Upstream Merger in a Successive Oligopoly: Who Pays the Price?
NORTH WEST ASSOCIATION OF DEVELOPMENT … … · admission in GBHS Santa to start in form 3 with...
Transcript of NORTH WEST ASSOCIATION OF DEVELOPMENT … … · admission in GBHS Santa to start in form 3 with...
INS IDE TH IS
I S SUE :
NWADO STRATEGISES FOR ITS FUTURENWADO STRATEGISES FOR ITS FUTURENWADO STRATEGISES FOR ITS FUTURENWADO STRATEGISES FOR ITS FUTURE
A R P I L 2 0 1 1 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7
NORTH WEST ASSOCIATION OF
DEVELOPMENT
ORGANISATIONS— NWADO
Strengthening of civil society
Practical
things you
want to
see within
a defined
period
Underlying
barriers or
blockages
preventing
realisation of
the vision
Broad approach
to deal with the
Contradictions
in order to
move towards
the Vision
Specific ac-
tions to be
done
Doing it! Making sure
it gets done
17 March 18 Mar +
Quarterly 2011-13
Every
quarter for
2011-13
All members present All members All members Board
Members WH
O
W
HE
N
W
HA
T
NWADO members spent two days on March 17 and 18 defining the network’s strategic directions for 2011-
13, revising the mission and vision statements and creating working groups to ensure the plan is imple-
mented.
The participatory approach used to define the strategic plan had been used successfully for the previous
strategic plan in 2008. The approach required every person present to contribute their ideas which were
then grouped and given a collective name at each stage. The process is summarised in the table below.
There were many discussions and debates during the two days with one of the liveliest concerning the
revisions of the Vision and Mission statements. The final conclusion was that both needed to be
updated to reflect the new strategic directions. The Vision statement is now “To achieve a civil society
with a single voice and coordinated action for the
sustainable development of Cameroon” changed from
“To achieve a civil society with a single voice and coor-
dinated action for effective development ”.
The Mission statement has become “To advocate for
sustainable and equitable development processes in
which different stakeholders cooperate and contribute
to each others activities”. Previously this was “To advo-
cate for sustainable and equitable development proc-
esses in which various stakeholders co-operate and
contribute to each other’s activities.”.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Eric Ngang, Amy Down
EDITOR
Eric Ngang
Contributors
Michelle Hain, Hauwe Bouba,
Ndeh Emmanuel, Mato-Anju Lum,
Abeh Albertine Anembom Neba Nicoline Neh Ichai Hanson Ndaya
MEETING OF THE SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT WORKING GROUP
NWADO new Strategic Directions
2
The Importance of Edu-cation and Personal Experience, MBOSCUDA
3
Action Research for Social Change Report from Yaoundé session
4
Solidarity Funds for Development, INADES FORMATION
5
Graduate trainees from the SHUMAS Vocational Centre
6
New Partnership with Adopt a Business
7
COMINSUD’s Volun-teer Assistance to NWADO
8
Campaign for Con-sumer Rights - OCOSO
9
Launch of the Opportu-nities Forum
10
P A G E 2
N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F D E V E L O P M E N T O R G A N I S A T I O N S
Introducing NWADO Strategic Directions; 2011-13
The focus of the first day was on developing the Strategic Directions and Areas of Actions falling within each Strategic Direction. There was agreement from those present that these Strategic Directions and associated Areas of Action would allow NWADO to move forward in a focused manner during the next three years whilst also providing sufficient flexibility to take advantage of new opportunities as they arose. The Strategic Directions and Areas of Action are summarised below, with further detail being provided to members in the full report and available on the NWADO website. While there was considerable work undertaken by participants during the workshop the real work begins when a plan is being implemented. Most people have had the experience of working hard to develop a plan only to see it sit unused in a drawer. To avoid this fate for the NWADO strategic plan a Working Group was created for each of the Strategic Directions on the second day. Working Groups, rather than committees, because they are about doing the tasks that are required to move NWADO in these Strategic Directions. The groups were self-selecting with each representative signing up their organisation to the Strategic Directions they felt they had the most to contribute. The first task of these newly formed groups was to formulate their implementation plans, starting by defining major milestones (achievements) for 2011. These milestones will be the bases for the quarterly detailed planning which the groups went on to do for Quarter 2, 2011. The rational behind quarterly detailed planning is to continuously apply what is learnt in one quarter into the activities of the next quarter. The milestones and main activities for each group are presented in the table on the new “Strategic Progress” page of the newsletter (see page 11). This page will be a standard feature of future newsletters so everyone can see the progress made and the upcoming activities. Comments and questions concerning any of these aspects are welcomed and will assist in building a strong process.
