From May 12 to 17, 2025, SAILD officially launched the “Cosmétopée du Bassin du Congo” project in three villages of the Lom-et-Djérem department in the East Cameroon region.
“Beautiful, handsome naturally thanks to our forest” is the slogan of this new project entitled ” Cosmetopoeia of the Congo Basin. From tradition to modernity: A mediation offer of endogenous and exogenous knowledge in an economic intelligence approach”. It is being implemented by the Support Service for Local Development Initiatives ( SAILD) through its Documentation Center for Rural Development (CDDR) in three villages bordering the Deng Deng National Park (PNDD), including Hona, Mansa and Kombo-Cassi.
The PNDD, located in the East Cameroon region, boasts remarkable biological diversity, both in terms of plants and wildlife. The vegetation, made up of woody and non-woody species, is used by local communities for a variety of purposes: subsistence, traditional pharmacopoeia and, increasingly, cosmetopoeia. For almost a week, the SAILD team was out and about in these localities, sowing the seeds of the project. “We presented the project, its objectives and its importance to the traditional authorities and inhabitants of each village bordering the PNDD. We also explained the role communities are expected to play in its implementation. Most of the participants were women and young people. In all, some 150 people were reached,” said Franck Ndjodo, a member of the project team.
Developing the cosmetics sector
Subsequently, he explained, the days were marked by interactive exchange sessions with communities and group work to identify local know-how and existing practices around plants used for skin care, hair care and general well-being. “We identified a multitude of natural resources and some of their traditional uses. Together, we also discussed the rules of access to these resources, in compliance with the regulations in force in Deng Deng National Park. Once the selections have been made, a team of researchers is scheduled to visit the forests with the local communities to make a clear inventory of the species selected”, he confided.
The “Cosmetopeia of the Congo Bassin ” project, financed by the Cosmetic Valley Endowment Fund (edition 2024), aims to contribute to the development of the cosmetics sector based on natural resources, and to build bridges between traditional and scientific knowledge, for the equitable and sustainable valorization of local resources, with a view to moving from subsistence entrepreneurship to growth entrepreneurship for these communities bordering the PNDD through cosmetopoeia.
- Sharon Maché
