Banka Coop

Project Banka Coop

Context

The idea of starting a worker coop in the rural village of Banka in Bafang Cameroon Africa came from the need to encourage local consumption of foodstuff cultivated by local agricultural laborers and create a trading platform to facilitate the buying between Cameroonian producers and buyers.

Social, Economic, Political Environment (North/South)

Cameroon

• Technical and cultural exchanges + funding
• Participation in international networks, building and sharing social capital
• Sharing of development experiences and social organization:South-South, South-North, East-West.

--Human rights organisations accuse police and military forces of mistreating and even torturing criminal suspects, ethnic minorities, homosexuals, and political activists."Cameroon", Amnesty International; "Cameroon (2006)", Freedom House; "Cameroon", Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, U.S. Department of State; "Elections to the Human Rights Council", Amnesty International.

--An estimated 70% of the population farms, and agriculture comprised an estimated 45.2% of GDP in 2006."Cameroon", The World Factbook.

--They sell their surplus produce, and some maintain separate fields for commercial use. Urban centres are particularly reliant on peasant agriculture for their foodstuffs.Human Development Indices, Table 3: Human and income poverty, p. 35.

--Reliance on agricultural exports makes Cameroon vulnerable to shifts in their prices. "Cameroon", The World Factbook.

--The main food crops are plantains, cassava, corn, millet, and sugarcane.

--Cameroon is among the world’s largest cocoa producers; 130,000 tons of cocoa beans were produced in 2004. Two types of coffee, robusta and arabica, are grown; production was 60,000 tons in 2004. About 85,000 hectares (210,000 acres) are allocated to cotton plantations.

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Project Description

To initiate a cooperative of farmers and trader groups using new technologies to facilitate the transactions between producers and buyers. The members of the coop can advertise their goods and offers on a Web site with their own Internet addresses, and farmer and trader groups can set up Web sites to manage all these services for their members. The cooperative can also have a local store where producers can advertise and sell their products to local community members.

Project Objectives

To enable Cameroonian agriculturers to prosper through timely supply of reliable, high quality local agricultural inputs and services, to faciliate the trade between rural and urban buyers and to initiate other socio-economic activitities to improve the welfare of the Bafang community.

• Activities

• Tasks

Organizations/NGOs/Partners

• ICO: International Co-operative Alliance

The International Co-operative Alliance is an independent, non-governmental organisation which unites, represents and serves co-operatives worldwide. ICA members are national and international co-operative organisations in all sectors of activity including agriculture, banking, fisheries, health, housing, industry, insurance, tourism and consumer co-operatives. ICA has 222 member organisations from 85 countries. ICA's priorities and activities centre on promoting and defending the Co-operative Identity, ensuring that co-operative enterprise is a recognised form of enterprise that is able to compete in the marketplace. ICA's activities include:

1. ICA raises awareness about co-operatives.
2. ICA ensures that the right policy environment exists to enable co-operatives to grow and prosper.
3. ICA provides its members with key information, best practice and contacts.
4. ICA is able to communicate the position of the Co-operative Movement on a wide range of economic, social and cultural issues because of its special status with the UN, the Council of Europe and regional development banks.
5. ICA provides technical assistance to co-operatives through its development programme.

• ICA Rules

NGOs

• Pya.Pya

A Development Consultancy working with and for communities directly at the grassroots level, in partnership with dynamic individuals, social groups and local civil society organizations. Fostering of real change and promote gender equality and respect of women’s rights through the utilization of women’s skills and intelligence, cultures and resources.

• Organisation of Rural Women's Development Association for Progress

An umbrella organisation made up of fiften Rural Women's Association and based in Cameroon. our main activities include farming, acquacullure, trade, revolving credit scheme, cooperative activities such as gari processing and many others. Because of diversified activities and greater participation, we are spread all over South West Province of Cameroon.

• Femmes Étoile de Banka

Association qui fait dans la transformation du manioc en divers produits(Baton de manioc,Tapioca,Couscous).

Partners

1. Chefferie Banka
2. exportateur de café
3. fonctionnaire au service de l'agriculture

Evaluating solidity, accountability and sustainability

• Criteria

1. capacity to build and maintain relationships with local social movements
2. reputation
3. ties with civil society
4. innovative
5. leadership

Gender: 5 Actions with women

• 5 Actions

1. increase women's literacy and knowledge of formal documents
2. capacity-building training seminars on policy work (Rural women actively participate in the implementation of priority issues)
3. build a support network
4. capacity-building and training in management
5. support women's collection, analysis and processing of data

Links

• Geographic Information
  • Haut Nkam District
• Partners/NGOs
  • Femme du groupe Femme Étoile de Banka
• Pya.Pya Constitution
  • Pya.Pya

Member of Femme Étoile Banka]

• • Chefferie Banka
• Activities
  • Dried Manioc
  • Hearthstone
  • Corn Processing Machine