La Création et l’évaluation des Scripts et Programmes Radiophoniques

Par Jeanne Tchakoute, Cameroun
Email: jeannetchakoute@yahoo.fr
Un atelier de formation sur la création et l’évaluation des scripts et programmes radiophoniques à l’attention des responsables des radios rurales de l’Afrique Francophone de l’Ouest, du Centre et des grands lac, a eu lieu du 29 Novembre au 03 Décembre 2010 à Ouagadougou au Burkina Faso.
Au total 21 participants en service dans les radios se sont retrouvés à Ouagadougou du 29 Novembre au 03 Décembre 2010 au Burkina Faso, dans le cadre de cet atelier, organisé par JADE Production, grâce au soutien du CTA et de Farm Radio International (FRI).
La cérémonie d’ouverture qui précédait les travaux était présidée par Mme la Représentante du Ministre de la communication, du Tourisme et de la Culture. Cela s’est déroulé en présence du Directeur de JADE Production, M. SOULEYMANE, de la Représentante de Farm Radio, Nelly BASSILLY, de Samuel EBITENDA, chargé des programmes média CTA (Centre Technique de Coopération Agricole) et des 21 participants.
Après la cérémonie d’ouverture a suivi la présentation des participants, qui a permis aux uns et aux autres de coller les noms sur les visages, point de départ de sympathie et de solidarité. Chaque participant a ensuite présenté les 03 sujets choisis, et l’approche qui a guidé le choix.
Sylvain DEGARRDINS, journaliste à radio canal et aux radios rurales Internationales, a présenté un exposé sur le concept de l’idée centrale, et c’est l’idée centrale qui était la base des travaux. Les techniques d’entrevue, les simulations d’interviews et les techniques d’enregistrement de sons pour la radio ont été faites, avec la participation de tous.
La descente dans la communauté MOUTI village située à m’Est du Ouagadougou, a permis aux participants de réaliser en groupe de 03 des reportages sur 07 sujets différents. Le sujet traité par le groupe n°6 dont je faisais partie portait sur le SOSOAGA, travail champêtre en groupes d’agriculteurs, de la culture à la récolte, un héritage qui doit être sauvegardé, malgré l’exode rural qui vide les campagnes et réduit le nombre d’agriculteurs, et en même temps une pratique passionnante qui facilite les travaux champêtres et renforce la solidarité, non sans améliorer les conditions de vie des populations.
L’équipe n°6 constituée de YOUSSOUF NIAKATE PACOME TOMETISSI et Jeanne TCHAKOUTE a fait des interviews aux agriculteurs à ce sujet, et a réalisé un magazine de minutes, avec les sons enrobés. Comme les autres sujets, le reportage sur le SOSOAGA a été suivi en séance après l’enregistrement du magazine et le montage.
L’écoute des reportages de toutes les équipes a permis de critiquer, proposer, améliorer, échanger et de beaucoup apprendre. Au delà d’un exercice, la sortie du MOUTI a été une grande découverte pour moi, qui découvrait la savane. Je ne voyais ce paysage qu’à la télévision ou sur photos, avec des charrues tirés par des ânes.
Chaque soir, l’évaluation de la journée devait servir à améliorer le lendemain.
La remise des certificats aux participants, l’évaluation de l’atelier et la lecture et signature du contrat ont précédé la fête de clôture le vendredi 03 Décembre 2010.
Heureuse initiative de Farm radio, cet atelier est une émulation et un grand apport pour l’épanouissement des hommes de médias, chargés de faire parvenir les messages aux acteurs du monde rural. Je suis très sure que, comme moi, tous les participants sont ravis des travaux et se sont séparés, forts d’avoir beaucoup appris.
Les connaissances sont transmises dès le retour dans nos rédactions et appliquées sur le terrain. C’est l’occasion de remercier Farm Radio International, CTA et JADE Production pour l’initiative de regrouper les personnes de pays Francophone d’Afrique. Mon vœu est que cette expérience récidive.

E-Learning Course For Africa Broadcasters

Blythe McKay is Manager of Programmes & Partnerships of Farm Radio International, FRI, in Canada. She highlighted e-learning courses organized to support African broadcasters through the development of radio scripts on small holder farmer innovations during the Pan Commonwealth of Learning Forum in Kochi, India late in November 2010. Introducing the e-learning issue, Blythe described a script as a written version of a short radio programme. The FRI script writing competitions started in 2005 with 26 entries from 16 countries on the MDGs, In 2007, the competition focused on Climate Change Adaptation with 51 entries from 20 countries.
In 2009, the radio script competition was on smallholder farmers and this accumulated 82 scripts from 20 countries. The last competition is in the course of evaluation and this got 128 entries with over 500 subscribers. Four competitions have been organized since 2005.
She explained that the purpose of the competition is to strengthen the capacity of African broadcasters affiliated to the Farm Radio International network. Different topics have been treated, as far as the needs of communicators and smallholder farmers is concerned.
In 2009, Farm Radio International partnered with Community of Learning, COL, to offer an e-learning component and to provide training for participants in the competition. Since these activities started, the number of participants has continued to increased, reflecting the value and impact of the exercise. FRI covers over 250 radio stations on the Africa continent.
The process includes course development, marketing and sign up, online training and the use of CD-Rom, script submission, judging by international panel, revision of winning script, evaluation and distribution.
This process is organized in such a way that broadcasters are reached on time. Persons who do not have regular access to internet, receive the their packets of scripts by post. It takes a couple of months for some to receive materials from Farm radio international.
The FRI online training has a duration of 10 weeks or more. When the process is completed, the scripts are reviewed by an international panel of judges. 10 to 15 winners are selected and they receive a certificate and a mini recorder for producing more interactive programmes in their stations as a incentive. They are often advised to revise their scripts based on the feedback received from the judges, to make sure the content is balanced.
When it is packed and posted to the broadcasters, the scripts are adapted and used during local language broadcasts targeting the farmer and animal breeder. Between 300 and 500 packets are sent to sub Saharan Africa. As an organization, FRI learns by doing and this helps for the planning and organization of future competitions.
The web site of Farm radio International, FRI, can be consulted at, www.farmradio.org Over 1.000 scripts are have been lodged on the web site and people can download and use them free of any charge. Farm Radio International(www.farmradio.org) is a Canadian registered charity that is at the forefront of using radio combined with other ICTs to serve smallholder farmers. It sends information on low-cost ways to improve food security to 360 radio stations across 39 countries. The packages, in English and French, cover topics from improving soil fertility to coping with climate change. In the past 30 years, local broadcasters have valued the materials and translated them into over one hundred local African languages.Over 950 subscriptions receive electronic news service on weekly basis. Farm Radio International also privodes training to broadcasters to improve their skills in serving smallholders, more of them in rural communities.

Innovative Tool for Distance Learning
Jothi, Santhy & Valluvaparidasan are all of the directorate of the Open Distance Learning in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University of India. They presented a joint paper on the innovative tool for community development through distance education.
The government is requesting the agricultural sector to come up with innovations that can help farmers improve on their yields, especially in the dry regions of the country. E-Learning is used by the International Crop Research Institute for the semi arid tropics and Tamil Nadu Agriculture University. In these institutions, instead for building course from the top down, the opposite is down building courses from the bottom upwards. This helps to locate the learning objects.
The two points on content with the consumers are the missing part of e-learning as a social network, who is reading the RLO and the automatic formation of the list, not forgetting the Meta Data with at least three taxonomies. Google relates documents to documents and it is the same system that is applied in the innovation to e-learning by the directorate.
User profiles have been conceive to facilitate interested persons to sign up for the course they want.

Innovations In ODL In Agriculture
Venkataraman Bataji, B.S. Hansra, Surya Gunjai, Valiuva Paridasan and Praveen S. Jain are of the ICRISAT in Patancheru, the School of Agriculture of IGNOU, School of Agriculture of YCMOU, the ODL Directorate and the school of agriculture, IGNOU. They made a joint presentation on innovations using the practices in re-usable Learning objects and semantic web technologies. In the picture above, Blythe is standing with James, focal point for FRI Cameroon. For more, visit the following web site at http://cameroonlink.info

Open Learning Resources and Community Development

Open Learning Resources and Community Development
By Cameroon Link
Email: camlink99@gmail.com

Presenjit Das works with the Institute of Distance and Open Learning of the University of Guahati in India. He explored new pathways of knowledge in the field of high education in Assam. There are over 40 open distance learning opportunities in India. The idea is about 15 years old. India is learning from all over the world and new initiatives are coming up throughout the country. Assam is a North East Indian state. Presenjit Das said, that as open distance learning is discussed, the word openness should be given consideration as a path way. Oral learning India is certainly different from oral learning in other parts of the world.
He said, in the last five years, there has been a remarkable development in the accessibility through the resources of open education. UNESCO chaired a vivid discussion on the use of OER through its International Institute of Educational Planning, IIEP, which affirms that Open Educational Resources,OER, can bring a remarkable change in community development.
According to Presenjit Das, learning in ODL must refer to cultural factors over and above psychological theories of learning. The design of materials must contain implicit references to institutional infrastructure like information channels which are important aspects of the learning process.
Open Distance Learning has to be contextualized. In Assam, in the north east of India, there are 5 major universities out of three offering higher education through open distance learning. The design of curriculum ordinarily refers to the tried and tested pedagogic methods of classroom teaching. Practice reveals that this consistently relegates ODL curriculum to the lower slot in the repertory of courses. The 11th five year development plan of the Indian government suggests an allocation of 600 million rupees for the integration of specifically ICT in school education.
As the government increases investment in ICT for education, continuous effeorts must be made to ensure that investments in technology positively impact on all aspects of education.such community development.
The Institute of Open and Distance Learning in Guahati university has taken a number of visionary initiativesby launching the first e-portal of the North East, notably www.bodhiroom.Idolgu.org on the 13th November 2009.
By providing more effective and efficient access to information, it improves collaboration and communication, integration of information and application, increased document flow and workflow, smarter decision making, increased productivity and integrated knowledge environment.
The e-portal offers an independent discussion forum and news forum for every programme, online interaction facility with fellow students, faculty members and even officials which include the administrative officer of G.U.
A Campus community radio station was launched at G.U. on the 20th November 2010 as another mew development. Addressing challenging issues, Presenjit Das said, the responsibility towards social needs of community development stands as a distinct markerof the ODL system, thus calling on practitioners to maintain practices reinforcing ideas of openness with reference to teacher-student relationship.

