Cameroon link Participates In Health Partnership Strategy Workshop

By Camlink News, Email: camlink99@gmail.com The Cameroon Cooperation Division of the ministry of public health organized a three-day workshop on partnership strategy and contract initiation in Douala from the 19th – 21st July 2012 for leaders of health development organizations and health district service heads in the littoral region.

Closing the workshop on July 21, the regional delegate for public health in the littoral, Dr. Yamba Beyas Martin, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the exchanges between the public and private health sector representatives and the excellent delivery of content by the team from the cooperation division led by Maina Djoulde Emmanuel.

Other facilitators included Mrs. Abena Yolande, Dr. Bahanag Bassong, Mrs. Wonje Martine, Mrs. Mbango Anne and Ngah Emanuel , all top level officials of the ministry of public health in Yaoundé. Cameroon Link was amongst the ten health sector civil society organizations including the association for assistance and well being, mother and child association, association for women’s development and the association for the vulgarization of health information. The chief of the cooperation division at the ministry of public health told the participants that health sector partnership has a very long history before Dr. Bahanag Bassong presented the different judicial tools and structures for partnership realization. The Cooperation division chief discussed the changes made in the new health sector partnership document as he explained the judicial norms for establishing a partnership contract document. Each participant received the new Cameroon health sector partnership strategy document, which covers the period 2007 – 2015. The health sector strategy, reviewed and adopted tunes with the growth and employment strategy in Caùmeroon, which is the general reference frame work of health policies and programmes since 2001. The new document sets major guidelines and priority strategic directions of action as far as health delivery is concerned with the support of national and international partners.

In effect, all forces have been federated to fight against poverty through the health sector strategy and this gives the opportunity for contracting interventions with the following objectives: • To promote and render operational the complementarities between all health stakeholders at the national public, private and community levels, and the international development partners who support Cameroon’s health sector action. • To reinforce the decentralization of the national health system in order to ensure result-based management at the peripheral level. The review of the new health sector partnership strategy was participatory and lays the frame work of collaboration between all health stakeholders. It is strongly held that this constitutes a basic instrument capable of contributing to promote collaboration between the public, private and traditional sub-sectors in order to ensure quality health care. According to the Minister of Public health, André Mama Fouda, this marks the adherence of all health stakeholders to a single collaboration frame work. International partners including the European Union, French Technical Cooperation, GIZ, UNICEF and WHO contributed in designing the Cameroon Health Sector Strategy for promoting partnerships. This frame work is a result of consensus between all stakeholders because the development of the partnership strategy involved the participation of the ministry in charge of public health, related ministries, private organizations, denominational bodies, professional associations, NGOs, bodies representing bilateral or multi-lateral co-operation institutions as well as the population. The partnership strategy is drawn with inspiration from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the hope that it would make it possible to improve health care quality and preserve the principles of equity and ethics in health care provision. The partnership strategy axes include putting in place a legal and institutional framework and technical support, implementation of a contractual approach among stakeholders of the public and private sub sectors, setting up of new relations framework among stakeholders of the public sector, supporting and monitoring of implementation of the partnership. Collaboration documents shared for effecting health sector partnership included the collaboration agreement letter, frame work convention; performance contract, obligations and resources frame work, miscellaneous and final provisions.

The 40 participants were drawn from the regional delegation for public health in the littoral, the Health District Services, municipal councils and health associations. On the third day of the workshop participants constituted three work groups to share experiences and evaluate the pertinence of the new health sector strategy. The work group session led to participants conceiving sample frame work documents as described in the Cameroon health sector partnership strategy (2007 – 2015). The first health sector strategy covered the period from 2001 – 2010.This did not produce the impact expected and it has been reviewed putting into consideration the weaknesses of the first health partnership strategy document. The health strategy workshop gave the opportunity for sharing past and current positive experiences of Cameroon Link and Community of Learning partnership during the radio story design initiative pilot phase just ended in Lebialem. Cameroon Link aims at bringing on board the ministry of public health through the department for health promotion to support the scaling up phase at national level. Sharing of COL Cameroon Link partnership impact continues as it was made known that activities related to the promotion of mother and child health care would be introduced into the Cameroon budget from the year 2013. Cameroon Link strongly holds the opinion that babies don't wait and the collaboration arrangements should avoid any partnerships with conflict of interest.

