Guillaume Debar’s Visit To NADEV

With the end of NWEP (Nkong Women Entrepreneurship Project), the MRDF sent its programme  Director; Mr. Guillaume Debar who together with NADEV staff, evaluated NWEP and set the ball rolling for NWEP II.

Group picture of NADEV board, Staff and Guillaume Debar

During his stay at NADEV, Guillaume worked with project staff in identifying the weaknesses of NWEP and working on them in a bid to avoid the same weaknesses in NWEP II. He underscored the fact that there exist a strong foundation in place and encouraged project staff to work on the weaknesses of the NWEP and maintain the strengths of the project.

According to to Guillaume, his visit went according to plan; field visits were well planed and every meeting with staff went on hitch free. Talking about his previous short-lived visit to NADEV, Guillaume described his visit as “eye opening” saying it a mix feeling of gratitude and happiness. He ended his visit by thanking Mr. Anu Vincent for his commitment towards the NWEP project and the running of NADEV as a whole. He also thanked staff for the collaboration during his visit and encourage them to keep the solid base they have established firm.

hit link to see pictures of Guillaume’s visit : http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.650510328312181.1073741826.190642147632337&type=1

 

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Violent acts inflicted on women

 

RAPE

Rape is an unwanted sexual intercourse. Rape knows no borders as it affects females in every country in the world. Rape is the most vicious crime that a man can commit, and one of the worst nightmares and traumatizing experience that can happen to a girl or woman. With very long lasting psychological effects on both the victim and the family the coupled with the fact that most victims are ostracized by those around them and our judicial systems are not making it any easy

EARLY MARRIAGE

This involves the forceful giving away of a young girl in to marriage without her consent. Most often young girls given out on early marriages are vulnerable to sexual violence, sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.  

FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons.  This is a practice is propagated by certain traditions with the purpose of cleansing, and chastity. This procedure is traditionally carried out by an older woman with no medical training, anesthetics and antiseptic treatment with basic tools such as knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass and razor blades. This could lead to severe bleeding and medical complications.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Domestic violence refers to physical and sexual attacks in the home within a family or an intimate relationship. It includes intimate partner violence, marital rape, and assault and battery. This practice mostly results to very damaging physical and psychological effects which are long lasting. Domestic violence robs victims of their fundamental right to maintain control over their own lives. Individuals who are abused live in fear and isolation in the one place they should always feel safe, their home.  It is not only the victim, but the whole community who experiences the effects of Domestic Violence. Statistics show that one out of three women will experience Domestic Violence at some stage in their life.  Domestic Violence causes ill-health such as high blood pressure, obesity, smoking and premature death.

HONOR KILLING

refers to the murder of women due to their perceived disgrace to the family’s or community’s “honor” for things such as accused premarital sex, accused adultery, inappropriate behavior such as leaving the house without a male relative, and even rape. Preservation of honor is usually veiled in religious language, a dangerous manipulation of religion to justify an inexcusable practice. Women have been publicly stoned to death, burned alive and attacked with acid for such accused disgraces.

FEMICIDE

femicide indicates the systematic killing of women and girls. This extreme act culminates in murder but may include torture, mutilation, cruelty and sexual violence. Femicide is most notorious in several Latin and Central American countries, though it occurs in other regions as well. Sex-selective abortions are another form of femicide, more prevalent in Asia, particularly in countries that do not value female children or when there is a limit on births per family.

 

 

 

Adaptability Strategy of the Mboeh People

Sheep with an ‘A’ made device for adaptation

Going down the valleys and climbing the hills of Lebialem, it is almost impossible not to notice the wit of the Lebialem people. It suffices for you to take a trip to Lebialem to witness this diversity in creativity. Sheep raring is one of the agricultural activities practiced by the Mboeh people. In order to prevent the sheep from going out of its confines, the people devised a method to prevent the sheep from going out of their compound. Sticks are attached on the neck of the sheep in the form of an ‘A’. This prevents the sheep form going past the boundary. The ‘A’ formed device is designed such that the sheep can neither pass through certain places nor destroy crops which have been cultivated around the compound. According to the Mboeh people this is the best means of preventing destruction on their crops and escape from the sheep.

Peace, unity and harmony is a common characteristic of the Lebialem people and these virtues are also portrayed by animals as they co-exist under the canopy of these vitues.The hills and valleys of Lebialem provide a conducive environment for research and the green vegetation and beautiful hilly site in companion with the natural breeze that sweeps across provides all necessary inspiration not only for a pantheist but for all who admire nature.

