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.

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 organized a three-day in-house training on basic ICT tools and website management in April 2023. Staff are currently using the acquired skills in project/program reporting and publication.