to free up time for what’s important: your programmes and the people you work [...]

Leadership Development: The Mustard Seed of Efficient Organisations

2022-03-11T13:45:09+00:00January 12th, 2018|

Leadership is an essential element that contributes to the success or failure of civil society organisations (CSOs). If properly nurtured within an organisation, it can be the panacea that can contribute towards ensuring a stable health in CSOs and boost their growth. Yet, it constitutes the weak link in many CSOs working in the Congo Basin. From Well Grounded’s experience in this region, leadership “affects all aspects of an organisation and can therefore have either a strong positive or negative influence on the ability of an organisation to achieve its desired impact” (Well Grounded Discussion Series 2016, Issue 1- unpublished). Through [...]

How to involve women in forest management: Interview with a community organiser in DRC

2022-03-11T13:45:09+00:00December 5th, 2017|

“Women, and indigenous women in particular, need to be included in decision-making on ecosystem use at all levels, as essential players in preserving our planet.” –UN Women Ruth Badubaye has been working with rainforest communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for several years. Formerly a GIS (geographic information systems) technician with Congolese organisation GASHE (Group d’Action pour Sauver l’Homme et son Environnement), Ruth is now part of Rainforest UK’s Community Forests project in DRC’s Equateur province. Part of a small team of legal, scientific and technical community fieldworkers, she works directly with local communities to support them in sustainably [...]

OKANI’s action in Gbabandi and the development of indigenous peoples

2022-03-11T13:45:09+00:00November 13th, 2017|

OKANI’s vision is «a cohesive society where the rights, justice and fulfillment of indigenous peoples from the forests of Cameroon are guaranteed.» Its mission is to «support Indigenous peoples from the Cameroonian forests, and to improve their living conditions through the promotion of respect for their rights Since its creation 11 years ago, Okani has implemented several activities through different projects with the support of different technical and financial partners in order to improve the living conditions of indigenous peoples living in the Cameroonian forests. Projects were implemented in the following fields: Education Promotion of education in the Baka language through [...]

Go to Top