Official Launching of NC4D, Kumba Branch

DO officially cutting ribbon

In a bid to increase the scope of its services and strengthen its networks, Nkong Credit for Development(NC4D) officially launched its Branch office in Kumba. The occasion which took place in front of the newly constructed NC4D office in Fiango, Kumba was presided over by the Deputy Mayor of Kumba city council Mr. Chia, the Divisional Officer of Kumba 2 and the head of the National Security Kumba 2.  Mr. Anu Vincent, Board president of NC4D welcomed guests and gave a brief history of how the micro finance idea was conceived and today, made a reality. He further introduced board members and the overall manager of NC4D Mr. Tateh fualefac who there on talked about the services the micro finance offers and went ahead to introduce the staff of the newly opened Kumba branch.

The Deputy Mayor of Kumba in his address acknowledged the coming of NC4D to Kumba and said he is optimistic in working in close collaboration with NC4D and wished them success in their endeavor. The DO of Kumba two in his speech called NC4D his son and highlighted the fact that they should work hand in gloves in a father and son relationship. The DO went on to officially declare NC4D in Kumba operational by cutting the ribbon, and creating the first account in NC4D, Kumba.  Most of the guest present expressed joy on the coming of NC4D to Kumba and followed the Deputy Mayor and the DO to crown this occasion by creating accounts. Ms. Boren Agendia manager of NC4D, Kumba and other NC4D staff gave those present  vivid, explicit and detailed report on how to create an account, the various categories of accounts NC4D offers, how much an individual needs to obtain a share, and how women could benefit from the Nkong Women Cash-Up (NWOCA) loan scheme. They also took questions from those present and made sure they cleared the doubts of all who had questions. The occasion ended with entertainment in the form of light refreshments and music from NC4D.

NWEP DISBURSES LOANS IN MEME

Beneficiary receiving loan

NWEP (Nkong Women Entrepreneurship Project) hosted a two day session on February 5^th and 6^th, 2013, designed to Sensitize Women on Entrepreneurship in Kumba. The event took place in Kumba at the Women’s Empowerment Center.

A total of thirty -seven women interested in entrepreneurship attended the two day workshop.   The women were divided into small groups of five members. These groups should ensure better financial management and successful development of their businesses. The women participated in educational sessions that outlined monitoring/evaluation of small businesses, recording keeping, marketing methods, the benefits of saving, customer service training along with entertaining icebreakers and lunch. The two day workshop intended to educate and provide a loan of 50,000cfa to current female entrepreneurs. The main objectives of the event were to enrich the current skill set of current entrepreneurs and extend membership into NADEV. The membership process allowed the women to open bank accounts and engage in communication with skilled bank personnel.  This activity will ensure that women have knowledge of accurate record keeping and access to small capital to develop their businesses. The session was designed to solve the issue of reduced access to bank loans and lack of knowledge on accurate record keeping/management for a successful business. Many of the women who attended the session were in need of small loans to ensure the future growth of their businesses. The workshop was carried out through lectures and group activities. The individuals participated in mini ice breakers that allowed them to introduce themselves to the group; followed by lecture style sessions that explained the importance of saving and record keeping within a small business.  After each section, the women were encouraged to complete group activities to re-enforce the training.

FUNCTIONAL ADULT LITERACY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

With the support of IDH in Spain NCIG organised a 5 day workshop on Adult Participatory learning approach for 12 adult literacy instructors to equip them to carry out literacy sessions at 5 literacy centres in Lebialem Division. The pilot centre went operational in Mbeoh village with 25 learners. Success registered at this centre from learning alphabetisation resulted to two new centre new centres going operational in Besali and Bechati village communities. Besali and Bechati registered a total number of 18 and 21 participants respectively at the start. With monthly supervision from NCIG learners at the centres and other community members had the opportunity of acquiring new skills for income generation such as local powder and tablet soap, rubbing oil production, mushroom farming among others. After 5 months of sessions on alphabetization 5 out of 7 women who could not recognize nor write their names were now able to.

GENDER JUSTICE IN THE MEDIA

NCIG  was  nominated  the  National  coordinator of the WACC  world  wide  project-  the  Gender  Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) which is executed in over 120 countries in the world. It is the largest and longest longitudinal study on gender in the world’s news media.   It is also the largest advocacy initiative in the world on changing gender representation in the media. It is unique in involving participants ranging from grassroots community organizations to university students and researchers to media practitioners, all of whom participate on a voluntary basis.

In November 2009 NCIG took active part and coordinated this project in Cameroon. In doing this several meetings were organized at the NCIG Head office amongst which were; Media practitioners, representatives of the Civil Society, and some University students from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. In one of such meetings the following media were selected to be monitored CRTV (radio), STV and the post News Paper. NCIG employed the services of 9 students from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea who were very excited to take part in the world wide activity kept secret from the media. It was also interesting to find them filling the coding sheets amidst discussions and photograph of them being taken by the NCIG staff. A report of this activity together with the experiences of the monitors were compiled and forwarded to Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) in South Africa and WACC respectively as requested by the project partner.