Community Development

PCF6 Discussions on Digital Content
By Cameroon Link
Email: camlink99@gmail.com
The session on digital content and community development was facilitated by Maria Protz of the Caribbean Institute for Media and Communication and the rapporteur was James Achanyi-Fontem of Cameroon Link.This session was arranged by the COL Community Media Action International Coordinator, Ian Pringle.
Presenters were Lee Tan Luck, Prasenjit Das, Blythe McKay, Valluvaparidasan, Venkataraman, B.S, Hansra, Surye Gunjal, Valluva Paridasan and Praveen Jain.
Maria Protz to get resource persons on stage, started by refreshing the memories of the audience on the required content of the theme through a series of questions: What are the ways we can capture the body of knowledge about using community media in learning? So, how do we go about capturing the body of knowledge? Are there modules for using community media for facilitating learning? With all the new communication platforms and technologies that are coming to the front, do they really work? Or do they cause more problems than we think? Another question was on quality assurance. In community media, do we need some sort of quality assurance mechanisms for checks and balance? If so,do we have any modules that work for that? Who is the community we are talking about? Is community a myth? What is the role of technologies in addressing disparities? After this introduction that the first speaker was invited to the podium to address issues related to "Supporting Community Learning with Digital Technologies"
Lee Tan Luck is a lecturer of MARA University of technology in Malaysia. He spoke about supporting community learning with digital technologies and knowledge for societal development. He emphasized on Open Distance Learning, ODL, to educate rural farmers by enhanced blended learning management system through schools, while quoting the example of Malaysia. The scenario in the school system of Malaysia, is that all primary and secondary schools are well equipped with computer systems since 1986. In all the 2000 primary schools, 45 per cent are located in rural areas. Even in the rural areas, there is everything including electricity supply.
The Open Distance Learning operates on half day and mostly in the evening. This is part of the educational system. In Malaysia, the introduction of ICT has proven its worth as the foundation of the modern mode of education delivery system. This widen the scope of development on a collaborative, open and distance digital enhanced e-learning platform.
It has also paved the way for the bridging of digital divide as well as fostering advance education for the nation. For this to happen, a main server is located in one area, connections are linked to eight district servers at one time. These computer servers in the eight districts are connected to all primary and secondary schools. Even the indigenous areas with solar energy benefit from the same syatem.
Farmers are eager to learn through the system because ICT helps them to evacuate their products to the market. Without this system, the farmers will produce and not know where to sell their crops. Most of them are poor peasant farmers. The middle men who buy from the farmers to sell in the market, take a big share of the profits of the farmers. This system of open distance learning has come to give the farmers equal opportunities and some have become very rich.
Teaching is considered a social obligation for the development of the society. This helps the farmers to equip themselves and improve on their livelihoods. Farmers are discourage from the use of chemicals for producing their crops, because this is dangerous for human health. Lee Tan Luck said, he has a farm and practices what he teaches there. He acknowledged that farming pays more that a government job, even when he practices only on part time basis.
The off-hours education for rural farmers is part and parcel of school administrators and teachers’ social obligation because they also form part of the community. The blended methodology of teaching and learning process is not an easy one because the farmers need to be guided properly on the use of the sophisticated digital facilities and caution is the key issues in the transfer of knowledge.
It is important to note that the open distance learning, whether in the afternoon or night is free. Malaysia envisages through its system of using ICT for transformation of the well being of the farmers to attain the level of developed country by the year 2020.

Learning from Community Media

Participation, Education & Development
Perspective On Community Media & Education
By James Achanyi-Fontem,Cameroon
Email: camlink2001@gmail.com
In the context of Cameroon, Community media is beginning to be found as a tool for increasing participation in learning and development processes. This takes root from identifying learning needs to designing programming, creating content, talking about it and providing feedback.
Due to the fact that there is a lack of appropriate and effective learning opportunities in remote rual and resource-poor regions, while schools do not cater for non-formal or life-long needs of school drop outs and adults, the only way to change attitudes is through community media.
This makes community media a good strategy for educating the population and to deliver part of a conversation, a communication programme or a development project. Through the collaboration between different groups, we realize that participation helps to ensure relevance in planning and responsiveness in implementation development goals.
During the survey in Menji, Lebialem area of Cameroon, it was noted that the existence of local media, community development programmes, information and communication technology (ICT) centre and other localized services were not effectively structured for engaged learning.
This makes us feel that there remains untapped potential in collaboration among the different groups. To feel the gap, community radios go beyond the issue of connectivity since they cater for the interests of a certain area/community by broadcasting material that is popular to a local audience. Such broadcast material or information is usually based on the social, economic and political aspects of that very community.
During the recent story design workshop in Lebialem, it became visible that the main focus of community media is not just installing equipment and creating connections to entertain the publics, but rather to organize the community so that it can resolve its specific problems, which may vary from one setting to the next. In Cameroon, community radio stations are usually jointly owned by the community and NGOs or associations, that are not profit motivated and therefore their programming is not influenced by sponsors/advertisers It serve as a means by which to avoid self-marginalization while still adhering to the principles of community interests and social objectives. Community media is a means by which local news and information is disseminated. It allows citizens to inform themselves about the issues taking place around them.
Since they are gaining too much popularity today, those in management need tips on how to manage them, package information so that it is relevant and also, get ideas on how to sustain them; given the fact that they are not profit orientated.
Community media in all its various forms is inseparably linked to the enhancement of a civil society and civic participation. It is bound only by the limits of creativity and of course accessibility to resources and spectrum. The key characteristics of community media convey a more clear understanding of its definition as well as its depth and dimension in terms of how it takes shape in the civic landscape.It reflects their communities, and more importantly also become integral to the communities which they serve. Integration is achieved through ensuring their accountability to the particular community concerned .This takes the form of community ownership within a legally constituted non-profit distributing structure. Community Radio is a powerful tool for learning for development, especially informal learning for improving health and livelihoods. The role of community radio in providing non-formal educational opportunities, especially for non literate communities in Cameroon.
Community media outlets not only reflect their communities, more importantly they are integral to the communities which they serve. The integration is achieved through ensuring their independence from commercial interests, but also through ensuring their accountability to the particular community concerned. The accountability often takes the form of community ownership within a legally constituted non-profit distributing structure. Community Radio for example is a powerful tool for learning for development, especially informal learning for improving health and livelihoods. The scale of learning challenge is so overwhelming that all viable methods are harnessed to it. Several thousands of children between the ages of 12 and 14 are not in secondary school for various reasons and we have a first challenge of scale that must be addressed.
Community radio can play an important role in giving youngsters the skills that will lead to better livelihoods and getting them into employment or self-employment. It can also help to keep them healthy, which is the second challenge.There is clearly an urgent need for more learning about health. Community radio is a focal point for community driven learning, allowing learners to identify their own priorities based on participatory mechanisms of assessment . Radio Dramas, storytelling and interviews in particular, are effective and low cost ways of making community voices an integral part of the learning process.
Participatory tools used in the development of learning programs encourage networking and collaboration among key local actors, as well as effective advocacy for open distance learning. This helps to share knowledge about community-based learning programmes through networking possibilities.
To forge ahead positively, we should be able to build capacity in community groups for designing participatory educational programming, particularly bringing together radio with other groups in development, health, education, etc. in consultation and research about educational priorities, and educational programme development processes,
This will enable us to better experiment and demonstrate appropriate educational community radio programmes for example on maternal and child health care, HIV/AIDS, Diabetes, Sickle Cell, etc, especially as it will increase participation in learning and development process, after identifying learning needs, designing programming, creating content, talking about it and providing feedback.
In conclusion, participation through joint efforts by the different groups and sectors in the community helps to ensure relevance in planning and responsiveness in implementation. It enables better collective, collaborative responses to development challenges such as maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, malaria, sickle cell, diabetes and other problems the people living within the community face regularly.