The Working Groups were formed by the member organisations present at the workshop, however it is important for
the strength of the network that all members contribute their skills and knowledge. All members who were unable to
attend the workshop are invited to join a working group of their choosing in order to contribute to NWADO’s
ongoing strength and relevance.
MICHELLE HAIN,
VSO VOLUNTEER
COMINSUD
MEETING OF THE MAXIMISING NETWORK POWER WORKING GROUP
P A G E 3
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7
“I am from a village known as Baba II in Santa Sub division. I come from a polygamous family with 15 brothers and sisters including my humble self (8 brothers and 6 sisters). None of them were opportune to go to school except for my elder brother Adamou. In the Mbororo community education is destined mostly for male children. My brother who is going to school influenced our father to send me to school as well. I started school in GBHS Mbatu with another two female friend’s from the same village. Unfortunately one of them got pregnant in school and all of us were forced out of the school by our parents with the speculations that all of us will join the same line. When we left school in form two, all my family members forced me into an unwanted marriage with a guy whom they saw as the most handsome and good for me and I had no other alternative than to accept. Interestingly, he promised to further my education which he did not respect after we got married.
N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F
The Importance of Education and Personal Experience
Indeed I stood my ground for going back to school but he did not listen to me until I forced myself out of the marriage. I was strongly blamed by my family members who promised never to sponsor me to school again. When I learned about a sponsorship program in MBOSCUDA, I rushed there with my brother to see if I could find an opportunity to be sponsored. Indeed I was fortunate to be one of the beneficiaries selected for the sponsorship program. I returned home and told my family members about the opportunity I had for the continuation of my education and I had my admission in GBHS Santa to start in form 3 with successive progress each school year. Today I am in up sixth in the school and my family is proud of me and uses me as an example to others. My courage and determination influenced some of the parents to send about 10 other younger girls in my community to school. Thanks to the AGSP my interactions and awareness on issues in and around me is enhanced.
The MBOSCUDA sponsorship program commonly known as the Ambassador Girl Spon-sorship Program (AGSP) focuses on the sponsorship of Mbororo girls in secondary schools. The project has faced a lot of challenges especially at the beginning of the project in 2005. Some of the challenges included high school drop out, early and forced marriages, unwanted pregnancies to mentioned a few. Today most of these challenges are drastically reduced due to the sensitization and training packages on the importance of education, career choices, gender, health, and challenging the cultural myths on education. In 2011, a benefiting student of GHBS Santa shared her success story with MBOSCUDA
and the donor organization (Plan Cameroon). She gave the story of her life showing the
ambition of learning and challenging culture that is negatively affecting the girl child
education in the Mbororo society.
Today she is a role model in her community.
especially on basic rights, e.g. right to education. Today I am creating awareness in my community on the importance of education, HIV/AIDS, youth’s delinquency to mention but few. I have skills from the trainings I attended under the AGSP project and from implementing some assigned tasks to the community by the project. It is worth noting that I influenced the creation of a Mbororo women group in Santa which I visit on a weekly basis as their resource person and educate them on the basic rights, how to better interact with their neighbors and also reading and writing skills. Sometimes my absence in the group means I receive numerous phone calls from the women to find out the cause. While appreciating the sponsorship package, I also wish to suggest that it should go beyond the number of beneficiaries as it’s provoked our parents in sending more girls to school. The cultural myth of girls staying and groomed for marriage is gradually reducing”.
HAUWE BOUBA, MBOSCUDA
P A G E 4
N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F D E V E L O P M E N T O R G A N I S A T I O N S
to make a direct contribution to the capacity of civil society organizations, including VSO partners globally, to learn from experience in order to improve practice and therefore impact. Through an action research programme, involving a diverse range of social actors and organizations, the programme seeks to develop a varied and growing range of approaches, ideas, support materials, courses and local communities of practice that will encourage and support innovative learning practices within and between civil society organizations. This is expected to enable more dynamic, collaborative, effective and crea-tive social action practice. It further aims at developing “learning facilitators” in organizations, who will be supported to initiate, design and facilitate good organizational learning programmes and activities. During the workshop we took part in brainstorming exercises that resulted in participants having a common understanding of the action research.Learning facilitators supported one
NWADO is one of four partners along with Fantsuam-Nigeria, VSO-Ghana and Ghana Blind Union) to take part in the Action Research on Learning for social change to run for two years (2011-2012). Within this framework, the first regional reflection session bringing together three of the partners was held in Yaoundé, facilitated by the Regional Programme Learning Advisor, West & Central Africa. The purpose of the regional reflection was to help the participating organisations have a common understanding the Action Research on Learning for Social Change referred to as the Bare Foot Guide (BFG), collaboration among Civil Society Organizations, with PSO, VSO and CDRA as the holding group. This collaboration and process comes under the thematic learning group ‘Learning for Social Change’. Purpose of the Action Research Collaboration The Learning Practices in Social Change programme aims
another to explore their organizational questions and peers explored with learning facilitators to reconcile stories into an organizational question with clarity and focus. This was helpful for learning facilitators to come to a com-mon understanding of their own organizational questions. Following from this, the whole group reconvened to listen to each organizational question. At the end of the exercise the following was generated as a learning question for NWADO: ‘How can we contextualize
acquired method and approach
to learning for promoting learn-
ing and sharing for
organizational growth?’
