After two years of commitment in the Extreme North of the African Country, an evaluation helps us to analyse the impact of our work
Evaluating a project is one of the most difficult tasks, especially in Cameroon, in a country that lives several crises at the same time: armed conflicts, millions of refugees, food shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic. An evaluation is not a promotion or a rejection. It is an indispensable analysis to understand what worked and what to change, to make humanitarian action ever more effective. And more and more transparent, as we want to do by making public the results of an important evaluation of our activities carried out in the past months.
The project we are talking about, which lasted two years (from 2018 to 2020), was concentrated in three departments in the Extreme North of Cameroon: Mayo-Tsanaga, Mayo-Sava, Logone & Chari, where 64% of the people live in need of humanitarian aid. The aim of the project was to improve the food security of the assisted persons by strengthening their capacity for food production and farming. The project included, among the various activities, training courses on agro-pastoral techniques, distribution of seeds and small ruminants, but also of goods to improve living conditions, such as mattresses and blankets, kitchen sets, etc.
The results? It can be safely said that INTERSOS’s intervention in the regions of the Extreme North of Cameroon has responded to the real needs of the population. All project activities were recognised as “relevant and effective” by the actors involved. Probably because, since the beginning, local communities were involved. Furthermore, as per the objectives set, the problems linked to the condition of women were taken into consideration and it should be emphasised that the representation of women – in the committees and other representative bodies created during the project – was always around 50%.