In the North West Region of Cameroon, water catchments are much solicited areas in villages due to permanent presence of water all over the year. According to the baseline study of North West Region (2006), increase in population pressure has resulted to a corresponding increase of human impact on the environment especially catchment areas. Deforestation, farming with the use of chemicals, grazing, bush fires, planting of unfriendly trees such as eucalyptus around catchments and the laying out of fields on slopes are some of the activities that lead to soil erosion, pollution, siltation and drying up of water catchments. Water sources in around and around catchments are being degraded and has led to shortages in water supply in adjacent communities.

The existence of weak and poorly trained Water Management Committees (WMC), limited awareness of community members on importance of water catchments protection and existence of conflicts between stakeholders (Farmers, Grazers, WMC and Councils), cannot be left out. These have also contributed to the unsustainable management of catchments areas around the region.

Although the Cameroonian government issued a decree in 2001 to organize the protection of water catchments areas, most of these water sources are treated as individual properties by those who own the land. These landlords do not respect the legal prescription in force such as: acquisition of land certificate, demarcation of catchments, fire tracing, fencing (live and dead fencing) and planting of water friendly trees.

This pressure on water resources highlights the hydrological, social, economic and ecological interdependencies in water catchment areas. These interdependencies demand more integrated approaches to developing and managing water and land resources. The present trajectory is made to stimulate a dynamic relationship between water catchment areas stakeholders and councils authorities, who have to work together to ensure the viability of their decisions in meeting sustainable development goals.

Main Objective

Provide advisory services to New Forest Project clients in order to conduce a trajectory that aims to manage and develop water resources in a sustainable and balanced way, taking into account of social, economic and environmental interests of riparian populations in rural council areas.

Specific objectives:

• Increase awareness of community members and stakeholders on water catchment protection
• Improve on the database of needs of stakeholders around catchment areas
• Institute a plan to protect water catchments within the council areas
• Ensure effective monitoring of catchments protection
  

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VOLUNTEER TEACHERS.Qualified volunteer teachers or volunteer trainee teachers of any subject at any level. However, we do recommend that those volunteers who are not qualified teachers or trainee teachers study for a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) qualification if at all possible. It is important to have a genuine interest in making a worthwhile contribution and the ability to live in a rural environment while establishing a solid relationship with the local community.

Volunteer Nurses, Doctors, and Health Care Assistants.If you are an open-minded and flexible medical professional in any part of the world looking  for the whole experience rather than seeing yourself purely as a service provider, then you will gain a lot from this volunteer opportunity. Volunteers with medical training should come with an open mind about their role and be aware that, due to the vast differences in how healthcare is delivered, they may find themselves doing very different work to their usual practice. This can be both frustrating and very rewarding, depending on your expectations.Environmental Volunteers

We have quite a number of environmental projects, including tree planting, fruit tree propagation, water catchment protection,community forest management,vegetable gardens, fish farming, beekeeping, fuel-efficient wood-burning stove making, etc. Our environmental projects are not just located locally and could be anywhere within  Cameroon. We encourage communities and local North Westerners to take ownership of these projects and, consequently, it can be difficult to provide full-time volunteer placements. One of the main problems, however, is transport which can be time-consuming and costly; for example, our environmental projects office is based in Bamenda which is 25km north of Ndop, and it costs about US$5 to get there on public transport. However, we would be happy for any of our volunteers who are working in education or healthcare to become involved in some way with one or more of our environmental projects.

If you are looking for a full-time volunteer environmental placement, we would need to discuss with you on the phone or via e-mail what your skills are and what opportunities could be available. Previous volunteers have been involved with, for example, in-depth studies related to water catchment protection, usage and benefits, and community vegetable gardens for the benefit of HIV/AIDS sufferers. We will be placing great emphasis on environmental awareness training in schools and community clubs

Volunteer opportunity

Degradation of agricultural lands and watersheds, deforestation and destruction of coastal zones is increasing at an alarming pace in Cameroon. The main problem is: lack of common framework of action and coordination of activities. Nevertheless it is a relatively peaceful and stable region in the country with the prospects of a bright future if the people are educated.

5. Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring
· Develop and apply a simplified monitoring system for the farm
· Work out a minimum amount of recordings that will help gather the necessary
information
· Incorporate monitoring techniques at different levels of the project cycle
Evaluation
· Looking at the longer-term objectives, are they being achieved?
· Collecting and processing necessary information
· Relevance: Are the objectives actually matching the identified problems and needs? i.e.
whether the “why” of the project was a good one.
· Impact Assessment: Evaluating the impact of a chosen project
· Cost-effectiveness of the project
· Sustainability: Are there any lasting benefits of the project?
· Communicating the findings and recommendations made
6. Re-Planning
· Feeding lessons back into the next round of planning. i.e. introducing corrective measures
in order to get better results.
7. Fundraising
· Planning the funding needs for the farm project
· Finding the funding agencies for the project (internet, embassies, etc)
· Developing a project proposal
· Applying for the funds for components of the project or so
· Implementation of project components
· Building cooperation with the funding organisation
8. Reporting
· Writing monthly reports of work to CAEPA Office in Bamenda
· Writing evaluation reports of the farm projects highlighting strengths, weaknesses and
proposing corrective measures for better management
· Writing an overall report at the end of the volunteerism
9. Do other work that is related to the farm project
· E.g. Attend network meetings

Responsibilities will include:
- Working with a team to orchestrate contests, auctions, and events
- Discussing merchandise strategies
- Cultivating relationships with other organizations who may want to hold fundraisers on our behalf.
- Maintaining and organizing our current fundraising programs and expanding our stewardship efforts.
- Assisting with grant proposals
- Researching and identifying potential donors and securing funds for increasing public awareness of the CAEPA and its work.

This position will take a person with ample fundraising experience who is willing to teach others and work with a team of volunteers. This position will require a time commitment of approximately 10-15 hours per week but this will vary greatly as projects grow and evolve.

Children help in agroforestry

Due to intensive human activities in watershed areas, many permanent springs are becoming seasonal while seasonal ones are disppearing completely. In an effort to safeguard the further availabilityof water, CAEPA Cameroon is working closely with rural communities to protect their watershed and catchments.

Protection is achieved through conservation farming, reforestation, agroforestry and demarcation of protected zones. CAEPA carries out training of water management committees, caretakers of the water supply system and the catchments area. Community forest management is amonst our Highest priorities.

Pear Trees

CAEPA is also involved in the sustainable managment of community forests. We are assisting the communities of Balikumbat, Bamunkumbit, Bafanji in Ngoketunjia Division and Olorunti in Widikum sub-division to obtain and manage their Community Forest.