Knock Out Malaria From Cameroon

Civil Society Organisations Drilled On Good Governance
By James Achanyi-Fontem, camlink99@gmail.com
Some 45 representatives of civil society organisations and heads of health districts in the Litooral region of Cameroon have been drilled on good governance of financial management, advocacy and resource mobilisation during a three-day workshop within the frame work of Scaling Up Malaria Control for Impact (SUFI) in Cameroon. SUFI is financed by Round 9 of the Global Fund for the fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Cameroon Link is amongst the civil society organisations selected to participate in the execution phase of the distribution of long duration impregnated mosquito nets within the frame work of the Global Fund round 9 programme in the littoral region. The workshop was organised by the regional delegation for public health in collaboration with the Malaria Consortium – Cameroon Coalition Against Malaria (MC-CCAM), Plan Cameroon and IRESCO.
Key facilitators of the workshop were Daniel Sibetcheu (MC-CCAM), Sob Eric Arsene (Plan Cameroon) and Valerie Ahouama (IRESCO). Addressing the participants, the Interim Regional Delegate for Public Health, Dr. Dissongo Jean II, said the training aimed at preparing the civil society organisations in Cameroon to become fully involved in advocacy and the mobilisation of resources for Scaling Up Malaria Control fro Impact from 2011 to 2015.
Daniel Sibetcheu told the civil society leader that malaria is the cause of over 780.000 deaths in the world and 90% is from Africa. In effect, an African child dies every 45 seconds by WHO records, even though malaria can be prevented and treated through involvement of all stakeholders of a community.
It is expected that the involvement of civil society organisations will increase the use of impregnated mosquito nets by all to 80% and the most vulnerable groups like pregnant women and children below the age of 5 will be protected.
The principal strategies adopted for Scaling UP Malaria for Impact in Cameroon are:
 The organisation of a mass campaign for the distribution of long duration impregnated mosquito nets in 2011
 The organisation of routine distribution of mosquito nets to pregnant women and other sustenance strategies from 2011 to 2015
 The rationalisation of management of cases through rapid diagnostic tests before treatment at the facilities and within the communities.
It is expected that this approach will improve on partnerships with the full participation of the civil society organisations selected and the coordination of all parties involved. Participants at the workshop were informed that the project is been executed with the “dual track” policy of the Global fund. This policy calls for the involvement of the government and the civil society organisations at all levels of implementation of activities.
It is within this context that the Ministry of Public Health is the Principal Recipient 1 on the government side and Plan Cameroon is the Principal Recipient 2 as Civil Society. The two recipients are operating in collaboration with three sub recipients that include “l’Association Camerounaise pour le Marketing social (ACMS)”, Malara Consortium – Cameroon Coaltion Against Malaria (MC-CCAM) and l’Institut pour la Recherche, le développement Socio-économique et la Communication (IRESCO).
In the organisation of the strategies, 10 regional civil society organisations, CSO, 179 district civil society organisations and 15.500 community based organisations, CBO, were selected to implement action plans at the respective levels of the project.
This explains why the training was deemed important to explain the vital role to be played by the civil society organisations in Cameroon for Scaling Up Malaria Prevention for Impact. It was made clear that the Global Fund in transparency and good governance policy does not tolerate any incidents of fraud and mismanagement. It counts on the civil society organisation to play a very important role for behaviour change communication throughout the project execution process in Cameroon.
For three days, the civil society organisations’ capacities were reinforced in the areas of advocacy, good governance, financial management and resource mobilisation. The civil society organisations received two key modules prepared as guidelines for executing the work within the health district communities and for organising similar training for the community based organisation.
The Regional Coordinator for the fight against malaria in the littoral, Dr. Gertrude Bita, accompanied the training facilitators throughout their mission and an evaluation was organised at the end of each. The evaluation assisted in monitoring the level of understanding of the content of the modules delivered and gaps were closed as the theoretical and practical sessions unfolded with presentations after work in groups.

