GIZ Cameroon

About us

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH has been working in Cameroon since the early 1960s. The regional office in Cameroon also coordinates the activities of GIZ in Chad, the Central African Republic, Gabon and Sao Tomé & Principe.
Due to its geographical location and ecological diversity, Cameroon has considerable potential for agriculture and livestock, which account for about 15 per cent of Cameroon’s gross domestic product (GDP) and provide the largest share of employment. Yet, overall yields are low, and food insecurity affects more than one fifth of rural households. Malnutrition among women and chronic undernourishment among children are widespread. Moreover, access to land remains a major challenge for both young people and women just like access to credits and loans. Furthermore, small farms have limited access to innovations that would increase productivity, ensure food security and improve incomes.
Half of Cameroon’s surface area is forested, and timber is one of the country’s major export products, yet a large portion remains undeclared. Migration and population growth have led to an increasing need for fuelwood and farming activities. Together with a general lack of employment, this poses a threat to Cameroon’s forests and ecosystems. Illegal logging and poaching exacerbate the situation.
GIZ’s main commissioning party in Cameroon is the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Currently, the German-Cameroonian cooperation is focusing on the following key areas:
-  Environmental, climate and forest policy 
-  Rural development
-  Governance and decentralisation
One of the goals of the development cooperation is the conservation of Cameroon’s tropical forests and protected areas in harmonisation with the living environment for humans and animals which helps to avoid zoonoses like COVID 19. GIZ is promoting sustainable resource management and the protection of biodiversity in Cameroon and the member states of the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC). 
GIZ is also working on rural development in Cameroon to guarantee food security and increase employment opportunities. To achieve this, GIZ supports partners to turn subsistence farming into an agricultural sector that is profitable as well as socially and environmentally sustainable.