FEICOM, UN Women recommit to fight poverty, empower women.

The ceremony was organised to renew a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed between the two institutions some five years ago that committed the two bodies to the fight.

After the Director General of FEICOM, Philippe Camille Akoa, delivered his welcome and opening speech, he gave the floor to Marie Pierre Raky Chaudpin, the Resident Representative of UN Women in Cameroon to speak.

After which the gathering went into a round table conference, dubbed “Café Genre”, during which Mayors and other representatives of decentralised collectivities, members of civil society groups and other organisations made presentations on how they are working towards attaining gender parity in their organizations in line with the prescriptions of both international and national laws.

This section saw the Director General of FEICOM, in his capacity as Cameroon Ambassador for “HeForShe” movement, unveiling what FEICOM is doing and has done towards empowering women, ever since he took over the mantle of leadership at FEICOM. 

Camille Akoa also played the role of moderator of the Café Genre.

FEICOM’s giant steps to gender equality

At the level of his establishment, the FEICOM boss said he had worked tirelessly towards increasing the number of women in the management cadre of FEICOM, already exceeding the one third or 30% quota that other institutions in the country are boasting of having attained.

In his capacity as the Cameroon HeForShe Ambassador, Camille Akoa said he had organised programmes through which women and girls were trained and coached on leadership attributes; and providing them with equipment and materials that they needed to set up their own businesses and manage them without looking up to men. 

That is helping the other gender attain financial independence. Apart from financing their projects, DG Akoa has also organised programmes that focus on educating women and girls on their human rights, sexual harassment, and gender autonomy.

He has also created a network of mentors who monitor and put their expertise at the disposal of women and girls; added to organising national tests at the level of state universities, high and secondary schools, through which women and girls compete and win prizes by exposing their competence and knowledge on their rights and other gender issues.

The HeForShe ambassador has also been working towards changing mentalities anywhere in the country where cultural practices segregate women and consider them as creatures that must not be seen, and allowed to speak out in public.

Reason why, the FEICOM boss said he had caused decentralised collectivities in the country to advance programmes and projects that concern women empowerment, as well as plan council budgets that take into consideration the concerns of women, (Gender sensitive budgeting).

These and other interventions, Camille Akoa said have greatly improved the lot of the Cameroonian woman, as demonstrated in the number of female mayors that continue to spring up all over that national territory, thanks to the work of the HeForShe movement.

The latter is a movement that seeks to increasingly engage boys and men in the cause of advancing the cause of women empowerment, not only in Cameroon, but all over the world.

Enter Resident Representative of UN Women

The Resident Representative of UN Women in Cameroon, Marie Pierre Raky Chaudpin, said Cameroon has made tremendous progress in its effort to attain gender parity, but that effort remains insufficient. 

She cited some countries, even in Africa, that have gone beyond trying to bring women representation in state institutions to 30% and were already at 50%/50%.

According to the international diplomat, born and bred in Senegal, Cameroon still has much to do in the empowerment and advancement of women in many areas, including the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief. 

These help in contributing to the moral, ethical, spiritual and intellectual needs of women, individually or in community with others and thereby guaranteeing them the possibility of realizing their full potential.

She recalled the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action that flagged 12 key areas where urgent action was needed to ensure greater equality and opportunities for women and men, girls and boys. 

That platform also laid out concrete ways for countries to bring about change, reason why UN Women works with governments and partners to ensure such change is real for women and girls, not only in Cameroon, but around the world, she assured. 

The renowned diplomat singled out violence being perpetrated against women, especially at the domestic milieu, in many cases, even leading to feminicide, as one of the areas that Cameroon has a lot more work to do. 

Just as in strengthening legal institutions that protect the rights of women and girls; more generalized education and using women and girls to promote and build peace and security, as areas where the potential of women are still grossly under exploited in Cameroon.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Issue No:3184 of Tuesday July 30, 2024