Research tools and processes The following tools were identified by the learning facilitators to be used for learning process; questionnaires, group
discussions and interviews. For documenting, journaling, benchmarking form and the two
columns were identified as
applicable.
ERIC NGANG, CO-ORDINATOR, NWADO
First Regional Reflection Session on the Action Research on Learning for Social Change- Yaoundé, 18th & 19th April 2011
ACTION LEARNING: NEXT STEPS
Action Who and When
Finalize and share final plan for 1st Action Learning Facilitators- 29th April
VSO Ghana revisits issue of learning fa-cilitator
Regional Holder & Learning facilitator- 1st week in May
VSO Ghana to share its plan for 1st action 2nd week in May
Develop and share documentation format with learning facilitators
Regional Holder- Mid May
Share documentation of action plan 1 prior to second reflection meeting
Learning facilitators - 9th Sept.
Sustaining momentum- keep active vir-tual space- emails, teleconferences
Regional Holder & All- monthly, as and when
Second reflection meeting Abuja All- 27th & 28th Sept. Travel days of 16th and 29th
P A G E 5
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7
To accomplish its objective of improving access to appropriate financial services to the rural poor on a sustainable basis, INADES Formation Cameroon promotes access to finan-cial services to the poor by empower-ing the rural communities to create, own and manage their own local finan-cial institutions that provide basic financial services to very low-income entrepreneurs, primarily women. These local financial institutions are called Solidarity Funds for Develop-ment (SOFDEV). This vision of IN-ADES Formation Cameroon on the financing of rural economy represents a shift from the paradigm of unsustain-able credit projects to a system of sus-tainable, adapted, locally- owned and locally -managed financial institutions, leading to the provision of appropriate financial services and other basic ser-vices to the poorest segments of the population, most of whom are women and youths. These categories of people are therefore able to create their own jobs, raise household incomes and improve on their living standards. These community based institutions are registered as savings and credit cooperatives and management is en-tirely in the hands of the local popula-tion with ongoing technical assistance being provided by INADES Formation. The SOFDEVs have proven to be very successful in reaching the poorest seg-ments of the population. A common denominator of these community based financial institutions is their proximity to the villagers and the flexibility and accessibility to all social categories in the community:
The minimum savings of 200 FCFA is at the reach of a quasi totality of the community members contrary to 1000 and above required by other microfi-
nance establishments
The share value of 1000-5000fcfa per share is also practical for the rural com-
munities. Other microfinance institu-tions take 25,000 fcfa and above.
The interest rate on loans for the SOF-
DEVs is 12 % per annum as against 18-25 % practiced by the existing microfi-
nance institutions.
The ownership and management of the SOFDEVs is entirely in the hands of the
community members.
Loan collateral is mostly based on com-munity solidarity and cohesion. Mini-
mal physical assets are required as loan guarantee.
Most microfinance institutions require land certificates, buildings, and other
huge investments as guarantee for loans.
The Bamendankwe Solidarity Fund for Development (BASOFDEV) is one of the initiatives put in place with the support of INADES Formation. BASOFDEV was created in 2004 and located in Bamendankwe village in Bamenda I sub Division and has the status of a Loan and savings cooperative since 2008. During the period from 2005 to 2010, the technical support of INADES Formation Cameroon focused on the
SOLIDARITY FUNDS FOR DEVELOPMENT: A SHIFT FROM THE PARADIGM OF UNSUSTAINABLE CREDIT PROJECTS TO
SUSTAINABLE LOCAL INSTITUTIONS OWNED AND MANAGED BY THE
LOCAL POPULATIONS
N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F D E V E L O P M E N T O R G A N I S A T I O N S
mobilisation of savings by members, organisation and structuring, record-keeping, management of operations, management of the resources mobilised and computerisation of operations. Through this support, BASODEV has mobilised significant resources which are given out to members as loans for the financing of their microenterprises. Amongst the results recorded are:
• Membership has increased to 1317 members (570 men et 657 men) ,90 groups, giving a growth rate in membership of 22%
• Total savings mobilised by mem-bers is 119.530. 828 FCFA, with a total outstanding loan of 122. 809.000 FCFA as at December 2010 and a recovery rate of 96%
• 75% of the loans went to finance economic activities of members and groups.