COL Cameroon Link Story Design Strategy Shared In Yaounde

By Ojong Helen Ayamba Email: helenayamba@yahoo.com

The Sub Director for Food and Nutrition of the ministry of public health, Okala George, presided over a one-day workshop to share COL Cameroon Link story design strategy, as part of preparations towards the planning and organization of the 2012 World Breastfeeding Week. The 24 participants came from Ebolowa, Edea, Mambanda, Bonamikano, Biyem Assi, Bojongo, Nvog Ada, Nkomba, Mbalmayo, Douala and Yaoundé communities.

Key facilitators were Tagoue Madelene, chief of service for dietetics and nutrition, Mahop Estelle Laure of the department for health promotion and James Achanyi-Fontem, Coordinator of COL Cameroon Link partnership. Okala Georges in his address to the participants reiterated the fact that 2012 is a special year because the WHO and UNICEF are celebrating the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding launched 10 years ago and the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, WABA, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the World Breastfeeding Week(WBW). WBW is celebrated each year in over 172 countries and the ministry of public health, André Mama Fouda, will be launching the mass event in Cameroon at the Health District Hospital in Biyem Assi, a neighbourhood of the capital of Yaoundé City. To understand the past and plan for the future, the COL Cameroon Link partnership liaison made a feed of the activities undertaken since 2011, which gave room for exchanges and how these story design strategy is expected to be scaled up from this year with the support of UNICEF and the Commonwealth of Learning. UNICEF, the Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver, Canada and WABA Secretariat in Penang, Malaysia with the involvement of health promotion stakeholders designed and produced social mobilization and sensitization for sharing during the mass event in Biyem Assi-Yaoundé and in the different health areas of Cameroon. Each participant was allowed to share past experiences and to propose the strategies put in place for scaling up community of learning within families and the communities in a way to support mother and child health care, fight against malnutrition of mothers and children below 5 years of age. While Cameroon Link shared the experience of using Lebialem community radio as a channel for open distance learning and story design programming to support mother and child health care, the sub director for food and nutrition said activities from 2012 will be guided by the evolution of technologies. This will serve as a mean of sharing essential messages for the promotion of infant and young child feeding. This will also assist Cameroon to tune to the rapid changes in the means of communication technologies for reaching many through mobiles and especially the youths. Context and justification Since the 1990s, efforts deployed by the different stakeholders to promote infant and young child feeding and especially exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months led to an increase from 1% to 21% in 2004, while initiation within the first one hour moved from 11.5% in 1991 to 20% in 2006. The paradox is that 29% of infant below one year die of malnutrition and poor practices of breastfeeding. The Cameroon ministry of public health and its partners would like to use the opportunities offered by the community f learning strategies to sensitize national public opinion on the advantages of exclusive breastfeeding and better maternal care. The objective fixed by 2015 is to increase the level of breastfeeding from 21% to 65% qualitatively. To achieve this objective, community of learning stakeholders have to reinforce training and open distance learning opportunities, increase information and education of the populations, especially the parents, mothers and youths through the use of community radio and mobile technologies now available in many households. Scaling up community of learning in Cameroon will be associated to activities including the briefings of health staff, organization of educative talks, the use of sports events to reach many during sensitization, training on story design programming, promotion of youth health clubs to animate health dramas, concerts, organization of radio quiz and public conferences on the protection of mother and child health care. To scale up activities, partnership strategies have included mobile telephone enterprises for sending out key messages on infant and young child feeding to all their subscribers during World Breastfeeding Week, the use of community radio for story design, while UNICEF, WABA and COL Cameroon Link partnership have produced communication materials, t-shirts, folders, flyers, exercise books with key messages on their covers and promotion banners. Policy makers of public, private and traditional institutions would be involved in advocacy drives in a way to lobby support for mother and child health care in Cameroon. Local health associations involved for the scaling up phase at national level are CIFAS Yaoundé, CASAMAC Ebolowa, NORFOWOP(No Limit for Women’s Projects) Biyem Assi, AFFE Mbalmayo, Alternative Santé Yaoundé, COGESID Bonaberi, Association of Nurses and Mid wives, and Association of Radio Broadcasters. Difficulties in project delivery During the exchange and sharing workshop, participants used the opportunity to discuss the role of the ministry of public health in Cameroon as the architect of health coverage, the purchaser of services and as a partnership promoter, at a time community of learning goes national. As scaling up of activities focus on durable and sustainability of project outcomes and impact, partnership development in Cameroon is hanging on innovative considerations and this requires a promotion approach with respect to the various stakeholders involved in the health system. The difficulties encountered in the delivery of community of learning activities through training and radio story design in Lebialem included poor state of road infrastructure for accessing enclave areas, few trained staff at the community radio station with more untrained volunteer broadcasters with university degrees, unstable supply of energy and irregular and snail internet access, lack of local enterprises to patronize health care programmes and low income of the local populations of Lebialem. Considering these difficulties, the ministry of public health is taking up its role to mastermind the innovative partnership strategy that would guarantee sustainability of investment in the health sector by its national and international partners. It was agreed that the contributions of other partners in active resource mobilization is having great impact and working positively in complementarily with the ministry of health. This mobilization concerns grassroot communities and civil society organizations, advocacy action with the development partners and external financial resources. This exchange opportunity in Yaounde was followed up with a regional workshop of the Cameroon Health Sector Partnership Strategy from 2007 – 2015 in Douala, littoral region from the 19th – 21st July, 2012. Recommendations 1. Stakeholders of Community of Learning initiative in Cameroon should advocate for technical, financial and material support locally for increasing external assistance for the rapid expansion of the activities in other parts of the country. 2. Lobby should be undertaken in other national and international organizations supporting health activities in Cameroon to get support for mother and child health care. 3. Distribution of materials and transport for community outreach and training activities should be increased considering the recent increases in transport fares in Cameroon. 4. Reinforce training of volunteer broadcasters in rural community radio stations on the techniques of script writing and broadcasting as motivation for improved quality and quantitative programmes production on mother and child health care. 5. The Community of Learning initiative on radio story design programming should be scaled up in the littoral and West regions in 2012/2013 after a survey and selection of the active community radio stations with healthy community programmes.

