Yaoundé, 29 July 2016 - The European Facilitation of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership has officially accepted the African Women’s Network for Sustainable Development’s (REFADD) application to join the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP).

REFADD thus becomes one of 82 member countries and organizations of CBFP working together in Central Africa to promote sustainable management of resources, improve the living conditions of populations and protect the iconic biodiversity of the subregion’s humid forests.

REFADD is a sub-regional network uniting women’s civil society organizations that are active in the sustainable management of natural resources. It also deals with gender and women’s empowerment issues.

REFADD was established in June 1998 in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, in the wings of the second Conference on Dense and Humid Forest Ecosystems of Central Africa, abbreviated as "CEFDHAC". The network spans ten Central African countries, and could eventually extend to all countries of the African Union. The ten countries are members of COMIFAC (Central African Forests Commission ); namely: Burundi, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe and Chad.

REFADD is one of the specialized networks of CEFDHAC, which is a subsidiary organ of COMIFAC, focusing on gender and women’s empowerment in sustainable management of natural resources in Central Africa.

Given that gender is a cross-cutting axis of COMIFAC’s Convergence Plan, REFADD’s priorities for action fall squarely in line with its mission to promote gender mainstreaming and participation of African women in general, and of Congo Basin women in particular, in sustainable development by effectively engaging them in programmes dedicated to the sustainable management of natural resources in Central Africa.

 REFADD’s work and approach tie into CBFP’s cooperation framework based on their shared belief that the well-being of local populations is inextricably linked to the protection and sustainable management of the Congo Basin’s tropical rainforest.

The European Facilitation of the Congo Basin Forests Partnership is pleased to welcome the “African Women’s Network for Sustainable Development (REFADD)” as a new CBFP member.

Welcome to our new Partner the "African Women’s Network for Sustainable Development (REFADD)"!

For more information, please reach out to the designated contact persons providing follow up on this theme at REFADD, namely:

• Ms BISSECK EPSE YIGBEDEK Monique Catherine

REFADD Regional Coordinator

E.mail: CoreginaleREFADD015@yahoo.comor Moniqueyigbedek@yahoo.fr

• Ms MUKAKAMARI Dancilla

Assistant Regional Coordinator

E-mail  :mukakamari@yahoo.fr; refaddrwa@arecorwandanziza.org