Given these results, there is no doubt that the SOFDEVs which operate more on a money-from-below approach contrary to the popular money-from -above approaches are a plausible alternative for the sustainable financing of the rural world.
NDEH EMMANUEL RURAL MICRO-FINANCE
EXPERT INADES FORMATION BAMENDA
BASOFDEV BOARD IN MONTHLY SESSION
P A G E 6
N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F D E V E L O P M E N T O R G A N I S A T I O N S
A Rural Development Project Capitalises on the Experience of INADES
FORMATION CAMEROON in Rural Microfinance
One of the activities within the
capacity building component of
the Grassfield Participatory and
Decentralised Rural Development
Project (GP-DERUDEP) was to
enable the rural communities have
improved access to financial ser-
vices through the modernisation of
indigenous financial mechanisms in
the local communities such as the
njangi’s. In partnership with IN-
ADES, 50 village banks (SOFDEVs)
were created in the North West
Region.
The activities undertaken in the
process to set up the village banks
took place in different phases as
follows:
♦ Sensitization and awareness creation on the village banking concept
♦ Feasibility study on the setting up of village banks to permit an understanding of the socio-economic environment of each village, the mode of
organization and functioning of the in-digenous financial structures - njangis and the savings and loan practices in the com-munity.
♦ Organisation and structuring of the village banks
♦ Training of Village Bank Board mem-bers
♦ On- the- spot training in each of the 50 villages of the elected Board mem-bers to build their capacity on basic accounting, savings and loans proce-dures, record keeping and resource mobilisation.
♦ Experience exchange workshop organ-ised with the village banks presidents.
♦ Basic documents for records were printed and put at the disposal of the village banks
Amongst the results obtained were:
♦ 50 Village banks set up organised and are operative, covering all 7 Divisions of the Region
♦ 34/50 village banks registered as loan and savings cooperatives
♦ Each of the 50 village banks has elaborated bylaws, savings and loans policies and procedures. The bylaws also embody a section on the financial and administrative procedures
♦ A total of 813 Board members of village banks (527 men, 273 women) acquired skills on basic recordkeeping for village banks, loan portfolio management and financial resources mobilisation. This gives an average of 16 Board members trained per bank
♦ Significant savings mobilisation and loan disbursement by the village banks
♦ 98 % of the village banks are keeping records of their opera-tions using the tools acquired.
NDEH EMMANUEL RURAL MICRO FINANCE EXPERT INADES FORMATION BAMENDA
THE PRESIDENTS OF VILLAGE BANKS DURING EXCHANGE WORKSHOP
SHUMAS VOCATIONALREHABILITATION CENTRE SENDS OUT 10 TRAINEES SHUMAS VOCATIONALREHABILITATION CENTRE SENDS OUT 10 TRAINEES SHUMAS VOCATIONALREHABILITATION CENTRE SENDS OUT 10 TRAINEES SHUMAS VOCATIONALREHABILITATION CENTRE SENDS OUT 10 TRAINEES
On the 13th of April 2011 SHUMAS graduated 10 trainees after 2 years of intensive training. They were assisted with
promotional material to enable them start up their own workshops. The trainees graduated in Jewelry, shoe mending and
making knitting, hair-dressing and cane weaving. After the two year course on life skill training reinforced by moral
enhancement and capacity building workshops on economic productivity, they were proved to have assimilated skills in
basic management, financial book keeping, leadership and most importantly their respective trades which will enable
them attain a fulfilling life and be actively participative in community development.
The graduation ceremony was attended by government officials such as the Representatives of the Governor of the North
West, the Regional Delegate for Employment and Vocational Training, the Mayor of the Bamenda III Council, the Regional
Delegate for Small and Medium Size Enterprises, and the representative of the Fon of Nkwen.
A few weeks after the graduation ceremony, SHUMAS organized a follow up visit to
their various workshops. The visit which took the team to Bafut and Nkwen enabled
SHUMAS to see how these trainees are coping in a new and challenging
environment. The team was out to know how they are running their workshops, the
challenges they are facing as well as the situation of their market. After the visit, the
team was quite satisfied with the trainees who were already very established and in
control of their workshops. An association of ex-trainees will be formed to bring
trainees together so they can assist each other based on their experiences.
Before, SHUMAS placed trainees in workshops in town but due to their disabilities they suffered stigmatization. This
slowed their learning process. In 2009 SHUMAS established a training centre in Mile 6 Nkwen, where they are trained in
hair dressing, jewelry, traditional embroidery, sewing, cane weaving, knitting, shoe mending and making workshops.
