Bees for Development Journal 127 June 2018
The Benefits of Beekeeping In 2018 Bees for Development is celebrating 25 years of explaining the value of beekeeping for development, and helping vulnerable communities in poor countries to utilise it towards achieving self-sufficiency. Beekeeping is beneficial in many ways though some of these benefits are hard to measure. Indeed, this is why beekeeping is so often overlooked. In this article we present an overview of some of Bees for Development’s recent work and reflect upon how we are measuring our achievements.
Bees for development
Janet Lowore and Nicola Bradbear
Cameroon Bees for Development has been working with Cameroon Gender and Environment Watch (CAMGEW) since 2016. CAMGEW, based in Oku in north west Cameroon, supports forest-based enterprise development, and especially beekeeping, near to Kilim-Ijim Forest. Their aim is to help local people build successful livelihoods and at the same time avoid forest loss. Recognising beekeepers’ need for good market access, CAMGEW decided to establish their own
Honey Shop in Bamenda, and to run the shop as a self-sustaining social enterprise.
Ethiopia Bees for Development Ethiopia (BfDE) was established in 2012 and works to help the most vulnerable people to start beekeeping. In March 2018 BfDE completed a threeyear Project helping the poorest people to benefit from the natural wealth provided by bees. To achieve the overall goal of reducing poverty in two districts of Amhara, BfDE
informed honey traders about how to maintain honey quality, trained government extension agents in beekeeping, helped landless youth establish micro-enterprises making top-bars and bee veils, and provided a comprehensive beekeeping training programme to over 800 people.
Ghana Here our work is focussed in the cashew-growing areas of the country. With our partner Bees for Development Ghana we
CAMGEW provide training in beeswax processing
Photos © CAMGEW
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