Community Vision Group: Founding President, Country Director bag PhD, Masters.

Miki Gilbert who studied at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, UK, under the Commonwealth Scholarship was awarded a PhD in Rural and International Development.

His thesis was titled: “Contribution of Home-Grown School Feeding Programmes to Poverty Reduction”.

For close to five years, Miki embarked on a journey of researching alternative school feeding model called Home-Grown School Feeding, HGSF, and how it can be used to address issues of poverty in all its forms. 

The PhD holder said while serving in Cameroon as the Country Monitoring and Evaluation Lead for US-Based organisation, Nascent Solutions Inc, he came face-to-face with the challenges facing children and their communities.

“These challenges were those related to malnutrition, poor diets, dwindling food systems and above all, a disconnected link between smallholder farmers and the existing unstructured, unprofitable and unreliable markets,” Dr Miki said. 

He said throughout his PhD at the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, he continuously pondered on how children could be nourished in school while also empowering the local farmers. 

Supervised by Associate Professor Andrew Ainslie and Professor Peter Dorward, Miki Gilbert defended his thesis in front of a jury that had as examiners Professor C.S Scrinivasan and Professor Lesley Drake.

Professor C.S Scrinivasan works at the Research Division Lead for Agri-food economics at the University of Reading while Lesley Drake is Professor of Epidemiology and Development at Imperial College London and the Executive Director of Partnership for Child Development. 

Dr Miki is a 2012 Chevening Scholar and also holds a Masters in International Development from the University of Sheffield.

The native of Fonfuka in Bum Subdivision also studied at the University of Buea and the Pan African Institute for Development West Africa. He is a Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Country Director plucks Masters in style

Ntang Julius Meleng, who serves as Country Director of Community Vision Group, was also on the spotlight recently.

He bagged a Master of Arts Degree in International Relations from the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, IRIC, with a focus on Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action. 

Under the supervision of Professor Melvis Ndiloseh Associate Professor of International Law at IRIC, he researched on: “Early Recovery in Conflict-Affected Areas: An Exploration of Humanitarian Actors' Initiatives in Boyo Division of the North West Region of Cameroon (2017-2023)”.

His research work was closely examined by a jury comprising Prof Zintchem Marthe as President) and Dr Bessong Frida as Examiner. 

After critical examination, the jury unanimously awarded him a score of 17/20. 

His work provides valuable insights into humanitarian interventions in Boyo Division and proposes sustainable strategies for local, national, regional, and international development agencies assisting conflict victims.

Ntang is a Peace and Development Practitioner with over 10 years of experience implementing projects in peace education, youth empowerment, and school feeding in conflict-prone communities. 

He is also the Co-Founder of Unity Foundation Cameroon (UFC), a nonprofit association that envisions transformed communities through peacebuilding, youth empowerment, and food security.

Mr. Ntang holds a BA in the History of International Relations from the University of Yaoundé I and a Professional Diploma in Peace Studies and Humanitarian Action from Heritage University Institute of Peace and Development Studies, Yaounde.

He is a Peace and Democracy Envoy certified by the Cameroon Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education in synergy with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) USA and the Network for Solidarity Empowerment and Transformation for All (NewSETA).

He is currently undertaking a Postgraduate Diploma in Peace and Conflicts at Makerere University in Uganda under the Rotary Peace Fellowship programme.

About Community Vision Group

It is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in the United Kingdom, and operations Cameroon, Malawi and The Gambia. It has as vision to help transform communities. 

The organisation’s core programme is “Feed the Child” initiative, emerging from a deep burden to meet the food security, health, and nutritional as well as educational needs of primary-aged children in Cameroon and beyond.

The programme is already being implemented in seven schools in Boyo and Donga Mantung Divisions of the North West Region.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3187 of Friday August 02, 2024