CAMGEW through Wirsiy Emmanuel Binyuy working on Oku White Honey value chain development participated in the Advance InterGI training from September 25 to 30, 2023 in La Maison du Gruyère, Pringy, Switzerland. This training had 41 participants from 21 countries around world (Africa, Asia, North and South America, Europe). This training was co-organized by CIRAD and REDD (Switzerland) with support from WIPO and other institutions. This was a reference training about the "Geographical Indications” process and its application to local development. It brought professionals (law experts, technical staff, rural and local development experts, value chains managers, NGOs , consultants , etc.) together to learn and share with each other.

It was a well merited training with experienced professional sharing their skills and knowledge with us. There were presentations of various GI products by participants from their area. This took the form exhibition with each participant presenting his/her products and sharing for tasting. Emmanuel presented on Oku White Honey and Penja White Pepper that are certified as GI in Cameroon. Gruyere where we lived and had training is known for cheese production and this Cheese is one of the successful GI products with a clear value chain and traceability. It was a case study for training. The training took us to the dairy farms where there were milk producers and we saw how animals are fed to produce milk that is used for cheese production. We visited the cheese production units and the cheese storage facility. We also ate the cheese of different ages.

Our trainings also involved presentations on
• How to Implement a GI-related policy or project, meeting the required conditions for an effective contribution to rural development.
• How to apply methods to achieve an inventory of potential GI products.
• How to apply methods to support the qualification of GI products.
• How to understand the different forms of collective organization for the management of Geographical Indications.
• How to conceive control and certification methods that ensure the products’ authenticity.
• How to contribute to the marketing of GI products.

During the training we learnt about the following:

The international rules and institutions that govern the protection of GI, and the current state of international negotiations;
The European and French legislations concerning Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) and Protected Denominations of Origin (PDO), territorial marks and indications of source.
The regional and national rural development policies linked to GI.
The International programs in support of GI implementation.
Emmanuel obtained a Certificate on InterGI from this training.

CAMGEW wishes to thank WIPO for financial assistance to attend this training and OAPI for her recommendation. The knowledge was very useful to acquire considering the present task given by OAPI to CAMGEW through Wirsiy Emmanuel to provide technical assistance to Kilum-Ijim White Honey Association (KIWHA) for Oku White Honey value chain development.
Wirsiy Emmanuel had earlier done another Certificate Course on African Geographical Indication which was organized by OAPI for 9 African countries in Yaounde, Cameroon, from May 9 to May 19, 2022.

With much skills developed by CAMGEW in GI, she is open to assist in the development of GIs in Cameroon and Africa.