How does Debt Relief affect real people?

Photo by Christopher Droeven/CRS

Meet Aurelie Nyapeye Yatchou, a community forest manager for CRS Cameroon. Cameroon suffers a high rate of underdevelopment, despite the presence of rich natural resources. Many forests in Cameroon and other developing countries have historically been exploited by logging companies and other large industries with little compensation for local communities.

In 2006, funds that were saved through the forgiveness of Cameroon’s debt were approved to be redirected into a new community forest management program run by Catholic Relief Services. This poverty reduction program now helps the forest communities that Aurelie  manages improve their quality of life by managing, harvesting and selling valuable forest products such as wood, bark, leaves and seeds. Due to debt forgiveness and the work of CRS, many forest communities in  Cameroon have been able to see a real improvement in the quality of life in their communities

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