Expression of Interest for Board Membership
In order to carry out an ambitious conservation and livelihoods agenda in Central and West Africa, we are currently re-strategizing. As part of this new strategy, we are looking for dynamic, experienced and enthusiastic men and women to join our Board in Manassas, Virginia (USA).
Call for Expression of Interest for Board Membership
ABOUT US
The Centre for Environment and Human Development (CEHDev) is a prospective 501(c)3 flagship and rights-based international conservation and development organization incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2007. Our main objective is to empower people in natural resource-dependent communities to internalize conservation-friendly livelihoods improvement strategies. We assist them to promote the conservation, wise management and rational use of forests and aquatic resources.
Created to identify and seek appropriate solutions to pressing environmental and development issues bedeviling rural, peri-urban and urban communities in the global South, we spent our formative years (2008-2012) testing the grounds in the Central African region where we have gradually proposed a process of alternative development whereby grassroots mobilization is seen as the hallmark of an innovative development process.
After our 5-year ground-testing experience we developed a 5-year Strategic Plan in 2013 designed to guide long term planning for the period 2014 to 2018. In line with this Plan, and cognizant of the need to set practical, achievable and measurable objectives, our overseas programs, for the time being, focus on biodiversity-rich Central and West Africa where we have a track record of working on multi-stakeholder conservation and livelihoods issues. In preparation for the execution of the Plan, in August 2012 we applied for tax-exempt status with the IRS and are still awaiting the results. In January 2013, we launched our website and functionalized our US office in Manassas, Virginia.
In a rapid survey we conducted in 2011 in a cluster of 5 neighboring cocoa-producing communities in south western Cameroon, we found out that about 67% of fuel wood consumed by households is directly used in cocoa ovens. The survey suggests that there is systematic denudation of forests and erosion of livelihoods opportunities directly linked to an agricultural activity that has so far eluded the vigilance of conservationists and environmentalists: cocoa processing at farm level. If these results could be validated in a broad-based survey, the implications for other cocoa-producing countries all over the world would become apparent.
Apart from the fact that cocoa farmers and other community members could be exposed to health risks resulting from high CO2 emissions from wood ovens, inhaling vast amounts of wood smoke and exposure to excessive heat during the cocoa drying process, scorched lands occasioned by deforestation and forest degradation could equally dry up streams and reduce women's ability to produce food. In the best case scenarios, this could trigger a cycle of food insecurity as women's workloads increase four or five fold because they travel longer distances to plant, harvest food and collect wood and water for their households.
We intend to institute a "Biogas Substitution" and other interventions to eliminate the adverse environmental, social and health effects resulting from drying cocoa beans in wooden ovens. The Biogas substitution initiative will substitute wood with locally-generated biogas as heat source in ovens in which cocoa farmers dry their cocoa beans. It will also eliminate child and slave labour in the cocoa processing chain.
These proposed initiatives will, in the short and medium terms, lead to the greening of cocoa beans and cocoa products. In the long term the program will lead to the protection of standing forests and the reforestation of denuded lands, with the likelihood of enabling beneficiary communities to capture, store and eventually sell carbon credits in the future. They will also provide opportunities for major stakeholders in the cocoa sector, including farmers, consumers, wholesalers and producers, to green their environmental footprints through cocoa bean certification.
In order to carry this ambitious agenda forward, we are currently looking for dynamic, experienced and enthusiastic men and women to join our Board. We are interested in people who possess skills and experience in one or more of the following:
• Board Relations
• Organizational Development
• Communications and Outreach Strategies
• Fundraising
• Strategic Planning
• Financial Management
• Organizational Development
• Communications and Outreach Strategies
• Fundraising
• Strategic Planning
• Financial Management
Prospective applicants should be in a position to initially volunteer their services for agreed periods and be disposed to commit necessary time and resources to the venture.
If this sounds interesting, kindly go to www.cehdev.org to learn more about our mission, and if you are convinced you want to be part of the team, just send us a short Expression of Interest (EoI) stating who you are, your institutional affiliation (if any), where you live, what contributions you hope to make and how we can contact you. Kindly attach a detailed CV/resume to your EoI.
Please submit your EoIs and resumes.
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