Presently, we have a total of 19 trainees and 7 trainers.
P A G E 7
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7
N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F D E V E L O P M E N T O R G A N I S A T I O N S
New Partnership with Adopt-a-Business, UK
with VSO and the NWADO-AAB partnership aims to support NWADO to achieve its organisational objectives and in so doing bring the benefits of its services to a wider group of members organisations.
This to be achieved through:
♦ Effective management of the process of identifying partners
♦ Supporting the development of effective assignments
♦ Managing local assignment support process within the programme
♦ Promoting learning and challenges to management sys-tems within partners and NWADO
♦ Increase NWADO’s prestige and reputation by representing AAB under this MoU.
NWADO acting on behalf of AAB in Cameroon in addition to the above is currently building a partner base, identifying and evaluating potential assignment opportunities, in charge of making local arrangements for logistics, establishing basic communication systems and sustaining good communication with the UK team, developing and updating a detailed emergency and risk assessment plan.
ERIC NGANG, COORDINATOR, NWADO
In late 2010, NWADO signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK firm Adopt-a-Business (AAB) as In-Country representative for the management of assignees from Wales within the framework of AAB’s implementation of the International Learning Opportunities (ILO) Programme supported the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). This partnership went operational in January 2011 with the placement of the first assignees. Within the programme, AAB seeks to bring together partner organisations, assignees and their employers to achieve:
♦ Specific problem solutions and capacity development for local partner organisations
♦ Personal and professional development for the assignees selected by WAG and AAB under the ILO programme
♦ Improved employee capacity and received learning for WAG or other supplying organisation.
♦ Long term social and economic benefits to the partner organisation and to the wider community within which they operate.
In the partnership, assignees who are professionals in their chosen domains shall address themes of organisational development and capacity building for partner organisations. NWADO was seen as the ideal partner in Cameroon to management such a partnership because of our long experience in the hosting and managing of short term volunteers from abroad within the framework of partnership
MBOSCUDA PLACEMENT MBOSCUDA hosted Emily Robertson between the 24th March-9th May 2011 who came with a background in Community development and international relations, working as fulltime manager of the African Community Centre in Wales. The overall objective of her assignment at MBOSCUDA was to work with the programme coordinator in the North West office of MBOSCUDA to:
♦ Produce a capitalisation document on the experiences (Successes, best practices, testimonies, challenges etc) of the MBOSCUDA North West Chapter and the major points of learning from these experiences.
♦ Validate and amend the assessments with key staff and other stakeholders of MBOSCUDA’s work.
♦ Set out clear recommendations for areas of focus and strategies to implement them, again working with the project co-ordinator and the MBOSCUDA team (North West Chapter team and National Bureau members)
♦ Make recommendations on transferring these areas of strategic focus to the MBOSCUDA National Bureau. Using different participatory approaches, working across section of MBOSCUDA stakeholders, from community to na-tional level, Emily facilitated MBOSCUDA processes, identifying their own issues and agreeing on strategies to implement them and also make the National Bureau more vibrant and to meet the expectations of the regional bureaus. At the end of her placement Emily was happy to remark that: “Definitely, there is a huge potential with MBOSCUDA-a minority group that has organized at a phenomenal level, traditionally
organized in a way and very able to and capable to host an international volunteer. I have worked for an umbrella refugee
organization, supporting smaller organisations in capacity development. As a manager, it was difficult to find my niche until
the last few weeks; I was able to see the purpose of my coming to work with MBOSCUDA and understanding fully my terms of
reference. MBOSCUDA was a wonderful organization with a huge human resources potential lying untapped”
P A G E 8
N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F D E V E L O P M E N T O R G A N I S A T I O N S
FUTURE
PLACEMENTS
NWADO is cur-rently develop-ing placements
for the next group of assign-ees and it is ex-pected that 4
volunteers shall be placed in or-ganisations or
institutions from September 2011. Please contact the NWADO if you are inter-ested and we
can explore with you further.
NWADO PLACEMENT Within the period January 28-March 24 2011, NWADO hosted Rebecca Rambul. Rebecca has a management background and came to NWADO at a period when the membership was looking for new orientations as to how NWADO was delivering services as a network. NWADO was experiencing a rapid growth in the membership and partnership base and it
was time to look at the delivery of products and services to ensure that they met the present dispensation of a vibrant network. Prior to her coming, a questionnaire had been administered to capture the needs and expectations of members developed by Volunteer Ginette Johnstone (VSO Volunteer at NWADO, October-December 2010). The feedback from the questionnaires provided enough groundwork for Rebecca to begin work at NWADO.
