As part of its project “Awareness-raising campaign for rural women on the preservation of biodiversity” with the financial support of the IRSNB, the NGO WEP-TOGO organized on January 26, 2022, a meeting to identify Women Forest and Agricultural Producers Organizations (OPFAs) benefiting from the activities of the said project. Present were 07 participants (02 men and 05 women) from CONAFE, WEP-TOGO and the Directorate of Forest Resources in Togo (Focal Point CHM Togo). At the end, 16 grassroots women's organizations operating mainly in the agricultural and forestry fields are selected based on the criteria in the Maritime and Plateau regions.

In Togo, we distinguish a diversity of ecosystems (Aquatic, marine and terrestrial) and species (flora and fauna). Ecosystems and the biodiversity associated with them provide important services to human communities, especially women.
Despite its importance, the degradation of biodiversity has caused various pressures, including the irrational exploitation of natural resources, pollution, the negative effects of climate change..., is very strong and unprecedented. Several taxa are threatened with extinction and several priority habitats for the conservation of fauna and flora are partially or totally invaded, with an occupancy rate ranging from 10 to 100% (MERF, 2013).

In addition, it is recognized and emphasized in numerous studies that, in developing countries, women play an important role in the management of natural resources (water, energy, agriculture, etc.). It is also increasingly obvious that the shortage of resources due to the devastating effects of environmental degradation (biodiversity, climate change, drought, erosion...) has a particularly negative impact on those who manage these resources.
Hence the present Project “Awareness-raising campaign for rural women on the preservation of biodiversity” aims to raise awareness and change the behavior of women in order to abandon practices that are not respectful of the conservation of biodiversity. It will contribute to a better knowledge of biodiversity and to a better implementation of international environmental conventions in Togo through the CeBIOS program.

The expected results at the end of the implementation are: (i) Sixteen (16) organizations of women farmers are identified in the maritime regions and plateaus in total and are sensitized during 18 meetings to raise awareness on good practices in biodiversity conservation; (ii) A total of 580 including 480 women and 100 men understood the challenges of biodiversity loss and are committed to its preservation ;( iii) 20 picture boxes and 500 T-Shirts (communication tools) for the awareness-raising of 480 women actors for the conservation of available biodiversity.

To achieve these results, 6 main activities would be carried out: (i) Support from the National Collective of Women for the Environment in Togo (CONAFE TOGO) in identifying OPFAs; (ii) Making contact with the local development authorities of each identified locality; (iii) Making contact with dynamic and active organizations of women forest and agricultural producers (OPFAs); (iv) Organization of 2 round tables per region to sensitize the leaders of each organization; (iii) Contact with dynamic and active women's forest and agricultural producers organizations (OPFAs); (iv) Organization of 2 round tables per region to raise awareness among the leaders of each organization followed by the delivery of 20 boxes to images and 500 T-shirts (communication tools) to the group of women committed to the conservation of biodiversity; (v) Follow-up to the organization of 16 awareness-raising meetings to return the information received by the leaders of each group of beneficiary women; (vi) Valorization of results by the CHM.

All these activities will be implemented and monitored by WEP-TOGO in collaboration with the Department of Environment and Forest Resources and then the CHM focal point.

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