21/08/2026
Finding solutions starts with listening. 🌱
In Cameroon, our member TeenAlive - Cameroon brought together traditional leaders, women leaders, spiritual leaders, community counsellors, and others to discuss how climate and environmental pressures are affecting peace and security in their community and identify solutions to these challenges.
👇 Read TeenAlive - Cameroon's reflections from the community dialogue.
Our Climate, Peace and Security project (CLIMPSE) is co-funded by the 🇪🇺 European Union.
Sometimes begins long before . It begins when into homes because have been blocked, when families are forced to leave their communities in search of , when farmland turns neighbors into competitors, and when environmental pressures quietly reshape relationships that once held communities together.
These are the realities in which the Climate Peace and Security ( ) Project was created to understand and solve. Implemented in Cameroon by TeenAlive on behalf of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict with support from the European Commission , recognizes that is not only an environmental challenge it is also a driver of , and conflict. By generating evidence, engaging communities and strengthening dialogue, the project is helping ensure that solutions are shaped by lived experiences rather than assumptions.
This journey began in Buea, Fako Division, South West Region of Cameroon. TeenAlive successfully brought together 40 community representatives, 23 men and 17 women including , , , and other respected community members. They were invited to the discussion table because their voices are the starting point for understanding how Climate and Environmental pressures are affecting , and everyday life.
As the conversations unfolded, a picture of life in Fako Division slowly emerged. Community members described a region where flooding has become a recurring threat rather than an occasional disaster. They linked this to blocked drainage systems, construction along waterways and wetlands, declining soil fertility, and increasing pressure on land and resources caused in part by displacement.
They identified children, internally displaced persons, women and girls, and persons with disabilities as those bearing the greatest burden. They also described disappearing forests, water shortages affecting sanitation, and limited opportunities leaving young people vulnerable.
Participants recounted disputes over land sold to multiple buyers, tensions between displaced families and host communities over sewage and waste, growing hate speech, substance abuse, harassment and exploitative coping mechanisms linked to overcrowding and economic hardship.
Community members highlighted sporting and cultural events that rebuild trust, community dialogues, environmental clean-up campaigns, council by-laws against illegal dumping, and innovative use of organic waste to restore soil fertility.
They were equally honest about what has not worked. Previous waste management initiatives collapsed because there is still no designated large-scale waste disposal site. Women and young people emerged as key actors already leading environmental protection and community resilience.
What began as a conversation with forty community representatives became the foundation for the next phase of the Project, informing evidence-based advocacy, hotspot mapping and future engagement with institutions.
Because lasting peace cannot be built on assumptions. It begins by listening to the people who live these realities every day and ensuring their voices shape the decisions that affect their future, at TeenAlive, every meaningful decision that affects the community begins with conversation with community stakeholders and we continue to put communities at the center of every decision made.
EU Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid UNFPA Cameroon UNICEF Cameroon Sida - Styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete Youth Actions for Development Foundation - YADEF Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ) Wacameroon Ngo Daraja Reube Mbororo Development Peace and Empowerment Initiative Revive Action Cameroon CBC Health Services - CBCHS Global Action for Education and Rehabilitation- GAERE DIBA Holistic Wellness Care Organization for Women's Empowerment and Development -OWED. Hope For A Better Tomorrow - HOBET Mike Yanou Foundation Youth Empowerment And Resilience Network Rural and Urban Grassroots Business Women Association - Rugbwa Visionary Care Foundation - VCF Cameroon Sustainable Women Organization-SWO