Story Design Workshop Is Golden Opportunity For Cameroon

COL Cameroon Link Partnership Liaison Person Describes Story Design Workshop As Golden Opportunity For Cameroon
By Lebialem Community Radio

Executive Director of Cameroon Link, James Achanyi-Fontem, who doubles as the Commonwealth of Learning Partnership Liaison, has described the first radio story design workshop organised in Lebialem as a golden opportunity for the transformation of communities.
Achanyi-Fontem was speaking during the launching of Commonwealth of Learning pilot programme in Lebialem Division of the south west region of Cameroon last November 2 at Mariapolis Centre in Menji.
He thanked the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), through Charles Simbi and Gladson Makowa, who travelled all the way from Lilongwe, Malawi in East Africa to Cameroon to deliver the radio story design workshop content on “Mother and Child Health Care”.
He appreciated the presence of the Senior Divisional Officer for Lebialem’s representative, Moni Innocent Nanje, who accepted to preside over the official launching ceremony, while congratulating the Management of Lebialem Community Radio for accepting the challenge to host the workshop for behavior change communication, which remains a challenge in Cameroon.
The COL Cameroon Link partnership liaison lauded the participants, for leaving other activities to concentrate in the learning process and to serve their communities as volunteers for the promotion of healthy communities within Lebialem, the take off point of Commonwealth Open Distance Learning activities through Lebialem Community Radio.
Achanyi-Fontem announced that the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) signed a Contribution Agreement to support Cameroon Link, to facilitate the development, design and operationalisation of a Community Learning Programme on “Maternal and Child Health Care” in the Lebialem Division of Cameroon on the 30th August 2010 after a field study and evaluation of delivery impact.
He added that, the results and evaluation of the Lebialem Community Learning model will be shared widely in Cameroon, as reminded participant that the COL is an intergovernmental organization created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education. The brain behind the media initiative in Vancouver, Canada is Ian Pringle, a Media Education Specialist, he revealed. He used the opportunity to extend the sincere thanks and gratitude of the entire staff of Cameroon Link to Ian Pringle and his collaborators in Vancouver, Canada for the trust, that led to the birth of the extension of Commonwealth of Learning to Cameroon.
Achanyi-Fontem told trainees, that COL’s Livelihoods and Health Sector aims at improving on the incomes, livelihoods and quality of life of communities and their members through new knowledge, skills and economic opportunities gained by the means of Open Distance Learning Tools and strategies.
The four initiatives, he went on, include Skills Development, Learning for Farming, Healthy Communities and e-Learning. As far as Healthy Communities is concerned, COL and Cameroon Link have a common interest in helping community organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and local public institutions to improve the health and well-being of their communities. The Healthy Communities approach focuses on health issues within a broader context of community development, dealing for example with issues such as “Maternal and Child Health Care, HIV/AIDS and Nutrition”.
Cameroon Link and Lebialem Community Radio, the two organizations concerned with the delivery of the programme will share information and promote cooperation, at both the activity level (interventions in the field) as well as with regard to policy, COL partnership liaison told the audience.
Areas of specific interest for collaboration in the Cameroon Link initiative include:
 Use of mobile technologies;
 Use of traditional media;
 Use of e-Health applications; and developing open and distance learning materials and programmes, both for healthcare intermediaries and citizens during a period of 12 months.
According to the statement of activities of Cameroon Link, COL's Healthy Communities initiative will demonstrate and document the use of media and other information and communication technologies for open and distance learning, and in particular, the use of community-based media by development groups for non-formal educational programming about livelihoods, health and other areas of community development; working closely with COL and designated partners and consultants like the Malawi Story Workshop specialists, in all aspects of the project.
Cameroon Link is guiding a range of local public, private and civil society stakeholders in the development of new participatory learning programmes about community health, one that reflects the key elements of COL's community learning model, namely a combination of educational radio content with face-to-face interactions and learner support, with a clear linkage to community mobilisation and action.
Cameroon Link has identified output and outcome indicators which assist in the collection of baseline data, establishing a consortium of partner groups working in media, maternal and child health care, and identifying at least 1,000 direct learners reached through complementary face-to-face means and 20,000 active listeners in Lebialem.
Cameroon Link worked closely with the COL-designated training facilitators and local partners to organize the five-day radio programmes design workshop that resulted to the production of our samples of episodes ready for broadcast at the end of the training.
Cameroon Link is continue to ensure the execution of the community learning programme, including at least 30-60 minutes of original weekly radio content, associated to face-to-face learning support for the next twelve months starting from November 2010.
Two key learning technologies, including using video shows for community support groups, mobile telephones to increase learner interactivity and to provide additional information to learners, computers to assess learning achievements, etc are integrated for execution of the programme.
Cameroon Link and Lebialem Community Radio are developing a case study of Lebialem radio programmes, including: An outline of the COL-Cameroon Link community learning programme model, reflecting both, the global approach and its specific application in Lebialem. The process followed in Lebialem includes:
 Twenty-five plus (25+) high-resolution, high-quality photographs reflecting the programme's participatory and educational nature;
 The outputs, outcomes and lessons learnt, including a comparative analysis of the baseline and end-of-project data from phase one of the programme;
 General considerations for policymakers in
a) Health education, especially maternal and child health care, and
b) Community media.
 A roadmap for scaling-up the Community Learning programme model in Cameroon.
COL Cameroon Link partnership will lead to sharing the case study and roadmap, widely through electronic media, and in specific fora, like community media or health conferences, and with specific groups concerned with maternal and child health care and so on, with a view to additional local and national programme development.
Groups and individuals trained or otherwise engaged in the programme development process are disaggregated by age, gender, location and livelihood, as well as Learners enrolled or directly engaged by the process.
Gender considerations will include: Involvement of and access by women and men, boys and girls; and Gender orientation of content produced; Partnerships established and maintained; Feedback from policy and programme decision makers; Prospective sustainability; and amount, quality, subject and origin of content created, with observations concerning local relevance, degree of community and learner participation, collaboration among groups and specific gender considerations; and
Impact on health and development indicators as identified at the outset of the project.
COL contact, Ian Pringle, who is International Program Coordinator and Media Education Specialist, is contributing resources towards the statement of activities; providing inputs and feedback throughout the project with the services of consultants leading in the radio programmes design and training.
Gender equality is integral to all of COL’s work and requires that both women's and men's views, interests and needs shape its work in learning for development. Cameroon Link agreed that gender considerations shall inform the activities to be undertaken under the agreement, in particular:
Consultation with both women and men and the inclusion of gender considerations, for example, the role of gender in maternal and child health, in planning activities;
Equitable participation of women and men in radio programmes development and training activities;
The inclusion in all workshops of at least one session focused on gender issues, like looking at the role of women and men in how radio programmes are developed and the gender implications for learning and action processes, and the inclusion in all learning programmes of specific gender considerations, the role of men in maternal and child health care, the roles of both women and men in preventing and treating malaria, diabetes, sickle cell, etc.
Project Strategy
The approach to programme development and content creation includes:
 Non-formal education approach to media, like identifying learning objectives and learning process
 Collaborative process involving media – ICT, health development authorities and experts and community networks.
 Participatory design and operation of learning programmes, Story-based approach to learning content alongside information from experts,
 Blended and multi-channel approach to learning that combines media content with face-to face interaction and other types of learner support using print, mobile, etc.
Issues dealing with Maternal Health tackled include:
HIV/AIDS
Sickle Cell
Nutrition
Smoking
Drinking
Family Planning
Malaria
Prenatal Care
Gender relations
Illiteracy
Poverty
Infrastructure
Information
Safe Delivery
Working conditions and
Abortion.
The above list remains incomplete and will be completed as the execution phase unfolds.
James Achanyi-Fontem used the opportunity to introduce the two national focal points of Commonwealth of Learning: Professor Ivo Leke Tambo, who is the Secretary General at the Ministry of Secondary Education in Yaounde and Dr. Daniel Akume Akume, who is the Head of the Computerised System for the Management of Staff and Salaries at the Ministry of Higher Education in Yaounde.
For more information, click on the following links-
http://camlinknews.blogspot.com/2010/11/asongah-leghung-emeh-boh-mwuah.html; http://camlinknews.blogspot.com/2010/11/lcr-welcomes-col-initiative.html

LCR WELCOMES COL INITIATIVE

By Cameroon Link
Email: camlink99@gmail.com
The President of Lebialem Community Radio (LCR), Atabong George Atemnkeng expressed thanks and gratitude to the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in Vancouver, Canada, Cameroon Link Health Development Organisation in Douala and the facilitators of the Story Design Workshop “on Mother and Child Health Care”, who come all the way from Malawi, East Africa to Menji, Cameroon.
Atabong George acknowledged that joys and challenges shared the space in the hearts of the staff of Lebialem Community Radio , as the station was chosen to launch the pilot phase of the media Commonwealth of Learning project in Cameroon.
He added that, it was the first time in the history of Lebialem that such a project on health development through the media is being offered to the population and listeners of the various communities in Cameroon.
This training offered by the Commonwealth of Nations is coming in to help Lebialem Community Radio to fulfil one of the primordial objectives, which is to disseminate correct information to more than 3,000.000 inhabitants of Cameroon from Menji, especially as the signals of the station reach neighbouring countries to Cameroon like Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, the LCR President emphasized.
He added, that with the support the station received from the Japanese embassy for the construction of a relay pylon of Lebialem Community Radio, the effect of COL Media Health Action programmes is going to extend to the populations of Upper Manyu Division in the South West region, Menoua Division in the West region and parts of the North West region of Cameroon.
Prior to the creation of Lebialem Community Radio in 2007, the division was virtually off from the rest of the country because of no access to CRTV signals or any other radio broadcast signals. Today, the population relies on LCR for news, information, education and entertainment on all issues.
Atabong George observed that the health story design workshop for Lebialem Community Radio will go a long way to empower the staff on healthy communities’ communication and related issues.
Through this in put, LCR will be able to:
 Give the microphone to the population, who normally have no access to the mass media an opportunity to express their views on community health development issues;
 Provide a development forum for healthy communities;
 Encourage self-help participatory community development;
 Promote active involvement of underprivileged groups such as the handicapped, women and young persons especially;
 Provide a forum for local cultural expression in relation to mother and child care;
 Improve on the population’s access to health information in local languages;
 Offer opportunities for individuals and groups to speak to each other, thus developing awareness of a common membership of community.
 The pilot Commonwealth of Learning initiative in Cameroon will reinforce some important Cameroon Radio Television network programmes already relayed in the official languages by the station.

