About the association
Discussions since 1986, official recognition in 1995, relaunch in 2026: the association of Bédjondo and its diaspora, its mission, its organisation and its values.
An association that is starting again
ADEB LONODJI is not a new project. Bedjond executives began discussing it in 1986; the association was officially recognised in 1995, held its first forum in Bédjondo itself in 2000, then a second forum in Bébopen in December 2003. After years of dormancy, its members undertook its revival and modernisation in 2026, in consultation with other community initiatives. The aim is not to compete with existing structures but to build on what exists: a more inclusive, modern and federating framework.
What our name says
Development of Bédjondo and the Bedjond country is the association’s first purpose: agriculture, food security, entrepreneurship, water, energy and connectivity, roads and planning, environment, health, youth, women’s leadership. Mutual aid is concrete solidarity between the daughters and sons of Bédjondo wherever they live: social support, emergency help, attention to people with disabilities and isolated elders, and the link between the diaspora and the home country. Bédjondo is the association’s exclusive anchor: the capital of Mandoul Occidental and the cradle of the Bedjond people.
Our vision
To make ADEB LONODJI a true framework for promoting the values, heritage and history of the Bedjond people; to federate existing initiatives rather than compete with them; to coordinate advocacy, development and solidarity; and to mobilise the skills, history and heritage of the Bedjond people for future generations. This includes encouraging scientific research on the Sara peoples, starting with the Bedjond, and documenting oral tradition before it is lost. The association’s research base already gathers 40 references — theses, books, field surveys — and the association publishes its own documented syntheses in its journal.
How we are organised
Four areas of action (Memory, Culture & Heritage; Human Development & Livelihoods; Governance, Peace & Advocacy; Digital & Innovation), nineteen themes each led by a coordinator who reports to the members, two cross-cutting units (Funding & Resources; Communication & Digital), an executive bureau — Adoumbé Maoura (president), Célestine Moyombaye (vice-president), Salomon Ngarbaye (general secretary), Élisabeth Neloumngaye Ndodinguem (treasurer) — and a facilitator, Bignéro Moïalbéi LE MADANG. Thirteen of the nineteen themes are still looking for a coordinator.
Values
Courage, discipline, heritage. Honest information: every figure we publish is sourced, and what we do not know is stated as such. Cooperation: with the commune of Bédjondo, the State, development partners, other community associations and the diaspora.