Forest Conservation:

 CAMGEW Mobilizes Stakeholders in promotion of women's socio economic and Environment rights advocacy

By Francis Ekongang Nzante

 

An advocacy workshop on women's socio-economic and environmental rights organised by  Cameroon Gender and Environment Watch (CAMGEW), took place at the Blue Pearl Hotel in Bamenda on Saturday March 26^th 2022 within the framework of increasing the participation of women in forest conservation.

Workshop Participants

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This workshop  provided an opportunity for participants to reflect on practices that act as barriers to the economic empowerment of women. These practices hinge on culture, economic, social and environmental activities. As a result, during the workshop, there were  presentations on economic, social, environmental and Cultural practices. These presentations threw more light on how these practices act as barriers to the economic empowerment of the woman.

About fifty participants, mostly leaders from the Bamenda Highland Region, legal minds, journalists and civil society actors,  took part in the workshop. Participants also included forest users, people living in forest communities and Forest Leaders.

 Some traditional rulers present at the Workshop sited some  social practices observed in their communities to include early and forced marriages, refusal to educate the girl child and restriction of inheritance rights to male children. These they said were some of the practices that reduce opportunities for women to grow economically. Shufai Waa-bin, a traditional ruler from Nso in Bui Division said he has committed himself to working with his fellow traditional rulers and the youth in his community to promote efforts to delete these barriers.

Sevidzem Ernestine Leikeki, CAMGEW Women Empowerment officer further explained that sexual harassment, education disparity, widowhood challenges amongst others constituted some of these barriers and appealed that time had come for women  to be accompanied by everyone in the society in fighting for their socio economic and Environment rights.

"We cannot talk about environmental sustainability without livelihood and without integration of women and youth in the process and without capacity building of the women, youth and men. Working around the Kilum-Ijim forest we realised that women are suffering when it comes to domestic violence, when it comes to issues related to gender based violence and when it comes to issues about their sexual rights. Consequently, we cannot have a healthy environment if women are not first satisfied with themselves before protecting the environment. These rights are pertinent if we need to build a harmonious environment” she said.

In an effort to empower them with strategies to fight against these challenges, CAMGEW has been working with women for years.  Sevidzem Ernestine  feels that "with their integration in environmental and forest conservation actions" there is a need for policies that protect women and their rights. That’s why she has called on policy makers to put women at the center of their actions.

"When formulating policies, it is important for policy makers to take into consideration the grudges, aspirations, efforts, dedication and passion  of these women” She said.

CAMGEW Director Wirsiy Emmanuel Binyuy expressed his appreciation to the various civil society organisations including traditional leaders, legal experts, the media amongst others who have formed a coalition with his organisation to support women in a bid to improve upon  society.

This workshop comes in the wake of a CAMGEW-initiated petition which was carried by a cross section of media outlets in Cameroon and had a strong presence on Social Media. This petition was aimed at calling on governments around the world to renew and increase their commitment to empowering women and girls to realise their environmental rights, especially the indigenous women who are most climate-vulnerable.

Created in 2007, CAMGEW has been working in and around the Kilum-Ijim forest area where it promotes Inclusive Forest Regeneration with the planting of 104446 trees as of 2021 and the training of over 2000 to benefit from non-timber forest products especially in the honey and medicinal value chains. According to the not-for-profit organisation, women have a strong motivation to conserve biodiversity and the environment.

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TAC Grumbles

 Teachers Association of Cameroon

 

Tac RELEASE

In the wake of sundry sombre developments in the educational sector in Cameroon of late, it behooves the Teachers Association of Cameroon (TAC)even in its state of reduced activity due to the Anglophone Crisis that has persisted since 21/1 1/2016, to come out of hibernation mode and make a number of comments. The present uncontrollable drift down an abysmal precipice can only but be attributable to government's lethargic responses to grievances raised by the teacher trade unions over time and the different disgruntled groups presently rearing their heads here and there with lethal potency, as well as to the apparent selective amnesia that informs its treatment of the different professional corps constituting the country's Public Service, treatment that leaves teachers with no option but to conclude that their noble profession the mother of all other professions is spited and treated with scorn.

Tameh Valentine Nfon, TAC National President

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Over the years, teachers have had to down their tools a multiplicity of times over shabby, shoddy treatment and engage in either sit-ins or in public manifestations — over issues like the putting in place of a collective convention for private education; the integration of all contract and "contractualised" teachers of the basic, secondary, technical and vocational setups; the integration of teachers of Sports and Physical Education into the education corps; the upward revision of the research and documentation allowance; the raising of the index bar or civil service exit point for teachers many of who hit the bar (become "hors échelle ") and continue working for more than a decade; the institution of the Academic Palms award, etc.