UNICEF REINFORCES CAPACITIES OF CBOs ON PMTCT OF HIV By Ojong Helen Ayamba, Cameroon Link Email: helenayamba@yahoo.com Some 50 selected active Community Based Organisations (CBO) and Community Health Relay Agents in the health district of Bonassama have received training as community social mobilisation support groups for the research of missing cases within the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV programme in Cameroon. The training organised by the Health District of Bonassama in collaboration with UNICEF Cameroon was a follow up of an initial workshop targeting health workers within health facilities. The training aimed at capacitating the community health relay agents sponsored UNICEF is a programme on the support and mobilisation of expectant mothers to go for screening of HIV and if declared positive, be supported in various ways. At the end of the training, the participants acknowledged that they are now well informed on the rate of HIV infection of pregnant mothers, the modes of transmission of HIV from mother to child, risk factors of transmission, strategies for prevention, counselling and screening, taking a decision on feeding of a newly born baby, the elements of psychosocial care of an infected pregnant mother, collaboration and linkages with the health district, coordination of the interventions surrounding prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV and care within the health district, coordination within the different structures intervening like the national programme, maternity, the Screening and Care Centre, laboratories, and support groups only to name a few. Insistence was put on the role played by community support groups and their functions within the health district, how to communicate and send out pertinent information messages within communities on the importance of PMTCT of HIV and adequate use of the services of existing structures and support of persons infected or affected with families within the community in collaboration with the health district services. The reason for the training was based on the fact that out of 15.800.000 inhabitants, 575.000 babies are expected to be born at a time the prevalence is rated at 5.5%. This means that 25.000 babies are infected with HIV where there is no rapid intervention before, during and after birth. Intervention services exist but they are not used regularly to avoid infection of infants. The strategies put in place consist of preventing the transmission of HIV in pregnant women, girls at the age of puberty and future mothers, prevention of pregnancies for already infected mothers, prevention of transmission from the mother to child of HIV and guarantee of care and support of the mother, the child and the family. It was revealed by the facilitator, Dr. Nzima Nzima Valery, Chief Medical Officer for Bonassama Health District, that the attendance at HIV screening and care centres is low, there is insufficient sharing of information within the communities. For these reason, the mobilisation of the population to access the available services through the use and involvement of associations like the Red Cross, Community Based Organisations is recommended. The Community Based Organisations (CBO) involved were already trained within the on-going Scaling Up Malaria control for Impact (SUFI). These CBOs are current undertaking home visit within the mosquito net hang up campaign, which include verification of the effective intermittent prevention of pregnant women. This gives a good opportunity for the community relay agents to have contacts with the pregnant women, counsel and organise educative talks within the communities. The current training reinforces the outreach capacities of the CBOs in the health district of Bonassma.The SUFI CBOs trained included COGESID Bonamikano, Bonamassombwa, CEV St. Kisito, Muan Dye, MEWA, Dominance Jeunes Dames, Famille Batoufam, AJMA first Class, Lengang Mbong, Rural Help Project, Cameroon Link, Amical des Habitants ALPICAM, Bongkisheri Women, Meres sensibles, Bonangando Essome, AJEGBO, Amie Intime, Batissons l'Avenir, Ngo Nguem, RAFED 4, JARDIN, Femmes Sinceres, Achenadia Development Association,Femmes Dynamiques, COGESID Mambanda, Association de Solidarite Sante des Femmes, Ass. Jeunes New Style, Association Jeune Debrouillard.

