At Central African forum in Y’de: Think tank, civil society leaders brainstorm on boosting regional dev’t.

The two-day forum, which ended Thursday August 22, was organised by Nkafu Policy Institute, a think tank of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation.

The forum was also attended by leaders of advocacy groups, independent researchers, donors, women leaders of civil society organizations, youth leaders, policy makers, scholars, as well as international organizations and regional bodies.

For two days, the high-profile participants discussed the common challenges of the region and explored various ways to empower independent voices in the Central African region.

In his opening address, the Co-chair of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation, Dr Denis Foretia, spoke on the need to empower think tanks in the Central Africa Region. 

“We want to ensure that our public policies work for us as Cameroonians and then as citizens of Central Africa. We want to aid our governments and public authorities to ensure that we are more efficient and more effective in all our policies,” Dr Foretia said. 

He then stressed on the need to expand the civic space in the Central African subregion to ensure that there help contribute to the democratic transition but more especially to ensure development for the interest of the people. 

“Our main goal is to figure out how we support and work with governments to ensure that we bring and expand the development and inputs to our communities,” he added.  

He further explained that they seek to help catalyse economic transformation and substantive development. 

Keynote speaker reacts

The keynote speaker, Dr Richard Fonteh Akum, who is the Executive Director of South African-based Institute for Security Studies, ISS, captioned his message on: “Strengthening human rights, accountable governance, and democracy: Role for Think Tanks and CSOs”. 

Going by the senior researcher, think tanks and CSOs need to define clearly their goals, harness the potential of technology and to invest in human capital to be more impactful. 

While urging them to be transparent and honest about their capabilities, he urged them to actively network and collaborate with others in order to drive meaningful change and impact in the region.

Eradicating poverty

Speaking to the press after the opening session of the forum, Dr Fonteh explained that critical levers such as regional integration, industrialisation of agriculture, and infrastructural development are vital in accelerating poverty eradication in the region. 

While acknowledging that the civil society alone cannot achieve this, he noted that partnering with government would have a great impact. 

“Civil society will not industrialise agriculture neither would think tanks. But if we say we need to industrialise our agriculture in the drive towards poverty reduction, it means that we need to prove to government the utility for actually industrialising agriculture...especially as it addresses labour and unemployment,” Dr Fonteh declared. 

Speaking on regional integration, he noted that: “We need to mobilise and make our governments understand the utility of regional integration through trade and the movement of people, skills, capital and goods”.

“So, think tanks and civil society organisation could be a critical partner in working with government to drive private sector growth, industrialisation, development of human capital and infrastructural development,” he added.

He also noted that the projections of a population boom in the region to over 300 million by 2034 will have positive bearings in the region if fundamental issues are resolved. 

“The growth demonstrates the fact that the Central African region is addressing a fundamental issue within the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, which is child motility...,” he said.  

It is worth noting that the forum was marked by plenary sessions and panel discussions with key presentations and policy recommendations from renowned international development experts, thematic workshops designed to enhance participants' skills and capacities as well as round table discussions to facilitate experience-sharing and collaboration.

The forum also had pitching sessions to present innovative ideas and solutions.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3207 of Friday August 23, 2025