The LCR President told the facilitators and participants, that the above mentioned objectives can be met with the kind of training offered by the Malawi Story Workshop team with the assistance of Cameroon Link, the negotiator organisation and Commonwealth of Learning.
On the part of the staff of Lebialem Community Radio, they promised to diligently use the training to educate and help reduce maternal and child health care problems in Lebialem and its environ, while reporting back to COL Cameroon regularly, accurately and on time about the effects of the training and the new programmes brought into the radio programmes schedule by COL.
During the closing and certificate handing over ceremony, Atabong George said, Lebialem Community Radio benefitted a lot through the Story Design Workshop and that the skills acquired will go a long way to solve the acute problems of broadcast materials and staffing. The volunteer staff , he added are capable of identifying vital community issues as well as designing and putting up quality programmes that will ameliorate the welfare of the communities.
Especially as “Mother and Child Health Care” was the core of the workshop, together they voted unanimously for a title of the programme to heard heard henceforth over Lebialem Community Radio : “Asongah Leghung Emeh boh Mwuah”.
At this initial stage of cooperation, he assured the trainers, the negotiator organisation and the Commonwealth of Learning of their total commitment to respect the terms of the agreement. Asongah leghung Emeh boh Muah will bring more life to the station and communities, he promised, because they have just gone through a very intensive and educative workshop. They have learned new skills. They have got new friends and learned how to take care of the health of the mothers, infants and children. The title of the programme, Atabong reiterated, calls for a greater sense of responsibility and awareness. He invited the staff of LCR to remain united and devoted to duty to win the confidence and trust of the donors and make Lebialem proud. For more, please click on the following link - http://camlinknews.blogspot.com/2010/11/asongah-leghung-emeh-boh-mwuah.html

Asongah Leghung Emeh Boh Mwuah

“Asongah Leghung Emeh Boh Mwuah” Takes Off On Lebialem Community Radio
By Cameroon Link,
Email: camlink99@gmail.com

“Asongah Leghung Emeh Boh Mwuah” has taken off on Lebialem Community Radio in Menji following a week-long story design workshop organized by the COL Cameroon Link Health Development NGO Partnership and a Malawi Radio Story Design team. The 12-month long project was officially launched by the Deputy Senior Divisional Officer, Moni Innocent Nanje, in the presence of some 26 well selected participants from various sectors of the Lebialem community. The Malawian trainers were Charles Simbi and Gladson Makowa, both from the Story Design Workshop Organisation based in Lilongwe. Before leaving Cameroon, four programmes were realized on different issues related to the theme of the Commonwealth of Learning programme, “Mother and Child Health Care”.
Addressing the participants during the official opening of the workshop, Deputy SDO for Lebialem, Moni Innocent Nanje, said , It is a great honour to the Lebialem people that the administrative jurisdiction was chosen for housing the project that started with a story design workshop and that the launching of the first initiative of the Community of Learning in Cameroon started in enclave Lebialem with no motorable roads. He expressed the thanks and gratitude of the administration and the people of Lebialem to Cameroon Link Health Development NGO for negotiating the programme and the Commonwealth of Learning Agency coordinated from Vancouver, Canada for accepting to take the initiative to the very enclave area of the south west region of Cameroon.
Innocent Nanje observed, that Canada and Cameroon have a lot of similarities and belong to the Commonwealth of Nations family and that the focus on health, and specifically on “Maternal and Child Health Care” is very much in line with the policy of community health promotion by the Cameroon government.
The SDO thanked the Commonwealth of Learning for supporting Cameroon through Cameroon Link and for bringing the experts of Malawi Radio Story Design Workshop to Cameroon and particularly to Lebialem to facilitate the Radio Programmes Story Design Training for enriching the programmes schedule of Lebialem Community Radio in Menji.
He promised that the story design workshops that have been efficient in the transformation of communities in Malawi will bear better fruits in Cameroon and hoped that similar successes were going to be attained starting from Lebialemin the south west region.
The SDO announce that the people of Lebialem are handling the initiative like an egg and will take it as another challenge for behaviour change communication activities related to mother and child health care matters. Innocent Nanje reminded the participants that the Community of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organization created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education.
Collaboration among different groups is one of the key principles of the Community of Open and Distance Learning (CODL) approach that Cameroon Link and the Story Design Workshop facilitators from Malawi are promoting in Lebialem. The COL’s objectives and how participants work with ODL in the context of community health and local development organizations would be achieved only if all target groups without exception collaborate during the execution phase of the new initiative.
He concluded by saying that the COL model is designed to be flexible and adaptable, centered on a few key principles:
Non-formal education approaches to media, for example, the identification of learning objectives and a learning process,
Collaborative process involving media-Information Communication Technology (ICT), health-development authorities and experts, and community networks,
Participatory design and operation of learning programmes,
Story-based approach to learning content (alongside information from experts)
Blended and multichannel approach to learning that combines media content with face-to-face interactions and other types of learner support using print, mobile phones, etc.
With this, he urged the participants of the Commonwealth of Learning story design workshop to give the trainers and facilitators the necessary collaboration for knowledge to be transferred to them, and that this knowledge should be used in transforming the populations to take up their responsibilities for mother and child health care in Lebialem division of Cameroon.
“Asongah Leghung Emeh Boh Mwuah” was chosen as the title of the mother and child health care programme already in the air at the Lebialem Community Radio, the main beneficiary of the new initiative led by James Achanyi-Fontem of the COL Cameroon Link.Partnership Liaison person.

COL Goes To Lebialem, Cameroon

Commonwealth of Learning (COL) Goes To Lebialem, Cameroon
By James Achanyi-Fontem,
Cameroon Link
Email: camlink99@gmail.com
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) has signed a Contribution Agreement to support Cameroon Link, facilitate the development, design and operationalisation of a Community Learning Programme about Maternal and Child Health in the Lebialem area. The results and evaluation of Lebialem Community Learning model will be shared widely in Cameroon. COL is an intergovernmental organization created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education. The brain behind this initiative in Canada is Ian Pringle, Media Education Specialist. The support agreement was endorsed by COL Vice President, Professor Asha S. Kanwar, on the 30th August 2010.
According to the statement of activities of Cameroon Link, COL's Healthy Communities initiative will demonstrate and document the use of media and other information and communication technologies for open and distance learning, in particular the use of community-based media by development groups for non-formal educational programming about livelihoods, health and other areas of community development; working closely with COL and designated partners and consultants in all aspects of the project.
Cameroon Link will guide a range of local public, private and civil society stakeholders in the development of a new participatory learning programme about community health, one that reflects the key elements of COL's community learning model, namely a combination of educational radio content with face-to-face interactions and learner support, with a clear linkage to community mobilisation and action.
Cameroon Link is laying the groundwork for the community learning programme by identifying output and outcome indicators, collecting baseline data, establishing a consortium of partner groups working in media and maternal and child health, and identifying at least 1,000 direct learners reached through complementary face-to-face means and 20,000 active listeners in Lebialem.
Cameroon Link is working closely with COL-designated trainer-facilitators and local partners to organize a five-day programme design workshop.
Two (2) Cameroonian facilitators are working with COL-designated external trainers to capacitate fifteen (15) participants, with an equitable number of men and women, including local community stakeholders, local health authorities and experts, radio producers, as well as representatives of educational and other partners’ agencies. Certificates of participation will be issued at the end of the training.
Cameroon Link will ensure the execution of the community learning programme, including at least 30-60 minutes of original weekly radio content, associated to face-to-face learning support for twelve months starting November 2010.
Two other learning technologies, like using video shows for community support groups, mobile telephones to increase learner interactivity and to provide additional information to learners, computers to assess learning achievements, etc will be integrated for execution of the programme.
The actors will develop a case study of the Lebialem programme, including:
An outline of the COL-Cameroon Link community learning programme model, reflecting both the global approach and its specific application in Lebialem;
The process to be followed in Lebialem will include;
Twenty-five plus (25+) high-resolution, high-quality photographs reflecting the programme's participatory and educational nature;
The outputs, outcomes and lessons learnt, including a comparative analysis of the baseline and end-of-project data from phase one of the programme;
General considerations for policymakers in a) health education, especially maternal and child health, and b) community media; and
A roadmap for scaling-up the Community Learning programme model in Cameroon.
Cameroon Link will share the case study and roadmap, widely through electronic media, and in specific fora, like community media or health conferences, and with specific groups concerned with maternal and child health and so on, with a view to additional local and national programme development.
Before the end of the project, Cameroon Link will organise a I-day national seminar, ideally piggybacking on an appropriate event and with other national or international partners, focused on the community learning programme model and the results from Lebialem.
COL will be acknowledged in appropriate correspondence with media and other partners or the local authorities in any promotional materials or documentation as a partner in the development of the programme and as having contributed funds.
Groups and individuals trained or otherwise engaged in the programme development process, will be disaggregated by age, gender, location and livelihood, as well as Learners enrolled or directly engaged by the process.
Gender considerations will include:
Involvement of and access by women and men, boys and girls; and
Gender orientation of content produced;
Partnerships established and maintained;
Feedback from policy and programme decision makers;
Prospective sustainability; and amount, quality, subject and origin of content created, with observations concerning local relevance, degree of community and learner participation, collaboration among groups and specific gender considerations; and
Impact on health and development indicators as identified at the outset of the project.
COL contact, Ian Pringle, who is international programme coordinator and Media Education Specialist, is contributing resources towards the statement of activities; providing inputs and feedback throughout the project with the services of consultants to lead in the programme design and training workshop.
Gender equality is integral to all of COL' s work and requires that both women's and men's views, interests and needs shape its work in learning for development. Cameroon Link agrees that gender considerations shall inform the activities to be undertaken under this agreement, in particular:
Consultation with both women and men and the inclusion of gender considerations, for example, the role of gender in maternal and child health, in planning activities;
Equitable participation of women and men in programme development and training activities;
The inclusion in all workshops of at least one session focused on gender issues, like looking at the role of women and men in how programmes are developed and the gender implications for learning and action processes; and
The inclusion in all learning programmes of specific gender considerations, the role of men in maternal and child health, the roles of both women and men in preventing and treating malaria, diabetes, sickle cell, etc.

Project Strategy
The approach to programme development and content creation includes:
Non-formal education approach to media, like identifying learing ojectives and learning process
Collaborative process involving media – ICT, health development authorities and experts and community networks,
Participatory design and operation of learning programmes,
Story-based approach to learning content alongside information from experts,
Blended and multi-channel approach to learning that combines media content with face-to face interaction and other types of learner support using print, mobile, etc.

