(A) Introduction
The Campaign this year in Limbe, South West, Cameroon
took a different dimension with the coming in to action of not only youths, but
equally the participation of policy makers like some parliamentarians,
traditional leaders and a few ministers who had the time to attend in person
though some were represented.
Phase one of the project began with the signature of
the agreement between the Cameroon Association of Media Professionals and the
United Nations Development Programme
According to our approved proposal, in order to
achieve one or more of the policy-practice Change objectives of the project we
were supposed to carry out Mass Media sensitisation since they would be the key
tool to achieve the objectives of the project.
Questionaires, IEC Materials on the MDGs were produced
and circulated in the target region as well as other form of mass sensitisation
campaigns through Newspapers, Radio Stations and TV stations engaged.
The media as an advocacy voice greatly helped the
October event as enough sensitisation was done through local media organs for
maximum outreach.
Phase one of the project was therefore mainly to carry out Sensitization
and mobilization on key United Nations and other International days, as well as
to organize pre rally in Various Divisions of the South West Region
The
total amount of money that was disbursed for this phase of the project was USD
1000, which amounted to FCFA 460,000 and not FCFA 500.000.as expected.
This
shortage we were told was as a result of the exchange rate at the time of
deposit.
(B)
Narrative Activity Report
Phase
1
(1) World Press Freedom Day
Being
the first in international day after we signed the contract, we decided to use
May 1, world press freedom day to launch our activities.
As
part of activities of the day, we organize talks on the four major community
Radio stations in the South West Regions of Cameroon.
Journalists
and development experts were invited as panelist and they discussed on the role
of the journalist in the campaign.
We
equally had lectures on the Eight Millennium Development Goals and asked the
journalists present to include development reporting in their programs.
Still
as part of the activities, we published stories on the level of Cameroon in the
process of attaining the MDGs on the main English Language Newspaper in the
South West that is Eden Newspaper.
At
the end of the activities, the following results were recorded.
Ø 50
Journalists took the challenge to continue sensitizing their audiences on the
need to hold government accountable for not engaging in activities that will
advance the process of attaining the MDGs
Ø One
Micro programme was produced and distributed to all the other Radio Stations
(2) World Malaria Day
With
the World Malaria Day which was celebrated on May 6, CAMP joined the ministry
of public health through the Regional Delegation of the South West Region to
organize a campaign on Malaria as a
cause of Poverty
We took time to
discuss with the government’s health representative to remind the president of
the Harare declaration of 1997 were world leaders promised to reduce by halve the death toll caused by
Malaria before 2010.
Dr. Manjo Matilda Fon, the district Medical Officer for
the Limbe Health District delivered a talk on the role government is playing to
reduce the cost of treating and preventing malaria as a means to reduce poverty
During her talk she mentioned that In Cameroon, people
are so poor that they cannot afford the least cost in combating malaria.
The mini workshop involved, representatives of the
ministry of health, private health institutions and civil society organizations
working in the domain of Poverty alleviation and health.
The following results were recorded in this campaign
Ø A letter was sent to the Minister of Public Health
through the Regional Representative to remind the government of the Harare
Declaration.
Ø Health Experts declared to increase their pressure to
half the Malaria death Toll.
Ø Civil society organization leaders promised to carry out
sensitization workshops and environmental campaigns
Ø All actors
understood the relationship between Malaria and Poverty.
(1)
International Day of the Family-Pre Rallies
Another major event which we took advantage in
sensitisation was the international day of the Family, May 15.
As the basic unit of the society, we thought it wise to
take our message to the families and lobby.
From the 15th to the 21st of May,
we organized pre rallies in all the 7 divisions of the South West region.
This was a mobilization technique to rally the base of
those whom will have to take part in the Stand Up Event
In house sensitization was carried out by our staff and
some volunteers in all the Divisions that make up our target.
At the end a total of the pre rallies,
Ø 100 families were committed to be involved in the
process.