Furthermore, detailed discussions, interviews were held with a cross section of the members to complement the feedback from the questionnaires. Rebecca used the
findings from the analysis to generate a management report with key recommendations to meet the needs and expectations of members of NWADO as a growing network. A self-use toolkit was also developed and distributed to all members in response to the request for more training and capacity building for general aspects of good practice in managing a successful NGO. Also worth noting is the fact that recommendations from Rebecca made informed the strategic orientations of NWADO for the period 2011to 2013 following the strategic planning plan development process in March 2011.
REBECCA RAMBUL FACILITATING AT THE OPPORTUNITES FORUM
brought a new impetus to the
working culture at NWADO
especially after initiation of many
process and projects such as the
Opportunities Forum which is a
flagship forum regrouping
graduates from higher institutes
of learning to build their skills
through sharing and learning,
qualifying them for work in civil
society organisations in the
North West Region.
Michelle was the lead facilitator
in the development of the
NWADO 2011-2013 strategy
with the introduction of the no-
tion of working groups made of
representatives from members
organisations around the strate-
gic orientation developed have
been some of the major things
Over the years, thanks to the long
term partnership between
NWADO and VSO, placement of
long term organizational
development advisers NWADO
has achieved a lot in terms of
organisational development and
growth.
In the last 10 months in the
process of trying to get a long
term Volunteer from VSO, the
growth and achievements have
been remarkable with volunteer
time put in by Michelle Hain,
Organisational Development
Adviser to COMINSUD.
This has been seen as the best case
scenario showing how members
can mutually use resources espe-
cially the scarce human resources
we are often in need of.
With her huge management
experience, Michelle Hain has
that have contributed the thrust
NWADO is presently experiencing.
Key to this experience has been the
transfer of professional management
advice and know-how to the
coordination team at NWADO.
The NWADO coordination wishes
to thank COMISUD for their
flexibility and understanding for
always giving the necessary support
to the network especially when the
network finds itself in a crossroad.
This experience gives NWADO the
opportunity to see how relevant
mutual human resources sharing
can be useful and relevant, especially
for smaller and new member
organisations that do not have the
potential to host full placements.
ERIC NGANG,
COORDINATOR, NWADO
Mutual use of resources a true promoter of Networking;
The case of COMINSUD’s Volunteer Assistance to NWADO
P A G E 9
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7
N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F D E V E L O P M E N T O R G A N I S A T I O N S
THE PANEL DISCUSSION at the Opportunities Forum
The first presenter was Mr. Eric Ngang who graduated from U.B. with a BSC in Environmental Science, served as a volunteer in SIRDEP for a year. He applied and was selected for the position of Coordinator of NWADO when the network was launched in 2003. From Eric’s success story we get an understanding that work experience is not taught in school or bought in the market. Experiences can only be gotten when we integrate ourselves in an organisation and prove our worth.
We should be proactive, focused and set in our values in order to meet up with the goals of the organisation. We all have big dreams of getting well paid jobs upon graduation but that is often not the case. We must in one way or the other give our services for little or nothing to gain the experience in order to find bigger opportunities. We must first start
from somewhere; maybe if Eric did not volunteer he would not have been where he is today.
Many other people have succeeded as a result of giving their services for little or no pay. Pamela Ijang who is the coordina-tor of Cameroon Medical Women Association has a different story. She served as a volunteer for three years in different organisations before being where she is today. Her success came as a result of her patience and hard work in the different
organisations where she found herself.
Fai Cedric is another person who has made it as a result of volunteering. He is an Advanced Level holder who volunteered at the Tubah council for a year. The urge to serve his community led him to form an organisation known as the Leaders of
Tomorrow International where he is presently the coordinator.