ICT Training in Arusha, Tanzania Mike Achanyi Fontem,ICT Officer & Consultant Email:camlink99@gmail.com All our way from west and East Africa to Arusha – Tanzania, nine out of ten answered present at the Regional farm radio office for Africa in Arusha – Tanzania for the training workshop. The participants came from the selected countries; (1) Yaw Nkrumah – Ghana (2) Thomas Engida – Ethiopia (3) Mike Fontem – Cameroon (4) Philip Chinhokwe – Malawi (5) Vedaste Ufiste – Rwanda (6) Daniel Ninsiima – Uganda (7) Evan Kinyanjui – Kenya (8) Seta magabe – Tanzania (9) Daniel mtei – Tanzania Lamine Togola the Malian was absent, reason being refusal of an entry visa for Tanzania. One day one at 9:43a.m all equipments were already set up in the training room and the nine technical administrators each introduced themselves and said what position they hold in their organisation and their functions. The two trainers, Bartholomew Sullivan, who is Radio ICT specialist and Brenda Burreil equally introduced themselves after Tichafara Sigauke the lead key ICT trainer from Zimbabwe who has a complete mastery of Freedom Fone. He was trained in India.

An evaluation form was given to each participant to fill while giving the full meanings of terms such as IVR and VoIP. Still on the form the participants had to say how Freedom Fone will be of importance and how they shall deliver the service to radio stations in each country for interacting with farmers. During an interactive session with participants, Bartholomew asked two very technical questions: How many persons have ever come across freedom fone? Only three participants confirmed by raising up their hands. The next question was how many persons are familiar with Ubuntu/Linux? Six trainees confirmed. The cat was then let out of the bag as explained below: • Freedom Fone is free software that creates interactive, voice-based communication services for organisations or bodies seeking to engage with communities across mobile networks. • Freedom Fone uses voice menus to share information with any target audience, SMS polls to organise opinion surveys and callers can also leave voice and text messages on the service where call data records can be safely stored, organised and evaluated. • There are no geographical limitations to Freedom Fone. By taking advantage of both audio and text functions, Freedom Fone makes it easy to create and share information across literacy barriers in any language. Freedom Fone provides an effective, user-friendly and low-cost solution that helps empower marginalised communities and bridge the digital divide. The training schedule for the week was distributed to all trainees after the above introduction of Freedom Fone. During the first week, eleven (11) chapters of the training manual were covered from Monday – Saturday. Chapter one was very practical as it focused on login to FF home page as admin and, creating Poll, LAM, IVR and uploading contents and sub-contents for user. Day 2: Tuesday 22th May 2012 Chapter 2:- Network configuration Chapter 3:- Twinkle & SMS script Chapter 4:- Telephony 101/ MobiGater Chapter5:- Office Route. The above four chapters were covered , all devices and accessories of the MobiGater and Office Route were equal shown to the ICT consultants and how to configure MobiGater, resetting the office route 2N and they were shown the magic of technology via the assembled and well configured equipments. This phase of the training according to Mike was not easy as in the first day, because they all had to install Ubuntu on their machines individually from the DVD that was provided to them. Run command prompts and inserting the correct text string and checking eth:0, IP addresses, testing and others. Picture of the training session were arranged and forwarded to the participants.

