COMAID was founded in 2007 by a multidisciplinary team of development professionals who share a common perspective on poverty. Building on their experiences, the founding members functioned on the concept of social exclusion as the root cause of poverty. The overall objective then was to enable communities to achieve poverty reduction and sustainable development, through research, capacity building, partnership, lobbying, and field interventions using participatory approaches. At inception, the organization supported communities along the Bamenda highlands of Cameroon mainly in the areas of access to land, natural resource management, livelihoods, and income generation.
Close to twenty years after the organization was founded, the scope and areas of intervention have evolved to respond to changing needs and challenges experienced by local communities. Today, the world is plagued with numerous crises including but are not limited to food and nutrition insecurity, pandemics and health crises, climate change and biodiversity loss, conflicts etc. The on-going crisis in the English regions of Cameroon has seriously impacted the operations of the organization in these regions. Notwithstanding, the organization is fast growing in scope and operational capabilities in response to the demand for its services by communities across Cameroon.
To effectively respond to the need and sustain its relevance in the long term in a fast-changing context with new and emerging challenges, the board saw a crucial need for regular strategic planning. The strategic plan guides the axes of intervention and to monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization in achieving its mandate. This strategic working document redefines and re-orientate the entire functioning of the organization to improve performance and impact. The document analyzes the current context within which the organization functions, including an analysis of current and prospective stakeholders it envisages working with in the next five years.
The plan also contains reviewed mission, vision, strategic objectives and activities of the organization. This roadmap document is expected to canalize the actions of COMAID within the next five years (2026-2030) towards a set of development objectives. It includes a monitoring and evaluation framework which will inform the organization and her partners on progress and achievement of these objectives.