Catholic Relief Services

The main focus of Catholic Relief Services' work in Cameroon is in Peace and Justice. CRS works through our partners in the Cameroonian Catholic Church and national non-governmental organizations to fight the injustices that have led to widespread poverty in Cameroon.

Additionally, CRS works with the church and other foreign donors to provide health care in areas with no access, and to provide safe drinking water to people living in the arid North. CRS is also planning to start a community forestry project to empower local villages to control their natural resources and to stop timber companies from illegally destroying the forests.

Our Work at a Glance
Although Cameroon is rich in natural and human resources, corruption and mismanagement have lead to an inequitable distribution of the country's wealth and to an absence of real peace. With this in mind, CRS and the Catholic Church are working to promote good governance and to address social justice issues such as corruption, civil society, foreign debt and HIV/AIDS.

Some specific examples of our work include:

From left to right: Jean-Baptiste Talla, CRS/Cameroon Project Manager for Peacebuilding and Justice, Father Martin Nag Iked, Editor-in-chief of "L'Effort Camerounais", and Father Patrick Lafon, General Secretary of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon and a member of Nkeng Shalom.

• Cameroon/Chad Pipeline Monitoring Project - CRS works with four local non-governmental organizations to monitor the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline, which is currently under construction. The purpose of this work is to advocate both nationally and internationally to ensure that the oil companies pay just compensation to the people who are negatively impacted by the pipeline project.

• The Center for the Environment and Development (CED) -CRS' partner, CED, works to protect the precious plants and animals that depend on Cameroon's tropical forests for their survival. The CED also helps communities located in or near the forests and is currently working with CRS to monitor the ongoing oil pipeline construction.

• Building Peace with the Church in Cameroon - The endemic corruption that exists at many levels of Cameroonian society contributes to creating an atmosphere of tension and mistrust in the country. In response to this reality, CRS has decided to focus its work in Cameroon primarily within the peacebuilding and justice program areas.

  For example, CRS collaborates with a consortium of Catholic Church institutions, called Nkeng Shalom, or A Call to Peace, to publish and distribute materials aimed at raising awareness of corruption and the proper use of public resources. CRS also supports educational workshops that strengthen local capacities in the field of peacebuilding.

   

• Catholic Centers for Legal Assistance - Working with Diocesan Justice and Peace commissions, CRS aims to protect the human rights of Cameroonians involved in the penitentiary and legal systems. This work includes advocating for prisoners who have been illegally detained and imprisoned without trial, helping poor people gain access to legal services, and decreasing the level of corruption in legal proceedings.

CRS is planning to start a community forestry project to empower local villages to control their natural resources and to stop timber companies from illegally destroying the forests.

Partners
CRS works mainly with the Cameroonian Catholic Church, the Episcopal Conference, National Justice and Peace Commission, Multi-Media Center, L'Effort Cameroonais and the Catholic University of Central Africa. The agency also collaborates with community groups and Catholic health centers.

History
CRS has been working in Cameroon since 1960. Through the years, the agency has adapted its strategies and programs to the ever-changing needs of Cameroonian society. For example, as programming within the area of food security has decreased in importance, activities to strengthen civil society and address corruption have increased. CRS currently maintains one office in Cameroon, which overseas all activities within the country, as well as in Chad, Equatorial Guinea, and Central African Republic.