Issues to do with Maternal Health include:
HIV/AIDS
Sickle Cell
Nutrition
Smoking
Drinking
Family Planning
Malaria
Prenatal Care
Gender relations
Illiteracy
Poverty
Infrastructure
Information
Safe Delivery
Working conditions
Abortion

Positive Behaviour Focused On Nutrition
1.Eating balanced meal
2.Having enough good food
3.Washing hands
4.Extra food for pregnant women
5.Clean drinking water
6.Nurses giving information on health foods

Negative Behaviour & Consequences
1.Domestic violence (Suicide, miscarriage)
2.Men not involved/excluded (Withdrawal)
3.Forced sex (Trauma, unwanted pregnancy, STIs)
4.Women denied access to money, mobility
5.Women lack decision making power ( Women feeling inferior, do not take responsibility, dependence; community is missing half the inputs and loss out)
6.Men refuse to wear condoms
7.Lack of capacity development
8.Women being submissive
9.Preference for boys (Girls discriminated against)
10.Early pregnancy (maternal death, emotional consequences: young girls not ready to parents)

Workshop Schedule
1.Opening by the Senior Divisional Officer for Lebialem
2.Introduction, background and objectives
3.The basic principles of learning programmes (Group activity)
4.About the Commonwealth of Learning Community Learning with media Programme
5.Identifying the priority health issues (Group work)
6.Designing the programmes (in groups)
a)Identify the targets and problem solvers
b)Developing the message and programme matrices for each health issue
c)Deciding on learning media formats and sources
d)Deciding on the programme teams
e)Designing learner support mechanisms and clarifying role of partners
f)Identifying the interviewees and resources people
g)Making operational plans, including budgets and sustainability
h)Training needs assessment and planning
i)Monitoring and evaluation
7.Identifying some Open and Distance Learning (ODL) courses for healthcare workers that will support the learning programmes.
The COL road map will be executed with the technical support of Lebialem Community Radio, (LCR), Lebialem Association for Twinning of Schools (LATS), Fine Forest Foundation (FFF) Cameroon,and Cameroon Link.

UNESCO supported AMARC workshop for African community radios

UNESCO, Windhoek,28-07-2010
“Community Radios in African Human Development: Strengthening Networks, Empowering Women and Improving Content” was the title of the workshop that took place last week in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event was organized by the AMARC Africa Bureau and funded by UNESCO’s Windhoek Office.
The workshop examined the situation of the various national community radio networks, and discussed current and future activities focusing on HIV and AIDS, water and sanitation, women empowerment. It tried to identify the methodologies, technologies and best practices for the coverage of issues related to human development in Africa.
The event gathered 25 delegates, representing community radios and national networks, from 13 countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Participants identified tutoring and knowledge-sharing mechanisms able to reinforce the existing networks, improve the community radio’s contents and facilitate their contribution to human development in Africa. They also determined the priorities in the implementation of the AMARC Africa Strategic Action Plan for 2010-2014.
This training workshop was sponsored by the UNESCO International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), which is the only multilateral forum in the UN system designed to mobilize the international community to discuss and promote media development in developing countries. The Programme not only provides support for media projects but also seeks to secure a healthy media environment for the growth of free and pluralistic media.

AZIDERIVA ENDORSED BY BUEA FINANCE HOUSES

By James Achanyi-Fontem
Email:camlink99@gmail.com
The Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Azideriva, Dr. William Ajua Tasong, facilitated a two-day workshop on “Finance Software Solutions” at the Security Finance Corporation, SEFFACORP, from the 20th to 21 July 2010. The training was officially opened and closed by the Deputy General Manager of the corporation, Ms. Roseline Menyoli, who endorsed the confidentiality agreement with Azideriva on behalf of her company.
The coaching exercise was a follow up of the endorsement by the corporation to install Azideriva at the SEFFACORP Branch in Molyko-Buea as start point for integration of the Information Technology tool for facilitating its business management transactions.
Twelve key banking decision processing managers of SEFFACORP from the headquarters in Buea and branches located in Tiko, Muyuka, Molyko, and Limbe attended the training and were drilled on the impact of Azideriva software usage for optimum results.
Dr. Ajua Tasong took the opportunity to explain the particularities of Azideriva during interactive exchange sessions focused on reducing errors and minimizing bank management risks. Azideriva also assists in reducing operational time and costs.
The CEO guided participants on how to operate Azideriva for performing real-time risk monitoring, to increase confidence and customer experience. The new software introduced in Cameroon by the UK based IT company is very efficient in managing staff, customers’ files, loans, savings and current accounts.
Ahead of the training, SEFFACORP had presented its expectations and expressed the wish to see Azideriva cover activities related to cashier menu, counter clerk menu, operations menu, branch manager menu and networking with headquarter accountant menu.
The trained staff will continue to familiarize themselves with Azideriva Finance software solution for a period of three months before consolidating the bank’s data with azideriva information technology in puts.
Dr. Ajua Tasong returned to England on Saturday, July 24 after the one week working visit, where he also made contacts with other banking sector managers to discuss how Azideriva could be of use to them. An overall evaluation at the end of his mission showed that Azideriva makes a big difference compared to soft wares currently used by some banks and finance institutions in Cameroon.
In the closing remarks by SEFFACORP Deputy GM, Roseline Menyoli, she observed that it is necessary to develop business with new technological changes of the time to meet national and international standards. She invited Azideriva to remain close to SEFFACORP staff and assist them in consolidating their bank data with the use of the software. Nkong Credit for Development Savings and Loans Cooperative Society (NC4D) and others are also working with Azideriva software. For more information, go to the web site at- www.azideriva.org

Lebialem Population Cries for Tarred Roads….

By James Achanyi-Fontem
Email: camlink99@gmail.com
During the visit of Governor Koumpa Issa of the south west region to Lebiallem on April 27, the population through their leaders appealed for good motorable roads in the region of 1000 hills and valleys as the only guarantee for rapid development. It was the second time; the governor was visiting the division.
Governor Koumpa Issa was accompanied by some 30 strong-man delegation, most of who are heads of regional delegations and services based in Buea. On his way to Menji, the governor made a stop over in Dschang and was received by the Senior Divisional Officer for Menoua, West Region, Galim Ngong, who had served in Ndian as Prefect. Dschang is the entry route into Lebialem, because of the bad road linking Menji to Bakebe, in Manyu Division, south west region.
It was in Alou, in the north of Lebialem that the SDO for Lebialem , Amougou François and his close collaborators received the governor with several traditional dance groups as school children said welcome to the august official visitor.
Another stop was at the residence of Prof. Leke Tambo at Lewoh before the governor was driven to Ema Azi where HRM Fon of Fontem hosted another reception. At the Fon Fontem’s palace, Governor Koumpa Issa was told that since 1982, very little had been done on road infrastructure by the government and this has slowed down development goals in the sub division. With this, HRM Fon of Fontem appealed that the governor should transmit the population’s request to the right quarters, so good roads can also be constructed in Lebialem division.
The governor responded by informing the audience that his transfer to the South West is to develop the region, and not to listen to gossips, blackmail and back stabbing. He observed that those visiting him should come with development suggestions and how to collaborate for proposal to be achieved.
While at Menji, the governor visited Mary Health of Africa Hospital and he was shown the different wards by the Matron Winifred Nwafor, accompanied by some staff of the health facility specialized in the cure of sleeping sickness caused by tse tse flies.
At the Municipal Public celebrations ground on the following day, it was an occasion to listen to the address of the Manyor of Menji, Retired Colonel Chief Daniel Fobellah , full of a catalogue of development requests and problems. Mayor Fobellah said the solution to Lebialem bad roads will begin with the tarring of Bakebe- Menji – Dschang axe. Another important axe is the unity road linking Essoh Attah with Menji and Wabane. Cameroon Radio television channel signals are not received in Lebialem and the population listens to radio signals from Nigeria border cities and Nigeria television signals. Only the local Lebialem Community Radio Station in Menji is making an effort to inform, educate and entertain the population, but the programme content is not enough.
Land occupation remains a problem in Lebialem due to the illegal penetration of individuals into government public land without permission. Some land and survey officers sell government land with the knowledge of the Mayors and the Senior Divisional Officer .
Talking about classification of Chiefs, Mayor Fobella said since 1977, many changes have taken place in Lebialem, which was formerly known as Nweh Mundani. The restructuring and renaming of this territory by the government resulted to carving out Fondoms and chiefdoms under the three sub divisions of Lebialem. Though the current vast territory with thick populations and several traditional rulers, only seven out of the 18 traditional heads and chiefs have been classified since 15th July 1977 under Decree No. 77/245.
Responding to the address of the Mayor of Menji, Governor Koumpa Issa, observed that Lebialem Division is the gateway into the south west region, though this has not been given the merited consideration and that is why he opted to place the division second on the agenda of the regional tour following his installation as head of the jurisdiction.
After according several audiences in Buea, the governor realized that there is a lot of work to be done and that is why he decided to undertake the meet the people tour. The divisional officers for Wabane and Fontem have been housed by the administration and the DO for Alou will have his residence constructed within the 2011 national budget.
The government has projected the construction of more classrooms for schools and colleges, the extension of water and electricity supply, and the improvement of social infrastructure in the three sub divisions. The South West Development Authority, SOWEDA, is currently working on the Ashong-Bateng-Wabane road. Apart from road maintenance, Lebialem has benefit from a national budget allocation of CFA 2000 Million, Governor Koumpa Issa announced. The government budgeted for the maintenance of the Dschang-Menji and Menji-Bakebe road axes, but the company that won the contract was incapable of meeting with the tasks and the government was invited to halt the execution of the contract in a peaceful manner. The governor promised to follow up for the two road projects to be revived with another contractor.
Before leaving Lebialem, he called on the population to remain law abiding and continue to live peacefully with respect of hierarchy, respect of tradition and the Bangwa people should refrain from unnecessary conflicts. Decisions by the local authorities to halt conflicts must be respected.
On politics, the governor informed the population that the presidential elections of 2011 are around and ELECAM was set up to replace ONEL with the appointment of persons to head the new structure, so there could be free, fair and transparent elections. He invited all to start preparation for the elections now. He concluded by saying, more exchanges will be possible during his next socio-economic tour of the south west region. Top officials from Lebialem who accompanied the Governor included Honourable Bernard Foju, the Technical Advisor to the Prime Minister, prince Jacob Lekunze and Chief Fojap Romanus only to name a few.
On his way back to Buea, Governor Koumpa Issa made a stop over at the Lenale Ndem UNESCO Museum that houses the largest number of art craft works that depict and venerate the tradition of Lebialem people. The Lenale Ndem UNESCO Club offered Governor Koumpa Issa and his entourage a tourism reception dinner.While SDO for Lebialem, Amougou François, was compensated with the 50th Anniversary of independence of Cameroon medal by the Governor at Menji, the Coordinator of Lenale Ndem UNESCO Museum Club in Melong was also decorated by SDO Justin Mvondo of Moungo.The importance of the visit to Lenale Ndem lies on the fact the South West Governor Koumpa Issa went there twice in less than two weeks.

