Breaking Ground

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Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Dschang, Cameroon, Breaking Ground is an organization that partners with Cameroonian communities to achieve lasting solutions to their self-identified needs by investing in local knowledge, empowering women, and promoting economic development.

Our various community initiatives, including our agricultural investment program, womens' entrepreneurial classes, and girls' soccer initiatives, work to improve Cameroonian livelihoods concerning various issues such as women's empowerment, girls leadership, HIV education and behavior change, and health and water sanitation. Breaking Ground's success is based on our idea of turning sustainable solutions into local dreams - we believe that a community project can only effectively address the needs of a population if it is conceived, planned, and implemented by the community for whom it is intended.

We envision a Cameroon in which communities are independently able to address their most basic, pressing needs. This can only happen by empowering motivated Cameroonian communities with the resources they need to achieve their own solutions. We seek out these communities after they have independently prioritized a need, collectively decided upon a solution to that need, and have begun actively working towards achieving that solution, but whose progress is held up by a lack of funding.

Programs:
• Community Partnership Program: We provide seed funding to projects of mobilized communities to further their development. Water Project in Beka Hossere: Breaking Ground is currently partnering with the community of Beka Hossere in order to install a potable water pump. This project, funded by Memorial Flavia, aims to reduce the level of waterborne diseases across the community, such as typhoid, dysentery, and cholera. 3500 inhabitants of Beka Hossere will directly benefit from this water project, improving their accessibility to potable water and improving their everyday health.
• Investing in Agriculture: In addition to supporting grassroots projects with seed funding, Breaking Ground works to strengthen the community's capacity to generate income locally. Most Cameroonians are farmers – either full or part-time. Our Small Enterprise Development program targets the primary income generating activities of a community and provides training programs to help individuals reap the true benefits of their labor. We work with coffee and cocoa farmers, producers of palm oil, and female entrepreneurs of all sorts.
• Women's Empowerment: Our Women's Entrepreneurial Program provides women with critical business skills and the confidence to put them to use. In collaboration with the locally based Groupement d’Appui pour le Developpement Durable (GADD), we offer a seven-week business course that incorporates topics such as feasibility studies, basic marketing, cost analysis, and leadership, among others. At the end of the course women are invited to submit business proposals to receive loans from Breaking Ground. Breaking Ground established a program of providing micro-grants to selected participants at the end of each class cycle. Breaking Ground Football helps girls and young women build confidence, independence, and respect for their peers of different ethnicities. Breaking Ground Football (BGF) began as a conversation on the sideline of a field among young women who wanted to play football but could not because of social stigma and a lack of opportunity. In 2007, Breaking Ground and the Cameroonian government’s Delegation of Sports created a radio announcement inviting young women age 13-25 to participate in a women’s football league. More than one hundred young women responded and ten coaches volunteered. Due to the league’s success and its ability to reach a vulnerable population, it is now transitioning from a football league into a Sport for Development program. BGF aims to empower young women with leadership and teamwork skills. Coaches have remarked that through participation, young women strengthen their sense of confidence and independence. Many participants refer to their team as a second family and an important place where they can discuss life issues with their peers. Breaking Ground Football’s evolution includes the current development of a peer leader program and a health curriculum.

Paul Zangue is the Executive Director of Breaking Ground.

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.