To showcase strides in Cameroon: German Cooperation kicks off four-region tour with journalists.

According to the German Ambassador, the voyage which is billed to cover four of the country’s 10 regions, is aimed among others, at showcasing the achievements that the German Cooperation has registered in the last 60 years of its presence in Cameroon.

As part of the tour which gets under way with a five-day opening phase in the West Region, the German Cooperation will take the pressmen to the Centre, West, East and Littoral regions. 

The trip, according to the diplomat, is also strategically designed to fully bring the media up to speed with the strides made during the six decades under review and lay solid groundworks for more fruitful collaboration between the Cooperation and the media.

The voyage, the Ambassador told the participating journalists during a pre-trip briefing last week, will target the German activities carried out through the cooperation’s three agencies in Cameroon. 

The scheme, she noted, will cover the projects executed via the German development agency, GIZ; the German development bank, KfW, and the German Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources, BGR. 

The team will make stopovers in more than 15 Cameroonian cities and communities across the different regions. 

Amongst them, Dschang, Kouoptamo and Bafoussam in the West. Batouri in the East, Yoko in the Centre and Nkongsamba and Penja in the Littoral.

The delegation will visit some selected projects executed by the German Cooperation in the cities and communities in a bid to meet its personally-designed guidelines of working towards attaining sustainability in four priority areas in the country. 

Among them, per the authorities, is good governance, decentralisation, peace and social cohesion, the sustainable management of natural resources, rural development and health, social protection and demographic policy.

Laying groundworks for better media coverage 

According to Dr Corinna Frick, the press trip will set the pace for a better coverage of the German Cooperation’s activities in the country.

She said groundworks for the envisaged new partnership will be laid during the voyage notably through the improvement of the media men’s knowledge about the German Development Cooperation’s priority areas through its projects and programs.

“This press trip will be an opportunity to give the pressmen the opportunity to visit some projects carried out within the framework of intergovernmental cooperation present in Cameroon for more than 60 years,” she said.

“But I would like to mention that we do not only have our intergovernmental cooperation, but many other initiatives in stabilization and initiatives in humanitarian aid which are great pillars,” the Ambassador added.

The diplomat told the journalists that the goal will be attained through the setting up of platforms for collaboration and networking between the media and German Development Cooperation around its priority fields.

She noted that focus will also be on discussing the role of the media in promoting the visibility and awareness of German Cooperation.

Hectic 14 days of media tour

The German Cooperation will in the course of the 14-day trip, take the pressmen through more than 15 cities and communities across the four regions.

The delegation will spend five days in the West Region where the team will make stopovers in German-executed or assisted projects among other zones, in Bagangte, Kouoptamo, Bafoussam, Bayangam, Dschang and Batcham.

In Dschang in the Menoua Division, the team will notably visit the non-governmental organisation, Horizon Jeune which works with peace clubs. 

The group notably receives assistance from the German Cooperation through the development bank, the KfW through the cooperation’s projects on promoting good governance decentralization, peace and social cohesion.

In the Noun Division, there team will visit the Bangourain council where the German Cooperation and FEICOM and other partners have been investing on solar energy supply for the district hospital in Bangourain.

The visit to the Littoral Region will be punctuate among others by stopovers at the rehabilitated public carpentry school and restaurants setup for displaced women.

Both projects which were executed with investments among others from the German development bank, the KfW, are in Nkongsamba I in the Moungo Division.

In Mbanga, there will be a visit at the rehabilitated nursery school refurbished in the area while Douala will among others, be marked by visits at to some enterprises funded through the WIDU project including the chocolate enterprise, Chololaterie NOHI.

In the Centre Region where stopovers are earmarked among others, for Obala and Yoko, there will be a visit at a beehive setup in Mengoeng-Yoko and a presentation of the shared vision of the German Cooperation for the Yoko Council by the German Cooperation.

The delegation will visit some four localities in the East Region. The group will tour Bertoua, Batouri, Timangolo and Mandjou where several projects have been executed by the German Cooperation notably in areas involving the equipping of civil service registries to facilitate the identification of children of birth registration ages.  

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3155 of Monday July 01, 2024