Some twenty civil society organizations gathered on January 30, 2025 for a workshop organized by the Support Service for Local Development Initiatives (SAILD) in Mbalmayo, central Cameroon.
“ Green Accountability, to strengthen the involvement of CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) and PACL (Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities) for greater accountability and transparency in climate policies and programs in Cameroon” is a new project underway at SAILD since October 2024. The NGO made the initiative public at a launch workshop held on January 30.
Some twenty CSOs, the media, government departments and agencies took part. International organizations also took part, including WRI (World Resources Institute), which funded the project. “In view of the major climate crises affecting the world, we realized that in the policies being drawn up in many countries, the role of civil society is planned but not actually implemented. That’s why, with this funding, we wanted to mobilize CSOs and PACLs to be more involved in the processes and to collaborate with administrations on climate policies”, declared Duclaire Mbouna, WRI National Coordinator.
Civil society remains vital
The workshop also enabled stakeholders to analyze the level of involvement of CSOs in the development and implementation of Cameroon’s National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NCCAP) and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). Two strategic documents drawn up by Cameroon to facilitate the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and the adaptation of its population to the effects of climate change. “We insist on the involvement of civil society, as it often acts as an interface between administrations, local communities and indigenous peoples. CSO players have the best grasp of the problems that communities face on a daily basis, and they can bring them to the attention of the administration, so that it knows exactly how to direct funding flows to reach the people who need it most”, says Duclaire Mbouna.
This 12-month project is being implemented by three Cameroonian organizations: SAILD, FLAG (Field Legality Advisory Group) and GDA (Green Development Advocates) in the department of Mbam-et-Kim, Central Cameroon. For Clarisse Fombana, Project Manager on duty at SAILD, the objectives are clear: “We are going to evaluate the implementation of climate actions on the ground at local community level, and continue consultation with CSOs in order to set up a discussion platform that will facilitate exchanges to increase the involvement of CSOs in climate accountability and transparency, while integrating the point of view of PACLs”.
- Sharon Maché
“Working with civil society and communities is very important for the Paris Agreement”; Timothée Kagonbe, National Coordinator CDN (Contribution Déterminée au Niveau National) at the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development.
Transparency plays a key role in the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Our activities must take into account all stakeholders, i.e. civil society, the gender aspect, local populations, etc., because it is on this basis that an assessment is made. And today, Cameroon wishes to apply this in an ongoing project on capacity building in the implementation of transparency. For example, in this project, we are required to introduce the gender aspect, with a minimum of 30% women, same thing for local communities.
The “ Green Accountability ” project, which aims to reinforce transparency, doesn’t mean there isn’t any. Transparency is there. The proof is that we’ve been working with civil society for a long time. Civil society may not feel sufficiently involved, and that’s perfectly normal. There are a great many civil society organizations in Cameroon. They’ll have to organize themselves into a network to make their involvement noticeable.
The Paris Agreement also requires that PACLs be taken into account in the preparation of documents. And this is an obligation if we want our work to be
recognized internationally on the basis of Article 13 of the Paris Agreement, which speaks of latransparency. For example, as part of the revision of the 2nd CDN, we carried out consultations that enabled us to identify the problems faced by communities in their localities and to find out which projects would be beneficial to them. Many of the projects came from these localities. That’s how PACL works. And our wish is to continue in this direction so that the participation of all stakeholders is effective.