Cameroon On The Mirror

By James Achanyi-Fontem,
Cameroon Link
System of Government
Multi-party presidential regime, universal suffrage: 180 parliamentary seats (five-year term). Executive power rests with the president.
Head of State President Paul Biya – Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement
Head of Government Prime Minister Philemon Yang– Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement
Main Political Parties The Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (formerly known as the Cameroon National Union) has dominated Cameroonian politics since the country’s independence in 1960 and currently holds 153 parliamentary seats out of a total of 180. The Social Democratic Front is the main opposition party and was founded in 1990. With only 16 seats, the party yields only little power in parliament, yet represents an important voice for the opposition. Other parties represented in parliament: National Union for Democracy and Progress (6 seats), Cameroon Democratic Union (4), Progressive Movement (1)
Ongoing Issues Aside from the official transfer of the Bakassi Peninsula from Nigeria to Cameroon in August 2006, the two countries have recently demarcated the maritime border in the Gulf of Guinea in March 2008. Corruption, food prices and the president’s eligibility for a third term in office remain contentious issues.

Cameroon experiences relative peace and stability

Cameroon is the largest economy in the six-country Central African Economic and Monetary Union (CEMAC) created in 1991 to improve economic and political cooperation in the region. The other countries include Republic of Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic, Chad and Equatorial Guinea.
The country accounts for over 50% of the of the GDP in Central Africa. In comparison to other countries in the region, Cameroon has experienced relative peace and stability.
Cameroon was one-party socialist state until 1992. The constitution allows the president a seven year term. The current President, Paul Biya, has been in power for 28 years.
The 180 members of the National Assembly are elected every five-years by popular mandate. The legal system is complex. It is made up of local customary law, the French Civil Code and the British Law. There are current efforts to unify the laws in the country.
Both the legislature and the judiciary are subordinated to the executive therefore there is no real separation of power. This is reflected in the long tenure and undefined exit of the current President.
Central African Economic Community (CEMAC) is made up of Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Gabon Equatorial Guinea, Congo, Sao Tome and Principe.

Cameroon Political SWOT Analysis

Cameroon has experienced a long period of political stability, though Cameron has not experienced wide spread disparity in its religious, ethnic, linguistic and social diversity Both the legislature and judiciary are subordinate to the executive. Governmental separation of powers is not apparent.
Political power is held by a relatively small ethnic and linguistic group. This increases the risk of a violent transition to power. Despite attempts to curb corruption in the country it remains rampant and increasing. The absence of clear timetable for the exit of President Paul Biya poses a threat to long-term political stability. Cameroon has complied with the financing programme of the IMF. This should encourage transparency. Cameroon has established an election authority, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) that has the potential to encourage free and fair elections.
OPPORTUNITIES
Economic Outlook
The Cameroonian economy is expected to fully recover from the effects of the global
financial crisis by 2011. In 2008 the population of the country was estimated to be 17
million and is forecasted to at a CAGR (2005-2009) of 1.2%. Cameroon accounts for over 50% of the population in the CEMAC region.
Cameroon is a member of the African Financial Community (CFA). Members share a common currency- the CFA Franc, which is closely linked to the Euro at a fixed exchange rate.
The main economic activities are agriculture, solid minerals, oil and gas and tourism. Falling commodity prices as a result of the global financial crisis threaten economic growth which averaged 3.7% per year in 2000 to 2006 and 3.6% in 2007. A further reduction is expected in 2008 and beyond as the government falls short of its 10% target.
In 2008, the GDP of Cameroon stood at CFAF 10,000 billion (US$ 23.3billion). The GDP growth rate is expected to fall drastically from previous years’ average of 6% to 2.4% in 2009 and 2.6% in 2010. On the brighter note, the economy is expected to recover quickly by 2011.
However, despite an average economic performance, 40% of Cameroonians live below the poverty line and unemployment rates are extremely high at 30%. The country is also characterised by weak purchasing power, absence of an effective social healthcare system and inadequate legislation.
The anticipated post-recession growth in commodity prices is expected to boost the Cameroonian economy
Commodity exports accounted for 22% of the GDP of Cameroon in 2008. This dipped to 16% in 2009 as the effects of the global economic crisis deepened. The recovery of the global economy is expected to be led by growth in commodity prices.
Cameroon is not as dependent on oil to the extent like major oil producers such as Nigeria and Angola. However, the commodity is still the country’s primary foreign exchange earner and a primary source of revenue. Oil prices are forecasted to reach $83 per barrel in 2010 from recession prices of $30 per barrel.
The government promoting higher output in the agriculture sector especially cocoa and coffee sectors. Although cocoa prices are expected to remain at their lofty levels, the sector’s contribution to GDP is expected to grow from 2% to 3.6% between 2008 and 2013.
Another driver of growth of the Cameroonian economy is the resource extraction industry. In a bid to diversify the economy, the government has been trying to attract billions of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the extractive industries.
Recent developments have proved that the government’s efforts have proved successful. FDI has been received from China, India, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea.
The demand for imported goods increased steadily from 2006 to 2008. In 2009, the demand for imported goods dropped from CFAF 1.8 Trillion (US$4.2 billion) to CFAF 1.6 Trillion (US$3.8 billion). Reduced consumer spending, increased inflation and global economic crisis are responsible for the drop in demand.
Demand for imported good is expected to grow in pick up in 2010 and reach CFAF 2.3 trillion (US$5.3 billion) by 2013. Other economic indicators such as inflation are expected to remain stable in 2010. In 2008 headline inflation was at a record high of 6.2% (y-o-y). The adverse effects of price increases were felt in the agriculture and pharmaceutical sectors.
For instance the discontent over high food prices led to massive riots. In 2009, a number of government taxes on food were cut by 25%. This, inter alia, reduced headline inflation to 4.3% in 2009. In 2010 we expect inflation to be at an average of 3%. Cameroon’s short term and long term economic risk profile are better than African, emerging markets and global average
The euro-pegged CFAF keeps inflation rates and therefore interest rates low by Sub-Saharan African standards. Nominal interest rates were reduced from 15% in 2006 to 8% in 2009. Prudent budgeting and high oil prices have enabled to the country acquire huge surpluses in the last few years. A look at the short term economic risks of Cameroon places it ahead of the African, emerging markets and global average.
In the short-term Cameroon does better than other countries in the CEMAC region, however, in longer term, Gabon fares better. If global oil prices continue to grow as well as demand, Angola could overtake Cameroon as the most significant economy in Central Africa.
Healthcare is a priority for the government but the system lacks basic infrastructure
In Cameroon healthcare is a top government priority. 28% of government expenditure is spent on healthcare and total expenditure on healthcare a percentage of GDP is 5%.
However, the healthcare system is still underdeveloped. Private sector healthcare expenditure is largely out-of-pocket. Other payments systems contribute less than 5% to the private expenditure on health.
Furthermore the number of healthcare workers is insufficient for the needs on the country. The physician density (per 10,000 populations) is 2, while the pharmaceutical personnel density (per 10,000 population) is less than 1.
Despite efforts of the government major health indicators are poor. Life expectancy at birth is put at 51 years while infant mortality rate is high at 87 per 1000 live births. Source: WHO
CAMEROON HEALTH STATISTICS
Life expectancy at birth: 51 years
Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) : 87
Under-5 mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) : 149
Pharmaceutical personnel density (per 10,000) : < 1
Physicians density (per 10,000) : 2
Number of pharmaceutical personnel: 700
Number of physicians: 3,214
Source: BMI
Cameroon Economic SWOT Analysis
Cameroon has a strong agricultural sector. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative has enable Cameroon shed some of its external obligations. Unemployment rate is 30%. The employment opportunities cannot keep up with the population growth. Poor infrastructure continue to slow down the development of the entire economy. Failure to meet targets of its current IMF programme may dampen investor confidence. The proposed establishment of the ministry of mining will facilitate the exploration of mineral resources such as cobalt and nickel believed to be available in abundance. Although oil production has been falling, it remains large enough to bring substantial benefits to the country.
No local participation in capital is required for a foreign enterprise to start a business in Cameroon
Source: Delloitte
To start a business in Cameroon, investors are free to choose from a wide selection of business forms inherited from the French and English. Under the English system, the most commonly used are the public limited liability and private limited liability companies.
While under the French system Société Anonyme and Société à Responsabilité Limitée are the most common forms. The creation, purchase or extension of any business entity which includes the purchase of more than 30% of the share capital of a company that is not quoted is referred to as inward direct investment.
The authorization of the Department of Economic Control and External Finance of the Ministry of Finance and Budget is required for funds received from foreign shareholders or from a foreign enterprise within the same group. Local participation in capital is not required except in insurance companies and banks. The investment code provides general guarantees such as non-discrimination between enterprises owned by nationals and foreigners.
Resident entities are assessed for tax on income generated within Cameroon or from transactions carried out outside Cameroon. Company tax is levied at 35% in addition to a local surcharge of 10%. This brings the effective tax rate to 38.5%. Expatriates may apply for authorization to repatriate part of their earnings on a regular basis. Employees may repatriate 20% of their net salary if they are single or with family that reside in Cameroon. However, if their family resides out the CFA zone, they can repatriate 50%.
It takes about a month to start a business in Cameroon, compared to the rest of Africa where it takes an average of two months
Source: World Bank, BMI, Euromonitor
Cameroon ranks 171 out of 183 countries surveyed on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Rankings. The country performance is better than African Regional Average on most sub-components.
It takes about 37 days to register a company which is better than the regional average of 62 days. Also the time taken to register a property is put at 93days for Cameroon and 105 days for Africa.
On the downside the cost of registering the property is prohibitive at 18% of the property value. The process of filing and paying taxes is also tedious as companies spend 1,300 hours compared to the regional average of 336 hours.
Cameroon has one of the most well educated populations in the CEMAC region and Africa in general with an adult literacy rate of 75%. However, poor transport and energy infrastructure, weak judicial system and a relatively inflexible labour force pose major constraints to the business environment Ease of Doing Business Rating
Cameroon Business SWOT Analysis
Cameroon has a well educated workforce. Literacy rate is 70%. According to the World Bank, the time it takes to start a business and register a property are much lower than the African average. Red tape is a considerably large problem. There are high levels of corruption in public life.
Despite being relatively stable in recent years, macroeconomic conditions are prone to volatility as a result of fluctuating commodity prices. Political risk is a factor to be borne in mind, as the eventual struggle over the succession to President Paul Biya could have a negative effect on the operating environment
IMF-supported economic policies in place since 1997 are pushing the economy towards greater reliance on market mechanisms, deregulation and privatisation. Low salaries and high unemployment mean new investment projects can draw on a plentiful supply of competitively-priced labour.

