Pig farming can be very lucrative for farmers during the dry season. Our economy workshops empower farmers with the necessary skills to build their own small scale enterprises.

Cocoa is an important crop in Cameroon, accounting for 42% of the country’s GDP. This year, with climate change and poor quality inputs such as dirty water, trading prices dropped by 19%. Unsafe water not only affects an individual’s well being, but also hinders a country’s progress towards economic growth. 

Njume’s five children used to constantly fight off water-related skin diseases and illnesses, both requiring medicine that their father could not afford. In Africa alone, unclean water creates economic losses as high as $28.4 billion.

With clean water, Njume’s life is drastically different with a healthier family. Njume excitedly exclaims, “A healthy family is a rich family!”.  

Building a supportive economy is crucial to keep clean water flowing and vice-versa. A supportive economy allows locals to afford the maintenance costs associated with a water system and clean water allows entrepreneurs like Malam to work through the intense heat.

Meetings with community members are key to creating solutions appropriate to local needs. Collaboration creates local ownership and unification. 

Women, men, and youth in the Bajoh area discuss and list promising income-generating activities at a needs assessment workshop.

Nkede sits on top of the cocoa beans he has farmed for the year. His beans sell for lower than market value because its quality is degraded by contaminated water. 

In the Kupe Manenguba division, convenience stores stay closed for half of the year because farmers cannot make an income from their crops during dry season. Having an accessible source of water affects everyone in every way. 

Entrepreneurs like Sumekome can only keep her convenience shop open for 6 months of the year when farmers are making an income during rainy season. Access to a year-round water source would create multiplier effects that can increase everything from crop quality to the number of income-generating opportunities in the village.