About VIVAA

The story begins with Mr. Tatah Boniface Mbiydzela, a son of Kumbo, in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, who was driven by more than just professional expertise in education, health, and development. He was driven by a profound empathy for the human dignity that has always been below the lines in the most remote and rural villages of Kumbo.

While the current conflict has intensified suffering, rural communities in Kumbo and the wider Northwest Region have long faced systemic vulnerabilities rooted in geographic, economic, and institutional neglect. Even before the 2016 crisis, the Northwest Region was among the least-performing in Cameroon for poverty alleviation. While other regions saw poverty rates drop, the percentage of the Northwest's population living below the poverty line actually increased from 52.5% in 2001 to 55.3% in 2014. Small-scale farmers struggled with plummeting global prices for cash crops like cocoa and coffee, often falling into abject poverty.

Rural areas suffered from a historic lack of investment in basic amenities like transportation and public services — communities were often isolated by a network of unpaved, dilapidated earth roads that made transporting agricultural goods to market difficult and expensive. Vulnerability was further cemented by limited access to essential services in health and education. Rural populations faced high incidences of malaria, respiratory diseases, and dysentery, exacerbated by a lack of clean water, limited funding for rural facilities, and a shortage of trained healthcare workers.

Rural livelihoods in Kumbo have always been at the mercy of environmental factors. Soil degradation, erosion, and changing climate patterns frequently provoked deficiencies in agricultural yields, creating recurring periods where families lacked both food and money.

Beyond formal consultancy, VIVAA has continued to grow its community programs. These have included production and distribution of "many-in-one" textbooks in remote schools; safeguarding awareness workshops in schools and hospitals; free community health screenings for blood pressure and sugar levels; and leadership workshops focusing on Emotional Intelligence for community leaders and youth in a time of crisis.

The founding of VIVAA was never about grand gestures. It was about transforming shared concern into a "solid and reliable" force for inclusive education, healthcare, and social transformation in the face of immense adversity. VIVAA is growing and creating great positive impact in every community and institution where she has intervened.