Corruption in the forestry sector and illegal logging

The problem, its implications and approaches to combat it
By James Achanyi-Fontem,
Director of Publication
Cameroon Link
Illegal logging is a worldwide phenomenon. Through illegal logging much higher rents are extracted from forests than through legal operations. Corruption is almost always deeply intertwined with illegal logging. The problem of corrupt officials in forest administrations is aggravated by the fact that the majority of forests worldwide are public and thus at the mercy of those officials.
Illegal logging adversely affects society: It has devastating economic, ecologic and social consequences. In order to counter forest corruption as well as illegal logging, an improved law enforcement is a precondition. Concomitant measures are, for instance, the improvement of the institutional framework of a state, and increased civil society participation in policy shaping, management, implementation and monitoring processes. Economic measures such as cutting red tape, increasing competition or reducing scarcity rents for wood are also important aspects of the fight against corruption.

Overview: The problem of corruption in the forestry sector

According to a widely used definition, corruption is the misuse of entrusted powers for private gain.
When an official decision maker bases his/her decisions on how much he/she privately has to gain from them we have a cause of corruption whenever the ensuing decision is distorted by private rent-seeking.
Biased decisions mean suboptimal policy outcomes due to biased resource allocations. These resources concern primarily public policies and often natural resources. First of all, natural resources often have common good characteristics with the well-know “first-come, first-served” dilemma known as the “tragedy of the commons”: If an individual excessively exploits a given natural resource, the cost arising therefrom is shared by the whole community proportionally, while the gain is for the individual only.
It is therefore rational to seek unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, since it generates extra
value individually, while the externalities3 are borne by society as a whole. Second, natural resources enable rents provided by nature, like manna from heaven. Control over these resources is thus likely to become subject of rent seeking behaviours and distributive conflicts between interest groups within societies. The ways to seek control over these resources may, of course, be of legal or illegal nature.
Illegal logging is such an intention to extract undue rents from natural resources, in the case here dealt
with: the forests. Illegal logging, according to a definition by the European Commission, is understood
as timber harvesting operations that take place in violation of national laws – though sometimes, particularly when timber trafficking is involved, it is as well a matter of violation of international laws.
Corruption follows the same logic of rational behaviour and seconds illegal logging in many cases. A high level of corruption and little oversight and law enforcement create many irregular income opportunities which would not exist in a more formal and regulated economy. This affects particularly
common goods such as forests. Forests are only able to provide their ecosystem services, which benefit the public, when they are standing and kept by and large intact. However, they only provide maximum individual benefit if they are felled.
Corruption varies from region to region and between different industries, and it is not always easy to foresee its emergence and extent. There are, however, some factors which particularly contribute to the prevalence of corruption: the size of contracts in terms of sums at stake, the frequency and degree of standardization of these contracts, traded products or provided services, the structure of the (national and/or international) trade system in terms of accessibility of markets, red tape, regulations etc., monitoring, enforcement and sanctioning mechanisms, institutional capacities and capabilities.
The structural incentives for corruption are especially high in cases of monopoly powers, be they public or private (e.g. through licenses or concessions), and where transparency, accountability and intrainstitutional competition are low (comp. Osborne, 2002; Lederman et al., 2001). This applies particularly to the management of natural resources. On the other hand, the more transparency and political competition there is, the smaller is the chance for corruption to occur. Here the peculiarities of forests come into play. According to FAO (2007), forests worldwide are still mostly owned by the state:
“Public forest ownership remains by far the predominant category in all regions. At the global level, 84 percent of forest lands and 90 percent of other wooded lands are publicly owned. The percentage owned by local communities and groups and indigenous peoples is insignificant. Most public forests (63 percent) are managed directly and solely by central or local governments.”
Public forest ownership in itself is not detrimental to effective forest management. Yet, given an environment of low transparency, high secrecy, little oversight of government officials and rampant (or at least pervasive) corruption, the occurrence of illegal logging is very likely. Corruption thrives on poor law enforcement and at the same time creates conditions of more lawlessness. Illegal logging thrives on the same conditions.
Logging is especially corruption prone since it usually takes place in remote areas, out of reach and sight from public oversight, press coverage and public scrutiny. A further aspect which makes corruption in the forestry sector feasible is the fact that most forests in Cameroon are not fully inventoried, which makes it harder to monitor the scale of illegal logging.
The more corrupt a country is, the higher the danger of pervasive illegal logging. However, this approach comes with several caveats: First, numbers on illegal logging as well as on corruption are very hard to come by, since both are secretive activities which are usually well covered up and rarely talked about by people involved. It is therefore implicitly impossible to draw conclusions which would hold statistically. Numbers on corruption are thus based on perceptions of corruptions and as such reflect tendencies rather than hard facts.
A second point is that illegal logging depends on much more factors than just corruption (intervening
factors): How much forested area is there and how accessible is it for illegal loggers? Is the wood stock worth the bother (in other words: what is the value of the wood)? Does the climate allow for (illegal) logging? Are there any possibilities to get the timber to the market (among others, physical infrastructure)? Taking this into account, a high level of corruption is still very conducive since it means that there is usually a weak institutional framework with little oversight and law enforcement capacity.
A compilation shows that all parties involved in some way in logging operations can be corrupted. On top of that different forms of corruption can be distinguished with relevance for the forestry sector:
petty corruption, grand corruption, non-collusive corruption (extortion) and collusive corruption as well as administrative and political corruption.
Grand corruption involves large sums of money and usually high ranking officials with considerable powers. Petty corruption, in contrast, involves small amounts and lower ranking officials without much leverage.
Non-collusive corruption imposes extra costs on businesses, since it means that officials demand a bribe for a legal service which should have been granted anyway. The outcome for the business affected of that practice is that it can operate legally, having obtained a license or something alike.
Collusive corruption is much harder to detect and to root out and by the same token much more harmful to the state and to good governance of natural resources since in that case corrupt government officials and bribers team up in order to collusively rob the state. It means that officials permit illegal actions without reporting it. In return for their blind eyes or else active help they either get bribed or get a share of the proceeds obtained. Illegal logging often is an example of collusive corruption. When those forms of corruption take place at the administrative level this is called administrative corruption.
On the other hand, political corruption does usually not happen at the operative level but one step before it. Here decision-making is distorted by corruption – usually in the form that firms buy off the state by bribing politicians for certain decisions in their favour (also called state capture). This form of corruption harms the administration of natural resources by legalising illegitimate actions, like e.g. certain forms of logging.

Consequences of corruption in the forestry sector
Corruption distorts and perverts public policies, leading to the misallocation of public funds. This entails a deterioration of public policies: Incompetent people are placed in office that cannot live up to the demands of the job (cronyism, nepotism), management performance worsens due to officials turning blind eyes towards offenders (who bribe the overseers), or worse, officialdom is directly involved in illegal acts (collusive corruption).
Pervasive corruption is a sign of weak institutions as much as it further weakens the institutions. In the case of forest governance this means that the state’s tasks of monitoring the state of its forests, enforcing forest law, detecting and prosecuting offenders and regulating the sustainable use of forest resources (or at least any profitable use generating income for the state) cannot fully be accomplished. This has environmental, economic and social consequences.