COL Healthy Communities Workshop

Highlights of CLP Content
By James Achanyi-Fontem, Cameroon Link
Gail White Presents COL Workshop Programme
From: camlink99 | Oct 6, 2011 |
This video highlights Gail White's welcome and presentation of the week's programme of the Commonwealth of Learning Healthy Communities workshop. Gail White is the Executive Director of the Media Training Centre, MTC, for Health in Cape Town, South Africa. MTC was host of the COL workshop. Cameroon Link was there and made this video for sharing

Patrick Prendeergast of CARIMAC Jamaica on CLP sustainability
From: camlink99 | Oct 2, 2011 |
Patrick Prendergast of CARIMAC Jamaica in this video shares his experience on how to sustain a programme, emphasizing on the project design, increase of funding possibility and capacity building. Patrick added that there needs to be clarity at the planning stage of any Community of Learning Programme. The tool kit unit on sustainability was discussed and experiences shared with COL partners during the healthy community workshop. Cameroon Link produced video with the inclusion of power point project to facilitate understanding for the issue and for sharing. For more on the Commonwealth of Learning sustainability, visit the web site at - http://www.col.org

Blythe Mckay on FRI Networking Strategies
From: camlink99 | Oct 1, 2011
Blythe Mckay, the Farm Radio International Manager of Programs and Partnership addressed participants at the Commonwealth of Learning healthy communties partners' workshop on networking opportunities and impact in Cape Town, South Africa.Cameroon Link was there and produced this for sharing.

Franklin Huizies of AMARC
From: camlink99 | Oct 1, 2011 |
Franklin Huizies is the Vice President of AMARC Africa. In the video shared here, Franklin makes a contribution on CLP trends and how issues should or can be approached for greater outcomes in media development.

Discover Radio Atlantis in South Africa
From: camlink99 | Oct 1, 2011 |
Radio Atlantis first went on air on 1 September 1995. The station's mission statement is to act as a medium to empower the community in its broadcasting area, through education and information and providing a voice and entertainment to such communities and promotes the rights of those who have been denied their basic human rights in the past, in particular women and children's rights.
The radio, which broadcasts on the 107.9 FM Stereo frequency to Atlantis; Langebaan; Sea Point; Cape Town; Abbotsdale; Mamre; Philadelphia; Tableview; Malmesbury; Darling; and Klipheuwel, is registered as a section 21 company and broadcasts in Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa. Radio Atlantis reaches listeners in LSM groups one to eight of all ages. The station broadcasts 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
This video was made by Cameroon Link during a study visit to the station in September 2011 by Commonwealth of Learning Healthy Communities Partners, who attended a workshop in Cape Town hosted by the Media Training Centre for Health. The Executive Director of MTC, Gail white, made the arrangement since her centre is promoting a health education programme at Radio Atlantis.
During the session videoed here, COL partners learnt about how the station's listeners' club contributes in the design of story episodes. The programmed listened here concerns the fight against drug abuse amongst youths within the community. Since the programmes impact on the listeners, they are given an opportunity to tell their own story through testimonies. Cameroon Link produced this video for sharing.

Discover Radio Altantis, Cape Town, South Africa
From: camlink99 | Sep 30, 2011 |
During the last Commonwealth of Learning Healthy Community Partners Workshop in Cape Town, the host organisation, Media Training Centre for Health, MTC, planned a field to Radio Atlantis.
Radio Atlantis is one of the community radio stations authorised to operate in South Africa. After several years of existence, it is working towards autonomy and would be housed by its own permanent building shortly. The road was long, but because its activities impacted on the livelihood of the community, it survived through production of dedicated programmes on issues facing youths in the community like drug abuse.
During the trip to Atlantis, COL HC Partners were introduced to the station authority, who highlighted the struggle for survival of the station. It was a community radio put in place to fight Apartheid, but it is today, a promotion of livelihood tool. In the video presented her by Cameroon Link, COL partners intorduce themselves and the station manager tells a short story of Radio Atlantis