Organization for Consumer Sovereignty (OCOSO) is an organization that seeks for collective strategies in solving consumer rights related abuses. it is within this framework that the organization was created, in line with the United Nation’s guidelines for consumer protection of April 1985 elevating consumer rights to a position of international recognition and legitimacy, yet they continues to be ignored or trivialized by government, producers, service providers and those with powerful positions. In Cameroon, monopoly services such as the energy sector; water, telecommunication, gas and fuel are witnessing an increased in violations of consumer rights with impunity, more especially AES SONEL that has taken the consumer to be a vegetable farm where they keep on harvesting at our expense. There is little or no concern for consumers who are the financial source of their existence. Statistics collected in the North West indicate the percentages of abuse in the domain of electricity annually. The entire popu-lation of the region suffered electricity interruption mostly on Sundays, 45% report low voltage, 30% intermittent blackout in quarters, 90% non-respect of the exoneration tax below 110 units, 46% unreasonably high bills as compared to the former corporation, 72% large and unjustifiable penalties, 100% unjustifiable meter rents, 7% wrongful disconnection, 89% queuing for days to pay bills, 25% faulty internet network, 20% distortion of facts for claim by AES SONEL , destruction of electrical appli-ances by high voltage from irregular supply 36% , reimbursements of cautions at the termination of contract 12%, repairs of individual network 15%, handling of unofficial reported complaints 22%. This is clear evidence that AES SONEL does not have a consumer policy within their management system. As such complaints from consumer do not impact their decisions in any form. In light of the above, consumers can only fight by constituting themselves into consumer interest groups to act as a countervailing force. This is whereby interest groups have to assess their impediments in terms of economic loss and otherwise which could be quantified and justified for any possible legal action as evaluated in line within the recently enacted laws on consumer protection of May 6,2011 in parliament. OCOSO is in the days ahead is mobilizing the population to register all acts of abuses/complaints in the domain of electricity at the Head Office situated at Hospital Roundabout first storey building on your left on the street to Old Church Junction directly behind former Preventive Medicine. The hope of consumers to rely on their collective response and commitment to secure their rights and economic interest for sustainable consumption as way forward for any meaningful development. The initiative of a consumer protection organization lies in the hands of those who believe in the protection of their rights and the safeguard of their economic interest with the firm commitment to guarantee its objective through active participation in all areas of consumer violation. OCOSO’s door are open to entertain any complain of consumer abuse of any kind from the general public. TIFANG PETER, OCOSO
Campaign for effective and satisfactory quality of products and services to consumers in the North West Region
N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F D E V E L O P M E N T O R G A N I S A T I O N S
Launched at NWADO
There are thousands of graduates roaming our
streets today as a result of unemployment. Young
people upon graduation hardly find an organization
to incorporate them into the system as volunteers or
permanent workers. The routine of being employed
in our society is so often on the basis of “man know
man”. Those who do not have people to fit them in
an organization find themselves unemployed.
It is as a result of this that NWADO and
the VSO team decided to come up
with a forum where graduates who
are willing and able to work can be
linked to different organizations
searching for highly qualified
graduates as
volunteers. The
Opportunities
Forum is also an
avenue for
graduates to share
their experiences
and learn new
skills from other
successful people
who had
volunteered in the
past.
The first Opportunities Forum was
held on the 17th
of February 2011 at
NWADO. It started only ten minutes
late due to the number of participants
who were present at the hall. There
was a prayer from a participant after
which a brief introduction of what the
Opportunities Forum is all about by
Michelle Hain, a VSO volunteer. She
explained the meaning of opportunity
and forum, concluding that the
Opportunity Forum is a favourable set
of circumstances that brings people
together for the benefit of the society.
Among other interesting activities of
the day were an ice breaker during
which Rebecca Rambul,
a Welsh Assembly volunteer working
with NWADO, read the longest word
in Welsh which is
the name of a place
in Wales.
There was a
communication
exercise on how
effective
communication can
be carried out and
how the same
information can be
interpreted by
different persons. A sketch by “La
Liberté acting group” based on
communication showed how projects
can be realized by different persons
based on how the
information is
transmitted.
Points about good
and bad
communication
were drawn from
the participants and
when the second
communication
exercise was carried
out four out of five
groups did better after the lesson.
There was also a panel discussion from
successful people who gave their
stories about how volunteering
impacted their lives. From the panellists
we learnt that being a volunteer does
not count on the qualifications we have
but by what we can offer to the success
of the organisation. From the
experiences of Eric, Pamela and Cedric
we see that volunteering is not a waste
of time but an opportunity to prepare
us for better jobs ahead.
Finally, the Opportunities Forum was an
event with a difference because
participants came earlier than expected
which was a sign of their commitment
and seriousness to the event. The turn-
out was encouraging indicating that
thousands of
graduates are
looking for where to
give their services.
We hope that the
forum will meet the
demands of the
unemployed.
