Heifer International to shift activities to the north

After 40 years of uninterrupted service in assisting resource-limited farmers in the southern regions of Cameroon, Heifer International Cameroon has announced its intention to shift its activities to the northern regions of the country as from the end of 2015.

In March 2012, Heifer International announced the Footprint for Impact, a strategy intended to maximize programmes impact by consolidating Heifer’s global geographic presence.

The process prioritized countries of highest need and highest opportunity and the presence of an enabling environment. As a result of the strategy, the decision was made to close a number of country programmes, including Heifer Cameroon.

The Sahel, an arid ecosystem in West Africa, is one of the highest need and highest opportunity areas that was identified during the Footprint for Impact process.

Northern Cameroon falls within these need and opportunity criteria as well as the arid ecosystem of the Sahel and was included in the Sahel Programme as it evolved over the last two years.

As such, the strategy for Cameroon warrants movement of the project from the southern parts of the country to the northern parts, rather than exiting the country completely.

Over the next few months, Heifer’s current work in the southern parts of Cameroon will wind down, as they fulfill our commitment with care and dignity to staff, existing projects and beneficiaries.

During the course of the year, the country programme will hold an event to commemorate Heifer’s 40th year of work in the country and celebrate a legacy of impact on the lives of smallholder farmers.

All current work in the southern parts of Cameroon is expected to be completed by December 2015, with the intention that concurrently, the work in the Sahel (northern parts of Cameroon) will also accelerate.

Heifer International operates in a constantly changing world. We remain committed to the underserved, the limited-resource farmer who needs our proven solution to create a sustainable and healthy life.

We are committed to helping smallholder farmers move from dependence to independence. We are also committed to working in the places where our work can make the greatest progress toward ending hunger and poverty. Not managing it or easing it but ending it.