In 2017, the Ndibse Widows group were among the beneficiary of the project titled: ‘Empowering women by means of pig farming’ supported by MANOS-UNIDAS Spain. Despite all the challenges, these women are still carrying on with their activities beyond project period. The impact of their work till date is as follows;

• They generated a total of 110 piglets from the 5 project donated pigs. 27 of these were shared among the 9 members (widows and their households)
• Sold 68 piglets at XAF 25,000 each, giving a total income of XAF 1,700,000
• Using income generated from the pig farming, the group paid XAF 200,000 and XAF 600,000 as contribution to acquire two sets of multi-purpose food processing machines (which processes maize, cassava and spices) from two projects supported by ADDAX ORYX FOUNDATION in Switzerland through CAD and the government of Cameroon through the ACEFA program respectively.
• The combined income generated by the two sets of machines is XAF 800,000. The both machines serving a total of 6 communities (Ndibse 1 & 2, Muandelegoh, Enyandong, Mualong and Ndun)
• The income generated have help members pay children school fees, pay hospital bills and serves as micro loans for members and the community.

CAD is raising community awareness on the importance of community-based sustainable tourism (CBST) among indigenous people and local communities (IPLCs) in the Bakossi-Banyang Mbo landscape. So far, 69 village representatives (19 women and 50 men) from 18 villages now have improved knowledge and understanding of CBST via a series of sensitisation meetings held in Mbat and Nyasoso communities in the Bangem and Tombel Sub-Divisions respectively. These meetings helped to improve the buy-in of the IPLCs in this new initiative for them to claim ownership and control over the management of their natural and cultural resources and the benefits accruing from them.    

CAD is currently piloting a hunters’ engagement strategy in the Bakossi National Park area. Following poachers’ identification and need assessment, CAD engaged 11 of the 79 poachers identified in green business ventures, such as, Garcinia kola (Bitter cola) domestication, small scale poultry and piggery. So far, 64 piglets and 5000 bitter cola seedlings worth XAF 1,920,000 (USD 3,125) and XAF 5,000,000 (USD 8,139), respectively, have been generated. Some of the supported reformed poachers are helping others to decline from illegal hunting through sensitization and sharing of project proceeds. In August 2023, one of the supported ex-poachers, Mr. Enang Paul of Elum village donated two piglets to two poachers in the South East cluster of the park. However, there is need to support more poachers with this Passing-Over-the-Gift Model so that local communities can derive more benefits from natural resource management and ensure sustainability of efforts.  

 In June 2022, CAD developed a gender-sensitive Community-Based Sustainable Tourism (CBST) strategy for Bakossi-Banyang Mbo landscape, the first of its kind in Cameroon, with financial support from WWF. This strategy was validated under the auspices of the Permanent Secretary of the National Tourism Council at the Prime Minister’s Office in Yaounde, with the participation of stakeholders from the civil society (IPLCS, women, youths), and the public and private sectors. Plans are underway to mainstream this strategy in to Council Development Plans (CDPs) to ensure sustainability.