Radio ICT Administrators Trained In Arusha Courtesy of FRI Africa Region

From the 20th May – 2nd June, 2012 Freedom Fone and Farm Radio International hosted a Technical Administrators Training Workshop in Arusha, Tanzania. The aim of the workshop was to build the capacity of local technicians - also known as Freedom Fighters - to be able to support Freedom Fone deployments in their own countries. Participants came from countries across Africa including Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and almost all are employed as ICT support officers by community radio stations. The one exception was Daniel Ninsiima who uses Freedom Fone at Makarere University in Kampala to disseminate agricultural extension information to farmers in south western Uganda. Farm Radio International includes Freedom Fone in its suite of new technologies to create participatory radio programmes. Participants at the workshop are expected to return to their countries and deploy the platform in 17 radio stations in 10 countries over June/July 2012.

Voice based response for crisis reporting A research project by LIRNEasia in partnership with Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka's largest development organisation, has produced a YouTube documentary entitled Do You Hear Me about the importance of voice based response platforms for crisis reporting. It is hoped that in time resources will be raised to integrated Freedom Fone with the Sahana Disaster Management Software for this purpose. It is clear that text to speech and synthetic voices for Sri Lankan languages would contribute greatly to reducing work load and enhancing efficiency over periods of crisis. This process is not straight forward and more research is still required before automated conversions between speech and text can be used during a crisis situation. Watch the video for more information. Testing Dialler Version This month will be dedicated to testing our Freedom Fone Dialler - Version 2.D. The Dialler can be used to automate campaign calling and connect recipients to a pre-designed IVR (voice menu). It also enables users to offer a free to caller callback service which can be accessed by beeping a designated number or sending the equivalent of a 'call me' text message. Localisation news The Freedom Fone Advocacy and User Guide is available in French and Spanish - thanks to Brent Barber (French) and Charo Atauri (Spanish). Portuguese localisation of the User Interface is underway. Spotlight on... The participants during the training focused on Radio 5, a busy commercial radio station in Arusha, Tanzania. Thanks to Bart Sullivan, Farm Radio International's Radio & ICT Specialist, all of the trainees on the Arusha workshop were offered an opportunity to present Freedom Fone to Radio 5's staff and management. By the end of the session all present were very enthusiastic to start using Freedom Fone to enhance interactivity with their listeners and to assist with advertising. Radio 5 will become the first commercial radio station to use Freedom Fone should they go ahead with plans

Cameroon Link Involved In SUFI Coordination Exchange By camlink, camlink99@gmail.com Cameroon Link participated in the first SUFI regional coordination meeting presided over by the delegate for public health at the Catholic orphanage in Deido- Douala on Tuesday, 29th May 2012. The key presenter during the exchange community of learning process was the National Project manager of Plan International Cameroon, Dr. Kwake Simon Fozo, who was assisted by the Zonal Health Supervisor, Dr. Simo Francis and Kondiji Kondji Dominique, the Littoral regional supervisor of SUFI. The objective of the exchange meeting with the 19 Health District Civil Society Organisations in the Littoral including Cameroon Link was to review activities undertaken so far within the Scaling Up Malaria control for Impact Project befor projecting specific actions for the future.

Dr. Kwake Simon invited the stakeholders to present executed activities in their respective jurisdictions and the impact it has had on the beneficiary populations. Through a participative drilling, the participants identified problems encountered during execution and global solutions were found on how to tackle them. The civil society organisations Identified their strengths weaknesses, constraints and opportunities during the interactive discussions before planning activities for the next six months.

