France allocates over 4 billion FCFA to upgrade Cameroon’s civil status.

The European giant has specified that the funds will be channeled towards upgrading and modernising civil status registration in Cameroon.

Documents to disburse the money were signed on 9 June, in Yaounde.

It was the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, MINEPAT, Alamine Ousmane Mey, who signed on behalf of the government and people of Cameroon.

For her part, the Director of the French Development Agency, AFD, in Cameroon, Virginie Dago, signed on behalf of the government of her country.

She specified that the disbursement is in respect of the third C2D contract that is still ongoing; while the money is divided into two envelopes. 

One of the envelopes amounting to 3.8 million Euros is meant to finance the construction of a research centre for bio-geo-science studies on environmental protection.

The second envelope to the tune of 3.5 million Euros targets a project to reinforce civil status registration in the West Region and to construct a modern records keeping and achieves centre.

She further unveiled that the West Region is targeted because it is host to many internally displaced persons from the North West and South West Regions who are fleeing from the armed conflict ravaging their area. 

These would therefore find it easier to get registered either as internally displaced persons, or as residents in need of civil status documents which they have lost or were unable to take along with them when they fled from their homelands.

For Minister Alamine Mey, the agreements would bring in money that would be used to reinforce government’s effort to revive the national economy. 

He added that the construction of the research centre for bio-geo-sciences on the environment is aimed at improving knowledge on how to tackle the challenges of climate change. 

The research is also aimed at throwing more light on how the dynamics of climate change impact on the environment, leading at times to unprecedented floods and at other times to conditions of severe drought and desert encroachment, not only in Cameroon, but in the whole central African sub region.

In which case, the expected results would help governments and other actors on climate change within the sub region to know how to adapt to the changes that are occurring all over the world and requiring new adaptation methods due to climate change. 

The emerging knowledge could result in the stabilisation of local ecosystems; as the volume, quality and visibility of related projects in Cameroon and the sub region benefit from updated management techniques and know how.

The second package, according to the MINEPAT boss, would help ease the production of civil status documents, their registration, and their viability as the overall system is modernized and improved. 

It was also gathered that the knowledge of the population on the importance of civil status registration will be improved. 

Therefore, the funds would also be used to up sensitisation of the population on the importance of these documents; improve coordination between field officers and those at the headquarters on how to ease procedures, and above all, build up capacities of personnel charged with civil status duties in the country.