Kribi: Women brainstorming measures to curb environmental, social injustice.

It is organised by Yaounde-based civil society organisation, Green Development Advocates, GDA, in collaboration with South Africa-based Women’s Rights Organisation, dubbed Womin.

Representatives are from Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Congo Brazzaville, Senegal, Niger, and Cameroon. 

The women, mostly grassroots leaders from communities affected by agro-industrial, mining, and hydropower projects, are sharing experiences, strengthening their campaigns, and enhancing their advocacy skills under the banner of the Right to Say No.

It will feature targeted workshops and peer learning sessions on monitoring and reporting human rights and environmental abuses, legal mechanisms for seeking redress, strategic use of social media and traditional media for advocacy, strengthening community campaigns on the Right to Say No. 

Organisers said the group will also pay a solidarity visit to Apouh in Edea, supporting women facing similar struggles from monoculture plantations. 

Interactions, officials disclosed, are designed not only to build capacity but also to forge lasting alliances between affected communities across the region.

The Coordinator of GDA, Aristide Chacgom, welcomed participants in the presence of the Coordinator of the “Right to Say No” project for Womin, Georgine Kengne.

Chacgom participants that the goal is on mutual learning and empowerment. He described the international gathering as a solidarity platform, particularly for women most affected when large-scale infrastructure or industrial projects encroach on their lands and livelihoods. 

“Women are here to learn what others are doing in their countries, how they fight, how they resist,” he explained, noting that “when these projects happen, women are the most impacted” and must “find strategies to fight”. 

Not rebellion, but rights

Quizzed whether such mobilisations might be viewed as rebellious, Chacgom was firm in his response.

"No. We are not encouraging rebellion. We are promoting the right to say no, peacefully," Chacgom stated, clarifying that resistance does not mean violence or protest in the streets.

He emphasised that: "When we say 'no', we mean writing letters to the company or to authorities, explaining our dissatisfaction and seeking peaceful solutions. It's about mobilising others, journalists, civil society, and partners to join in helping the people”. 

Tangible victories

To further buttress his points, Chacgom cited real-world victories from across the country that have resulted from peaceful resistance strategies. 

"In Nachtigal, the population mobilised and entered into negotiations with the company in charge of works in that area. An agreement was signed, filling gaps in the original project plan," he recalled.

Chacgom also referenced Nkoteng village, where a mobilisation campaign led to a successful installation of boreholes by the involved company. 

“These are victories we can account for. That is why women from other countries are here because they, too, have seen results on the ground," he said. 

Women speak out against harmful development projects

One of the participants from Cameroon, Marie-Christine Mipoute, voiced deep apprehension about a project slated to transform her village. 

As per Mipoute, while project planners speak of elevating livelihoods with their projects, no visible change has been made. She expressed fears that without concrete actions, the community stands to be the loser. 

 “We are going to lose a lot; the land, our culture, our own identity…we don’t know if the project will take into account our grievances or allow us to find ourselves in our new life,” Mipoute said. 

Another participant from Niger, Yahaya Bangare Masaouda Mouskoura, recounted the long shadow cast by the Kandaji hydroelectric dam, whose initial plans, she revealed dates back to the 1960s and whose construction began in earnest in 2012. 

Once a riverside community thriving on fish, agriculture, and handicrafts, the people of Kandaji’s, she said, were uprooted and promised replacement lands and livelihoods.

Yahaya lamented that only about 25,000 of the 60,000 affected residents in 23 villages received compensation, leaving 35,000 still awaiting any redress. Promises made by the agency ABK went largely unfulfilled.

“People pleaded, talked, talked,” she said, but were told, “there is no money to compensate our brothers”.

She said households now contend with overcrowding, poverty, a lack of arable land, and crippling insecurity. 

Health centres, she said, have become ghost towns, as “health workers are afraid they cannot stay because terrorists are attacking state agents, the health workers, the teachers”. 

As per the women, development must be a dialogue, not a dictate. They demand that governments, companies, and NGOs move beyond rhetoric to genuine, on-the-ground collaboration that acknowledges local cultures, secures fair compensation, and safeguards livelihoods.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3526 of Thursday August 07, 2025.