Working with local partner organisations, the Rainforest Foundation is running a long-term advocacy progamme to encourage the adoption of new policies, and the better use of existing legal provisions, in order to promote the well-being of pygmy communities in the Republic of Congo, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. An evaluation of our work from 2004 – 2006 funded by the Baring Foundation is available in the publications list opposite.

In Cameroon we have made huge progress in supporting Baka, Bagyeli and Bakola peoples to be recognised and respected at a local level. This has included helping them to:
 obtain the necessary official identity documents
 set up local associations
 lobby for, and obtain recognition of, their land rights
 obtain official recognition of their communities – through local ‘Chiefs’

In the Democratic Republic of Congo a meeting of organisations working with indigenous Pygmy peoples in 2003 noted that neither Pygmy peoples nor the organisations that support them were being consulted on the policies that govern the forests. These policies could therefore present a threat to their well being. They therefore undertook a campaign to put pressure on the World Bank to ensure that their support to the reform process did not result in harm to indigenous peoples. This course of action resulted in a complaint being lodged with the Inspection Panel of the World Bank in October 2005. The Panel report should be made public soon. Partners have also been supporting indigenous communities to map their lands, improve their livelihoods and lobby at an international level for greater respect.

In the Republic of Congo we have been working with OCDH on a new law which will protect the rights of indigenous peoples. The text for the law is finalised but it has yet to make it through parliament. Please sign our petition to make it a reality. For more information about this process and supporting documents click here.