Compiled by;
Mato-Anju Lum,
Abeh Albertine Anem-
bom
Neba Nicoline Neh
Ichai Hanson Ndaya
pportunities Forum
MICHELLE HAIN DISCUSSING WITH PARTICIPANTS
PARTICIPANTS SIT ATTENTIVE DURING THE PANEL DISCUSSION
The Opportunities Forum is a gathering to share ideas, experiences, knowledge and skills
through discussion and small workshops aimed at exposing qualified persons to Civil
Society Organisations (CSOs) in the North West Region of Cameroon. Meeting every first
Thursday of the month at NWADO office. Visit the blog for more information:
www.opportunitiesforum.wordpress.com
P A G E 1 0
P A G E 1 1
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7
N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F D E V E L O P M E N T O R G A N I S A T I O N S
Strategic Progress — Quarterly Update Maximising Network
Power
Extensive and Effective
Outreach
Sustainable Resource
Management
Working Group:
OCOSO, EM Cameroon, CMWA,
CODEF, CIPRE, JPC
Working Group:
MADO, RISIG, UNIF_HUDO,
BERUDEP, MT ZION, NOWECA,
FAP, SIRDEP
Working Group:
HEDECS, SHUMAS, NAVTI,
LIGHT, MBOSCUDA
Milestones Qtr 2
♦ Non-active members more
informed of activities
♦ Database of areas of exper-
tise within network
♦ Population NWR informed
of NWADO and its activities
Milestones Qtr 2
♦ Increase membership from 35
to 40
♦ Carryout diagnosis on
divisional structures
Milestones Qtr 2
♦ Define strategies for resource
(Human, Financial, Material)
mobilisation
♦ Reinforce existing partner-
ships
♦ Collection of at least 50%
outstanding members dues
Results to date:
♦ List of inactive members
prepared
♦ 7 non-active members vis-
ited and invited to AGM
♦ Planning underway to iden-
tify advocacy issues and do
learning on advocacy using
the idea of learning sets.
Results to date:
♦ Draft posters produced about
NWADO as a marketing tool
♦ List generated of members and
their physical locations
♦ Draft power point presentation
on NWADO and its activities
prepared.
Results to date:
♦ A list for members concern-
ing payment of dues estab-
lished following the said
format.
♦ Document of current
NWADO of resources and
what is needed
♦ List of current and potential
funders established
Upcoming Events at NWADO
JUNE
♦ NWADO Executive meeting, Venue: NWADO Conference Hall, Time: 1pm ♦ Second General Assembly meeting, Venue: NWADO Conference Hall, time 10am ♦ Launching of advocacy learning set by working group on NWADO Strategic Orientation
maximising Network Power. ♦ Reflection and development of Terms of Reference for The North West Region Media CSOs Forum.
JULY
♦ Review of implementation of 90 days Milestones on NWADO’s three Strategic Orienta-tions.
♦ Development of reflection on next quarter actions vis-à-vis the strategic plan. ♦ Visit of Peter Ganther, Grants Manager, MIVA Switzerland ♦ Visit of Programme Manager, Democracy and Governance, Commonwealth Foundation ♦ Debate: governance in Africa – past, present and future; followed by the launch of new
publication Governance in the Commonwealth: current debate.
AUGUST ♦ Call for articles and publication of NWADO Quarterly Newsletter
Current Member
Organisations
Angel of Mercy
BERUDEP
Better World Cameroon
CAMNAFAW
CENC
CESUL
CHAMECC
CIPCRE
CODEF
CMWA
COMINSUD
CRAT
GHAPE
HEDECS
HWOM
IDF
INADES Formation
Currently, NWADO has 37
Member organizations.
Membership in NWADO is open
to organizations that:
1 – have been operational for at
least three years,
2 – present (at least) three yearly
activity reports,
3 – are legally recognized, and
4 – have an office in the North
West Region of Cameroon.
Contact NWADO today to become
a member of this engaging and
active association and contribute
to the strengthening of Civil
Society of the North West Region.
IVFCam
Justice and Peace
Commission
LIGHTAFRICA
MBOSCUDA
Mount Zion
Foundation
Navti Foundation
NDEF
NOWEFOR
NOWECA
OCOSO
PEACED
Positive Vision
Cameroon
RISCIG
SAFCAM
P.O. Box 1132
Mankon—Bamenda
North West Region
Republic of Cameroon
Phone: + 237 77 82 92 59/33 16 1032
E-mail: [email protected]
www.nwado.wordpress.com
The North West Association of Development Organizations
(NWADO) was created in 2002 by a group of organizations active
in the development of the North West Region.
NWADO aims to increase the capacities of its members and other
interested Civil Society Organizations, by facilitating the sharing of
experiences and information on issues related to development
within the North West Region.
Bringing organizations together, NWADO enhances partnerships
and collaborations, creates opportunities for the coordination of
activities to avoid duplication and waste of resources, as well as
initiates advocacy and lobbying initiatives for common
development goals.
NWADO also maintains a database of Civil Society Organizations in
the region, updates its inventory of members, services, activities,
funding sources and procedures, as well as provides a shared
resources centre and library to its members.
North West Association of
Development Organizations
Interested in becoming a Member of NWADO?
The Strengthening of Civil Society
SHUMAS
SIBADEF
SIRDEP
UNIFHUDO
WACameroon
YAD
For more
information about
any of our member
organisations please
visit our office or
check out our
website