Renforcer la voix de la société civile – Le réseau VOICE intensifie sa collaboration au Cameroun

On 2nd and 3rd June 2026, Voice Network’s Head of Strategic Partnerships, Suzan-Hermina Yemidi, engaged a cross-section of CSOs and Cooperatives in Cameroon to gain insights into the Cameroonian cocoa sector, opportunities for strengthening Civil Society voices, and deepen collaboration with its members in-country.

For Voice members in Cameroon, Green Development Advocates, SYNAPARCAM, and CODED, the visit created a platform where they concretely discussed leveraging their membership to promote joint advocacy for a sustainable cocoa sector.

Meeting with a cross section of the CSOs, the Head of Strategic Partnerships introduced what the VOICE Network was about and invited more organizations to join. She also presented the 2025 Cocoa Barometer, highlighting areas of critical importance for the Cameroonian cocoa sector, including key topics such as living income for farmers, deforestation, and EUDR preparedness. She reiterated the importance of CSOs learning from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire and adapting lessons as solutions for Cameroon.

On the part of CSOs engaged, the absence of a formidable platform to provide a united mechanism for advocacy was highlighted. This weakness provides an opportunity for Voice and its members to support the creation of a robust national platform for advocacy.

2 key takeaways from the engagement were the importance of facilitating exchange learning to build their capacity to advocate from a place of knowledge, and the creation of impactful collaborations to promote a sustainable cocoa sector.

VOICE is grateful to its members in Cameroon for the warm reception and to GDA for coordinating the meetings.