Zahir Koradia of Gram Vaani
From: camlink99 | Sep 30, 2011 |
In this video, Zahir Koradia from Gram Vanni in India talks about how to integrate mobiles into community learning programmes (CLPs). He exchanged with the 23 participants of the Commonwealth of Learning Healthy Communities Partners' workshop hosted by the Media Training Centre for Health in Cape Town from the 12th to 17th September, 2011. He shares through this video produced by Cameroon Link some experiences of case studies on the use of mobile applications, their strengths and weaknesses and how to use them most appropriately. He also mapped out a tool kit module which assists users to reach many people within communities at a time

Joke van Kampen on Story Design
From: camlink99 | Sep 29, 2011
This video shows an excerpt of the presentation by Joke van Kampen of Malawi Story workshop during the COL Healthy Community seminar organised at MTC Cape Town, South Africa from the 12th - 17th September, 2011. Joke emphasized that to master the issue and programme matrix, you have to go through all the steps yourself. This video was made by Cameroon Link for sharing.

Ian Pringle Presents CLP In Cape Town
From: camlink99 | Sep 28, 2011
During the COL Healthy Community Partners Workshop organised from the 12th - 18th September 2011 at the Media training Centre for Health in Cape Town, Ian Pringle, COL's Media Education Specialist and the key facilitator traced the path of Community Open Distance Learning and the policy of the Commonwealth of Learning. Cameroon Link was there and made this video for sharing. For more on the issue treated in this video, visit the COL web site at - http://www.col.org



Charles Simbi on the Bag of Life Programming in Malawi
From: camlink99 | Sep 26, 2011
Charles Simbi is one of the expert trainers of the Story Workshop Organisation in Malawi. Charles and Gladson facilitated the story design workshop which led to programming on mother and child health care on Lebialem Community Radio in Menji, in the south west region of Cameroon. The organisation of the COL Healthy Communities Partners workshop in Cape Town created room for a second come together for sharing of experiences on the impact of story design programmes on community radio stations in Africa. In this video, Charles Simbi shares the experience of the impact following broadcast of the "Bag of Life Programme" in Malawi. He emphasizes on the issue of the programme matrix to dig deep into the heart of issues facing any community, because this highlights shared responsibility in finding solutions to problems. For more on story design programming in Lebialem Community Radio, visit the web site at - http://cameroonlink.info or http://www.col.org

Blythe Mckay on M & E
From: camlink99 | Sep 23, 2011
Blythe Mckay is the Farm Radio International (FRI) Program and partnership manager. Farm Radio International is a Canadian-based, not-for-profit organisation working in direct partnership with over 325 radio broadcasters in 39 African countries to fight poverty and food insecurity. It is a strategic partner of Commonwealth of Learning and its mission is to support broadcasters in developing countries to strengthen smallholder farmers in rural communities. It was established over 30 years ago in response to the fact that farm radio broadcasters in the global south did not, for the most part, serve small-scale farmers.
Rather, they were geared toward large-scale commercial farmers - an audience with very different needs from the largely subsistence farmers that make up the large majority of the populations of these regions.
By producing and sharing radio scripts, a weekly news and information service, and other valuable resources with radio broadcasters, Farm Radio International is improving the relevance and quality and increases the quantity of farm radio programming of partner stations that, collectively, serve over 220 Million scale-scale farmers in Africa.
Blythe Mckay was invited to Cape Town, South Africa by the Commonwealth of Learning to share the FRI experience in Monitoring and Evaluation of its work with the African broadcasters during a COL Healthy Communities Partners workshop from 10th - 17th September 2011. FRI is serving over 51 community radio stations in Cameroon and this video was made for sharing by Cameroon Link. Cameroon Link is playing the role of FRI Focal Point in Cameroon. To get more about the work of Farm Radio International and Commonwealth of Learning, visit the following web sites - http://www.farmradio.org, http://www.col.org, http://cameroonlink.info