Suffice it to indicate that Presidential Decree No 035/05/2000 granted teachers a statutes worthy of their noble profession right, which statutes would invariably have kept all these grievances in check! Signed since 05/10/2000 by the Head of State, President of the Republic, these statutes today in need of revision, have not gone operational for want of a "texte d'application". During the Major National Dialogue, a teacher representative is said to have raised the non-operalisation of the teachers' statutes as a serious dereliction of duty on the part of government, complaint which a Minister dismissed as improper, pointing out that he as parliamentarian (PM) at the time the statutes were prepared knows that any decree without a "texted'application" is illegal! One indignant lady PM called him to order, unequivocally charging him and his fellow PMS then for having embezzled state money by earning it unjustifiably.

In the meantime, teachers continued to make do with honorific enticements like Academic Palms, without accompanying honorariums or even just the basic social security facilities needed for a secure existence, the substantial issues among their grievances having always been deliberately ignored. And so droves of teachers have continued to be subjected to the wiles and political intrigues of successive ministers, hell-bent on keeping them poverty-stricken and manipulable. The fact that the teacher as employee has continued to be treated as a mere object and instrument to be used and hardly ever consulted, and even if s/he has ever been engaged in discussions, such discussions have always been informed from the onset by and has always resulted in outright deceit — this fact tells of the status of a minion the Cameroonian teacher is given by the nation s/he serves dutifully.

Fast-forward to November 2016 crisis that grounded all sectors of life in the North and South West regions of our country, it seemed all was already being put in place for the holding of the National Education Forum (NEF) that had been demanded and promised since before 2009! More than a dozen preparatory meetings were held within the framework of an Inter-Ministerial Committee that had been created specially to prepare for the prospect of the promised NEF. Teams of data collectors to the regions were set up, tons of data were collected, sieved into streamlined reports and submitted to the secretariat that had been set up for the work. Almost three years after the data was submitted, it has become clear that this was another scam. As time passes, sure mould gathers on the project and it becomes another dream that cannot be realised because of administrative subterfuge.

The crisis in the North West and South West regions, as per the United Nations, has rendered 3,200 schools non-functional (see cover page of The Horizon, No 0671 of Thursday 17 March 20 2). Yet administrative officers have continued suspending salaries of teachers on the grounds that they areAt aching in their school in areas whose access today is near impossible and where permanent residence todayis akin to suicide! Thus teacher in Ngoketunjia and Oku, like many •o•iuo missed the one or other of the irksomely successive censuses especially because of the security perils, have seen their salaries callously suspended in bursts of such administrative high-handedness. While TAC agrees that salaries of those gone for greener pastures should be suspended — interestingly, these are the ones who usually survive such salary suspensions — it becomes a scandal that teachers without easy access to their places of work who are still in the country and are making efforts to work even in life-threatening circumstances, should suddenly be deprived of the only means of survival for their families! Thank God we hear the situation is being righted.

For over four weeks now, schools have been grounded in all the Francophone regions and in the Francophone subsystem of education as pathetic cries of indignation from teachers rent the air, embittered voices decrying long service spells in schools without salaries! These legitimate cries from North, South, East and part of the West, fuelled largely by the sorry story that trended of the hapless Hamidou, teacher of "Lycee de Beka" in the Faro Division of the North region, unfortunately climaxed with the death of this patriot, which further bedevilled the situation and made the striking teachers ever more determined! A hungry man is an angry man, the trite but urgently true statement says. And the threat these disgruntled compatriots pose to the nation today is one with lethal potency. The onus therefore is the government's to stretch its wits to the limit and so bring these actors to the table, the logical locus for resolving conflicts. There is a Sword of Damocles hanging over the nation's welfare and sincere discussions and concessions —

real, concrete, fathomable — need to be exchanged in urgency Permit this paraphrase of Martin Luther King Jr as fitting end for this release: the time is right to do right and the time is always right to do right.

Done in Bamenda this 16th day of March, 2022.

Tameh Valentine Nfon

TAC National President

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Douala Braces up to Host CNA 9th Scientific Conference

By Francis Ekongang Nzante

Cameroon's Economic Head Quarters, Douala, is bracing up to Host the ninth Annual Scientific Conference of the Cameroon Nurses Association CNA. This year’s conference will hold under the theme “Nurses, Breaking Down Barriers, Leaving no one behind.” This year’s CNA Annual Scientific Conference comes up in the wake of the eight which took place in the National Head Quarters of the Association in Bamenda. This year’s conference will run from Friday March 25^th to Saturday 26^th under the patronage of the Minister of Public Health, Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education and Minister Delegate in charge of Commonwealth, Minister of External Relations.

The rationale behind the theme of this year’s Scientific Conference is the central role played by nurses in the provision of Health Care Needs. Access to Health Care facilities has not always been equitably available to everyone for various and varying reasons. On the other hand health problems coupled with the pandemic that is rocking the world is affecting everyone in the same manner irrespective of wealth and social standing.

The thread that links all segments of society is the nurse. The nurse in his or her role as a natural caregiver attends to all with a devotion found in no other profession and most indiscriminately. The nurse doesn’t and should never allow affluence and status to affect the way a patient is attended to. No one should be left behind and there should be no barriers. In the intricate web that is characteristic of health service providers, nurses should play a unique role. The message of this year’s Scientific Conference of the Cameroon Nurses Association is unambiguous.

