At Extraordinary General Assembly: Cameroon social workers brainstorm on framework regulating profession.

The General Assembly held on the campus of the National School of Administration and Magistracy, ENAM, in Yaounde on Saturday, October 5. 

It was placed under the theme: “The Cameroon National Association of Social Workers at the time of re-establishment: issues, challenges and perspectives”.

The opening ceremony was chaired on behalf of the Minister of Social Affairs, MINAS, Pauline Irene Ngeune, by the Secretary General of that ministry, Panje Beryl Itoh. 

In her speech, the minister’s representative thanked the organising committee for their effort in ensuring a successful and hitch-free first ever General Assembly of the association which serves as a platform for dialogue on social works in the country. 

“The establishment of a platform for meetings and exchanges between social workers appears to be an opportunity for the ministry of Social Affairs in the context of the CNASW. It should constitute a medium for aggrandizing social issues and equally a forum for suggestion,” the MINAS scribe said. 

She also mentioned that over the last ten years, the role of civil society actors has grown and continued to grow with civil society organizations being given a central part to play in the designing and implementation of social action initiatives. 

“This is to have access to a better structure. We have come with our various suggestions and we should give those suggestions for us to see that social work in Cameroon is stronger and why not be like the ones in Anglo-Saxon countries,” she urged the participants. 

According to Social Affairs Inspector and President of CNASW, Mathieu Meyeme, the aim of the meeting was to mobilise social workers of all generations around a national umbrella organisation and to rethink the structure, organisation and operation of the CNASW with a view to establishing a professional order.

“We want to lay the foundations for the ethical, normative, legal and institutional framework for the exercise of the profession of social worker in Cameroon, adopt the organic and technical framework responsible for preparing an elective General Assembly and define a consensual roadmap,” the CNASW president said.

Besides collective reflection on the adoption of new statutes and internal regulations for the CNASW, the members also brainstormed on other thematic issues related to the practice of social work in Cameroon.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3254 of Wednesday October 09, 2024