The perspectives for better collaboration was also identified through the exchanges and discussions.. It would be recalled that Cameroon concluded a funding agreement with the 9th Round Global Fund against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to implement a 5-year project titled "Scaling Up Malaria Control for Impact in Cameroon (SUFI), 2011-2015 ". This is a "Dual Track" project, with the Ministry of Public Health as the first Principal Recipient (PR1) and Plan International Cameroon is the second Principal Recipient (PR2. Three Sub-Recipients (SR), include ACMS, IRESCO, and MC-CCAM. Plan is an International humanitarian, child centered development organization without religious, political or governmental affiliation. Child sponsorship is the basic foundation of the organization. Plan’s vision is a world in which all children realize their full potential in societies that respect people’s rights and dignity. Cameroon Link and Plan look at the same direction while striving to achieve lasting improvement in the quality of life of deprived children in Cameroon through a process that unites people across cultures and adds meaning and value to their lives by:  Enabling deprived children, mothers, their families and their communities to meet their basic needs and to increase their ability to participate in and benefit from their societies.  Building relationship to increase understanding and unity among people of different cultures of Cameroon.  Promoting the rights and interest of Cameroon’s children, especially as Cameroonian children are living in poverty and their rights to survival, development, protection and participation are not met. Through the community of learning process, Cameroon Link and other partners are supporting the Cameroon government in its National policy for poverty reduction. The projects respond to the four principal categories of child rights as per the UN CRC ratified by the government of Cameroon on the 11th January 1993, the African Charter on the 9th of June, 1997. These include: 1. Survival (health, Livelihood and water and sanitation), 2. Development (pre-school, primary school---) 3. Protection (birth registration, fight against violence---) 4. Participation in Children/youth groups, radio program through the use of community radio stations. Scaling up malaria control for impact pursues a number of objectives which include: •Increase to at least 80% the LLIN use rate in the general population, and especially among pregnant women and under-five children by 2015 •Increase to at least 80% the proportion of pregnant women receiving ITP2 by 2015 •Manage at least 80% of malaria cases in compliance with national policies and guidelines •Reinforce the management capacity of the National Malaria Control Program To achieve these objectives the strategic orientations are composed of:  Acquisition and distribution of LLINs to the entire population  Making Sulfadoxin Pyrimethamin (SP) available to pregnant women from the 4th month of pregnancy, during ante-natal consultations  Acquiring and making available Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) in health facilities  Promotion of general adhesion to all project interventions through adequate Behavior-change and inter-personal Communication  Monitoring & Evaluation To achieve the desired impact, these above strategies must be accompanied by appropriate communication actions:  Advocacy for malaria control  Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) through the mass media with the production and broadcast of micro-programs and spots on TV and radio  Community Outreach BCC through interpersonal communication, namely, the production of flip charts or image boxes for educational talks, posters, and counseling during home visits by members of the CBOs at community level  Monitoring and evaluation activities at all levels. Plan Cameroon has recruited 10 Regional CSOs, 181 Health District CSO, and 15 500 CBO at Community level o assist in the implementation of activities throughout Cameroon. Cameroon Link took the opportunity of the regional coordination meeting in Douala to highlight its community of learning approaches that involves all stakeholders. For more, click on the following link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0go150QdaBY

Cameroon House of Culture Inaugurated in Italy

By James Achanyi-Fontem,
Email: camlink99@gmail.com
The Cameroon Ambassador to Italy in Rome, His Excellency, Dominique Awono Essama, has inaugurated the first Cameroon House of Culture in Europe in the City Council Hall of Vasanello in the presence of top level officials from Cameroon, Italy and other parts of Europe. The artifacts used in decorating the Cameroon House of Culture were selected from the Lenale Ndem UNESCO Museum in Melong created by HRH Fonjinju Tatabong Alexander.
Speaking on the occasion, HRH Fonjinju told the audience that the most important element of Cameroon culture is to provide an environment that encourages a deeper appreciation and understanding of the history of a community and the people.
He added that the arts and craft from the Lenale Ndem UNESCO Museum in Melong carry symbolic meanings and will give visitors an insight of the historic development, social customs and religious morals of the different traditional cultures of Cameroon people.
He concluded by saying the Cameroon House of Culture in Italy is a dream come true of the members of the Lenale Ndem UNESCO Club in Melong and its role in the partnership agreement is to sustain exchange programs through education and valorization of the positive aspects of the culture of the two countries.
During the guided tour of the Cameroon House of Culture in Vasanello, the dignitaries of both countries were shown through the arts work and expressions, how Cameroon traditional village communities function, the role and functions of each member of the community. The works also traced past situations of misery, lost strikes and how the people were repressed by rulers.
The house of culture also carries a message of hope, courage and solidarity of the Cameroon people. The pieces exhibited in Italy were created between 1800 and 1950.
Present at the official ceremony were the Mayor of Vasanello, Antonio Porri, and the Mayor of Dschang, Bernard Momo, who initiated the twinning exercise of both cultures, Stefania Pinci of the Italian Ministry of External Relations, the Prefet of Viterbo, Antonella Scolamiero and the Prefet of Menoua Division, Naseri Paul bea, and Professor Anaciet Fomethe , Rector of the University of Dschang, only to name a few.
The Cameroon delegation to the inaugural ceremony was made of over 80 traditional leaders and dignitaries from the West, North West, South West and South regions of Cameroon.