The Cameroon Nurses Association was created in 1999 to bring together all nurses in Cameroon under one umbrella. The aim was to make them work in harmony and to improve upon their capacities. From it’s inception in 1999 up till date, the Cameroon Nurses Association holds Annual Conferences under various themes and these themes are always indicated by the International Nursing Council. This is the supreme body that regulates the activities of Nurses all over the world.

The membership of CNA has improved at an impressive pace and it is now one of the fastest growing Association of health workers in Cameroon. CNA under the guidance of it’s President Mr Nkwain Joseph and the National Executive are erecting a befitting edifice for the association in Bamenda.

According to Mr Nkwain Joseph, “nursing from the days of Florence Nightingale who was the founder of modern nursing has always been a Vocation. When she went to the Crimean War she treated the British soldiers and other soldiers who were there and brought in that aspect of caring to nursing. We can call her the lady with the lamp because she used that lamp to take care of people. All nursing today is based on her philosophy: that you look at a person as a whole, that is from the biological aspect, the psychological, the social and the spiritual aspect. If you look at a patient in this manner, then you will give him complete care. Most of the time, focus is centered only on physical care.”

 

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CAMGEW Intensifies Efforts to Promote Socio Economic & Environmental Rights of Women

By Francis Ekongang Nzante

The Cameroon Gender and Environment Watch CAMGEW has intensified its efforts towards the promotion of the Socio Economic and Environmental Rights of Women. This took place during a debate programme organised on Wednesday the 9^th of March in Bamenda under the topic: “Promotion of Socio Economic and Environmental Rights of Women: How important?”

The programme highlighted on the necessity for women to be included in forest regeneration efforts and opportunities to develop, grow and benefit from forest resources. It also touched on the reasons why women have been traditionally left out of forest regeneration efforts.

The necessity to insert women in policies affecting management of the environment was emphasized upon by the panelists.

Firstly, women and youths represent a bigger segment of the world's population. In addition, women were presented as better financial and home managers.

Furthermore, women are natural caregivers, nature protectors and environmental problems affect them more since they are more vulnerable.

Women are also prime users of farmlands and ensure food security and are responsible for 60% of Agricultural output especially in the rural areas where most forests are found.

Thirdly, women now receive quality education just as the men and should be allowed to participate in policies affecting Environmental Management..

Reference was made to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as to the Sustainable Development Goals which lay emphasis on Gender Equality.

Attention was drawn to the fact that Cameroon has made International Commitments to empower the woman.

CAMGEW carries out its activities mostly in the Kilum-Ijim  Forest area in the North West Region of Cameroon, an area globally recognized as a rare and valuable center of endemic biodiversity.

CAMGEW's inclusive Forest Regeneration efforts planted 104446 trees to regenerate the forest in 2021. Over 2000 women have been trained to benefit from non-timber forest products especially in the honey value chain and medicinal plant value chain. This created jobs, increased income and motivated women to take part in Forest Conservation.

Women now take part in seed collection, tree nursery development, tree planting, forest monitoring, bushfire prevention and incubating local entreprises from non-timber forest products.

CAMGEW has trained over 800 Farmers, 60% of them women in agroforestry techniques to conserve the soil and improve crop yields. Through these initiatives women now have a strong motivation to conserve biodiversity and the environment.

Sevidzem Ernestine Leikeki, the Women Empowerment Officer of CAMGEW and a climate activist as well as one of the Founding members of CAMGEW said “we are celebrating the International Women’s Day 2022 and we in CAMGEW working over the years realised that women have a lot of potentials and these need to be developed and supported morally, technically and with the policies in place to support and give them certainty.”

Sevidzem Ernestine further said  the greatest segment of the world’s population was made up of women and children and that there could be no talk of Socio Economic and Environmental action without involving them.

She stressed on the need to introduce Environmental Management into the School Curriculum.

The injustices that women suffer she said start with societal ideas. “Society holds that the woman is weak and cannot do anything. We say no because that’s not taking us towards development. Moving towards development should involve promoting Gender Equality not for power struggle but for development and Economic Empowerment to ensure sustainability and to build that solidarity that we need in our society. In the rural areas where forests are found, the woman is limited to Subsistence Farming and caring for the home but we are saying that she deserves that opportunity to grow. It is the Policy Makers, the government, Civil Society Organisations and Youth Leaders who should stand up and say that opportunities should be brought closer to the rural  woman to help her walk out of her fears and become that woman that we want her to be.” The programme ended with the signing of a petition.

The debate programme was attended by the Inspector of Social Welfare Mr. Mukere Oliver Ndokie, Emmaculate Guteh from MINFOF and the media amongst others. The panelists were made up of University students from the Faculty of Arts, Department of Communication and Development Studies among others.

 

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