Environmental consequences
Corruption leads to uncontrolled illegal logging as well as to land grabs and related forest degradation.
This adversely affects forests and thus biodiversity. It leads to the depletion of forest ecosystems, which is especially grave given that forests (especially tropical ones) harbour two thirds of all terrestrial eco-regions and a large part of the world’s species. Illegal logging affects not only the area logged; a much larger area around the logging area itself is affected. Forests thus affected can no longer entirely fulfil their environmental functions. This affects the people who directly depend on them for their survival, but it has wider consequences:
•Forests deliver various environmental services:
•They stabilise soil through their roots, deposited biomass and plant cover;
•They provide physical shelter in the case of avalanches;
•They filtrate and clean water;
•They regulate the humidity ratio and water concentration of the soil;
•They generate direct incomes and means of living for more than 17 million cameroonians, most of them poor;
•They are a living space for humans, and they can serve as a recreational area.
•Furthermore, forests provide the most important lever nationwide to contain the increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, given their enormous CO2 storage capacity.
The results of forests losing their capacities to exert their environmental functions due to illegal logging induced by corruption could be seen after torrential rains which cause mudslides: “According to government officials and environmental groups,
Problems ranging from government corruption and ineffective laws to a lack of money and the political will to enforce the laws contributed to the collapse of many villages and allowed it to become a large-scale human tragedy. ‘This is a failure of the implementation of laws and a failure of policy,
Endemic corruption, lack of resources and weak law enforcement have allowed illegal logging to flourish and environmental predators to go unpunished, critics revealed. And politically, whoever sits in the presidential palace must reckon with the nation’s political dynasties, several of which earned their wealth and power through logging,

Economic consequences

Corruption distorts (and usually increases) market prices. Based on an economic simulation The world prices for wood are depressed by illegal timber by 7 to 16 percent. Since most illegally harvested timber does not enter the international market, price (and market) distortions are mainly a problem for the local economy of Cameroon. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are usually hardest hit by the price distortions and loose out against more competitive bigger rivals. When illegal timber is smuggled through international borders it affects the economies of various countries, driving up operation costs for legal producers not only in the country of origin but as well in third countries.
Moreover, in a corrupt setting investment risks and legal operation cost are driven up. This can start a vicious circle driving more and more companies into informality and secretive (i.e. corrupt) business practices. Or else, it may force them to cease operations. Where forest administrations are corroded by corruption forests usually do no longer contribute their share to GDP. This poses a problem for the state (lost revenues in taxes not paid) as well as for the forestry sector since it will be perceived as worthless, which can put at risk both further official investments and protection efforts. According to World Bank estimates the revenues lost in terms of uncollected taxes and royalties due to illegal operations in the sector is enormous and in several millions of US dollars.

Social consequences

Corruption thrives on but also accelerates the deterioration of respect for the law. The more pervasive corruption is, the more rapidly society becomes corroded by distrust in the state and its representatives (police, judges, officials, politicians). This, in turn, creates difficulties in governing the society. Extensive forest areas are often known as lawless areas where the state is absent. Illegal logging causes social disruption due to the destruction of the living space of people and the ensuing deterioration of rural living conditions. Often companies operating in the forests try to buy off locals, thus creating greed and envy which have the potential to sustainably threaten social peace in the community.

Approaches to combating corruption
Since corruption affects politics as well as society and economy, measures to stem it should be implemented in all of these areas.

Politics
The most important measure to fight corruption effectively and sustainably is improving the quality of institutions and of law enforcement. Without an adequate institutional backbone and a functioning law enforcement system which persistently increase the risk of disclosure and punishment corruption and illegal logging induced by corruption cannot be reduced effectively. An improved institutional quality increases trust in the state and reduces significantly transaction cost (among them non-collusive corruption, which is often necessary in deficient institutional settings to get things under way). As well, it increases the will of investors to take riskier investment decisions, which not only has the potential to benefit the environmental sector but the economy as a whole. In the case of forest authorities one way of improving their performance is better equipment with technical hardware and with capacities which are all necessary for the personnel to exert their tasks. Forest authorities are, among other things, responsible for monitoring and oversight of the observation of concessions and laws. If those authorities are not highly mobile and do not have the technical equipment nor the manpower to show presence in the field, they will never be able to prevent illegal logging2.
However, better equipment alone is no warranty against corruption. In general, an increase in transparency and simultaneously a reduction of discretionary power are regarded necessary in the fight against corruption. This implies regulatory reforms of the (forest) authorities. The purpose must be to establish a regular and open reporting system (with information available publicly), regular scrutiny of the forest authority’s balance sheets (e.g. by the controller’s office and/or a special anti-corruption unit), and possibly additional controls by a third party of the procedures most prone to corruption, like the awarding of contracts and concessions. Yet, when implementing regulations with the aim of better oversight and control it is important that this effort does not backfire – an overdose of regulations and red tape will be costly for business and will create opportunities to cut short on institutional procedures via corruption.
As has been stated above, high levels of political competition correspond with a lesser proneness to pervasive corruption. It can thus be regarded as a useful strategy to enhance political competition, between parties but also between different state entities and between different subsidiary levels (departments, municipalities, central state etc.). Yet, without a consistent and functioning law enforcement system, increased political competition will not necessarily lead to less corruption. This is because competition in itself can be perverted and together with collusive corruption, lead to a situation of state capture, the systematic buying of policies by business. Strengthening law enforcement in order to combat corruption and related illegal logging extends to several areas:
▬ Environmental law,
▬ Land tenure regulation and certification,
▬ Forest law,
▬ Civil law,
▬ Criminal law.
Those efforts as well as anti-corruption measures and provisions should ideally be incorporated in the
National Forest Programme in Cameroon. A better forest monitoring, which could as well be delegated to independent third parties or civil society groups together with a duly strengthened system of law enforcement should improve the general environment for sustainable, legal and profitable forest activities and boost public confidence in the state.
An agreement will also promote better enforcement of forest law and promote an inclusive approach involving civil society and the private sector.” “Promoting transparency: The initiative’s goal is to make accurate and up-to-date forest sector information continuously available to decision makers. This includes:
a) Improving the information management process that generates and archives information on Cameroon’s forest and timber resources;
b) Establishing a comprehensive disclosure policy that clearly articulates what information can be publicly disclosed and what is confidential;
c) Developing effective disclosure mechanisms that allow multiple stakeholders to access accurate and up-to-date information on Cameroon’s timber and forest resources; and
d) Encouraging an improved decision-making process able to use the information.

Promoting law-enforcement
The government is implementing and supporting a comprehensive framework of measures, designed in extensive multi stakeholder consultations, to prevent, detect and suppress forest crimes and improve law enforcement in Cameroon. This framework includes the following:
a) Support for the establishment of a forest crime case tracking system that will allow multiple stakeholders to monitor and hold the government to account for its law enforcement operations and judicial processes;
b) Assistance with the implementation of Cameroon’s anti-money laundering legislation, as it relates to forest crimes;
c) Continued support for an interagency forest law enforcement strike force; and
d) Support for participation by the Cameroon government in the Central Africa Region forest protection process.
When fighting cross border forest crimes and corruption it has already proved fruitful to join forces with other states and organisations in the region. It enables countries to share information and learn from each other’s experiences. Such approaches could as well work in the area of forest crimes. Since corruption often facilitates and/or entails illegal trafficking it seems worthwhile to include anti corruption training and knowledge building in those initiatives.

Society
Since society is adversely affected by corruption, illegal logging and forest destruction, societal participation is key in combating it. Otherwise long lasting results cannot be achieved. Civil society should be adequately engaged when it comes to policy formulation (stakeholder consultation), forest monitoring, forest management and corruption prevention. Different to satellite surveillance techniques which allow tracking forest crimes, corruption affecting forests is harder to track. Since corruption is a social phenomenon, it is best tracked by special investigation units and/or civil society pressure groups. These groups sometimes have well monitored activities in the forest and uncover illegal practices. Civil society participation is no panacea, since ordinary citizens often as well are prone to corruption. Yet, it is usually a useful tool to control authorities: “To date, just and fair forest management, also with respect to forest protection, has mainly been achieved where the population have performed management tasks. The best protection against corruption is the creation of a joint management system comprised of representatives of the municipality and legitimate representatives of the local population.

Economy
Corruption is an economic phenomenon and there are various economic mechanisms against it. Generally, the better and the more open the business environment, the less advantage are to gain from corruption. Excessive red tape, overregulation and in transparent procedures all may lead to corruption. So reducing them should reduce operating cost for businesses and contribute to curbing corruption.
Apart from increasing political competition, it should be similarly favourable to increase economic competition, in the fight against corruption. More competition can (but need not) leads to less secrecy and incentives for corruption. However, since there will always be some who try to gain an illegal advantage over competitors, this measure will most likely be of limited impact only, unless accompanied by better law enforcement.
Apart from better law enforcement and cutting red tape, economic incentives as well can work to reduce illegal logging. Less return from illegal logging may make this practice less attractive and may thus reduce the need to bribe officials. This can be achieved via an increase of the price of wood (though this may also backfire and trigger increased illegal logging), or, since prices are usually not set nationally, via the reduction of scarcity rents, i.e. the premium gained when demand exceeds supply5.

Scarcity rents
Corruption is a pressing problem which creates great problems for the governance of a society and its natural resources. In forest management, it contributes to the uncontrolled depletion of forests and undermines on a large scale political efforts to sustainably manage forests. The fight against corruption is a vital part of the protection of forest ecosystems. There are several instruments for that which have all to some extent already been tested and found valuable and indispensable in the fight against corruption.

Conclusions
Other ways of boosting the value or market access of wood are certification schemes or the increase of the value of standing forests, e.g. via payment for environmental services schemes or carbon credits. In addition is the participation of civil society, not least because corruption is a social phenomenon which can only be rooted out by society as a whole. Illegal logging and related forest corruption is by no means a problem of single sectors or regions. Given the ever increasing importance of forests in the struggle against climate change, desertification and loss of biodiversity, forest corruption and destruction should be treated as a nationwide and worldwide problem. In order to stem it countries have to join forces.For more information, please click on the following links-
European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/forests/flegt.htm
http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/atlas/viewdata/viewpub.asp?id=2719