In the second part of the series, we continue our interview with Julie Gagoe Tchoko and Merline Touko Tchoko, two sisters from Cameroon, who have been working with Synchronicity Earth as affiliates in our Congo Basin Programme since 2021.
In the first part of our discussion with Julie and Merline, we learnt about the personal experiences that drew them into conservation in the Congo Basin, and the complexities of working in this environment.
Here, we take a deeper look at the context of their affiliate work and conservation approaches in the region, exploring the challenges local organisations face, the successes of community-led action, and what funders can do better.
Q: What does it mean to be an ‘affiliate’ with Synchronicity Earth?
Merline: Our role is to work with and support the organisations that Synchronicity Earth funds in the region. We are present on the ground with those partners, helping to resolve problems, identify capacity needs, and present their results effectively.
Affiliates often live in the same region as partners, so they are familiar with the challenges. They find solutions based on their knowledge and experience, which helps Synchronicity Earth to fund and support them.
Julie: Affiliates also motivate the partners and strengthen their capacity.
“The approach brings flexibility and supports the sense of ‘being in this together’ that Synchronicity Earth brings to its relationships with partners.”
Merline: Yes, this allows us to identify problems very quickly and to resolve them. For example, when I participated in the Mini-Congress in Kinshasa (organised for partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) unable to get to the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseilles), I realised that many of our partners struggled to present their work effectively using software such as Microsoft Powerpoint.
I spoke to Sophie Grange-Chamfray, the Congo Basin Programme Lead at Synchronicity Earth, and with the partner organisations, and we decided to provide some training. Today, when the people who attended this training present their results, it is so much more dynamic, and easier to understand than before.
Q: What are some of the greatest challenges involved in protecting the Congo Basin?
Julie: It’s extraordinary how the Congo Basin has all these resources, and these diverse populations, yet so many of the people in the forest live in extreme poverty. I constantly ask myself how populations in such a rich environment – trees that are hundreds of years old, animals that you can’t see anywhere else, soil that is super rich in minerals and nutrients, hidden water sources… In a place with so many resources, how can the people be so poor?
Merline: Of course, there are the challenges that will be familiar – deforestation, poaching, corruption.
“But for me, the greatest challenge is how to reconcile the protection of this vast and precious forest ecosystem with the need to support the development and wellbeing of the people who live there.”
Julie: Absolutely! We need to conserve what’s there, but must also recognise the need for infrastructure. People need roads, schools, health facilities. It is vital to ensure that all of this is connected if we want to move towards the kind of conservation that the region needs.