Ø 3500 Youths pledge to stand Up and take action against
poverty
Ø All 3500 youth received books with the Stand Up Logo and
documentation materials on the UNMC and its objectives produced by CAMP
Ø Five Poverty Free
Youth Leaders were elected by their communities to follow up and attend
planning meetings prior to the stand up event
Ø The Minister of Women Empowerment and the Family was also
sent a memo to commit her ministry towards the attainment of the goals which
are linked to her ministry, such as improving
maternal health and reducing child mortality.
Ø Four Ministers accepted to stand Up and Take Action
though at the end a majority of them were represented.
(C) Narrative Activity Report
Phase
2
Phase 2 of the project
was the stand up proper which was to take place between the 16 and 18 of
October 2009.
This was effectively
launched in Limbe Cameroon
by the Divisional Delegate of Youth Affairs Ikombe Mbua Isaac and the
Parliamentarians of the South West Region on the 25th of September
at the Cameroon Association of Media Professionals head office, with a press
conference to brief the media on the campaign.
After the press conference, we engaged in Radio forum
discussions on all the local and community radio stations in the target region.
The panel discussions included representatives of the
civil society organisations and representatives of parliament.
The major issue was to hold policy makers accountable to
the population through the civil society actors.
The selection of youth representatives in the target
region followed the radio panel discussions as CAMPERS had to move to all the
sub divisions of the region to sensitize them on the campaign and to select
representatives who would be responsible to coordinate the other participants
of the region.
Stand Up
Day 1
Day one of the campaign was observed on Saturday the 17th
of October. The main activity, that is the stand up and March past that was
previewed could not take place as planned due to the heavy rains that fell. The
March past and stand Up was shifted to the 18th
Therefore, the participants used the first day of the
campaign to listen to a talk on Media Legislation and the MDG’s.
articipants included, the parliamentarians, youths and representatives of
concerned ministries.
Day 2
The rain made way for
the second day at all participants gathered at the Manga Williams Avenue, where the march
past began.
At the end of the
march past, we decided to visit A Tree Nursery Project Site for the African
Center For Research Development and Climate Change, AFREDECC.
The main idea was for
participants to have a practical look at the effects of climate change and how
tree nurseries could be used to Ensure Environmental Sustainability, MDG 7
After the visit, we
re converged and all the participants
were asked to Stand Up and lift their handkerchiefs up, while the pledge was
read and all the participants repeated the pledge in one accord.
The pledge sheet was
filled by the participants and signed, copies were kept in pour office and
others sent to the concerned ministries, parliamentarian’s local administrative
officials
(D) Results Obtained
−
3500 youths were drilled on all the
eight MDG’s
−
3515 persons stood up, comprising, 15
parliamentarians and 3500 young persons
−
At least 7000 youths benefited
indirectly trough the ripple tank and multiplier effect plan that the
sensitised youths have learnt.
−
Media practitioners are beginning to constitute a strong force for lobbying
−
Civil society organisations are now
interested to hold policy makers accountable through budget monitoring which is
also responsible for the present status of the Goals in the region
ore
impact has been created on the government to favour policies that target the
attainment of the Millennium Development Goals through youth support programs
towards poverty alleviation.
(E) Conclusion
Generally speaking,
with barely six years to go, we of the Cameroon Association of Media
Professionals are very optimistic that the campaign is gaining some grounds in Cameroon.
The United Nations
Development Program, Office in Yaounde Cameroon,
is equally sparing no effort to make sure that when we are taking stock in
2015, we would all be happy for fighting a good fight and finishing the race.
The situation of the
poverty and other indicators of underdevelopment in Cameroon could be similar to other
African Countries, but the perception of the population has to be reexamined in
this last six years of the Campaign
Cameroon
has a total of 180 parliamentarians and more than 1000 local council
authorities who are decision makers.
All these people must
pledge to be MDG’s oriented in their policies so that while the population is
mobilizing, they would be responding.
Sally
Mokake
Tarhyang Enowbikah
Tabe
Project
Manager
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