East Region grabs 90 million FCFA from FEICOM National Award.

Specifically, Ngoura Council, in the Upper Nyong Division of the East Region, grabbed the first prize which attracted a financial package of 70 million FCFA to add to the 20 million FCFA for the regional prize category.

To win the first prize, Ngoura Council had, during the year of assessment, embarked on a project to provide potable water to many villages in the council area. Ngoulemendouka-Dimako council won the regional prize. The council carried out a project to support women and girls to attain financial independence, (empowerment).

North West & South West Regions

The North West Region smiled home with 40 million FCFA. Thanks to the project to assist separatist fighters who had opted to lay down their weapons and get integrated into normal life. The Nkor Council implemented that project and won the regional prize, smiling home with 20 million FCFA.

Another council from the North West, this time, Nkambe, also won one of the new prizes introduced in this year´s edition – the Nutrition Special Prize; Children´s Rights Special Prize; and the Women´s Rights Special Prize.

Nkambe Council won the Nutrition Special Prize, and went home with 20 million FCFA. The council won the prize from its sweet potatoes project, which focuses on producing flour from sweet potato, in an effort to diversify food options, improve nutritional intake, and reduce post-harvest losses by transforming locally grown produce into shelf-stable, high-value products. 

The assessors revealed that sweet potato flour can be used for infant nutrition, baking, pastries, and household consumption, positioning it as a strategic commodity in the fight against malnutrition.

It is an initiative that encourages large scale production of the crop, increasing revenues for farmers, and contributing significantly to the promotion of the national food security value chain.

The South West Region had to make do with the regional prize alone. Here, the Limbe I Council, in Fako Division smiled home with the 20 million FCFA allocated prize money. 

Limbe I Council was rewarded for its project to expand Civil Status registration in the Subdivision, through instituting efficient management of the public service delivery system.

Other winners

The second National Prize of 50 million FCFA went to Nkoteng Council in the Centre Region. Like Ngoulemendouka-Dimako council that won the first prize, Nkoteng was also rewarded for carrying out a project that improved access to potable water to many villages in the council area.

The third National Prize, which attracted a financial benefit of 30 million FCFA, went to Djohong Council in the Mbere Division of Adamawa Region. 

The Council was rewarded for embarking on a project that contributed considerably to promoting the rights of children, not only in the council area, but all over the Division and even the entire Region.

Other winners of the special prizes introduced this year, from which Nkambe Council benefitted, included Tokombere Council, in the Mayo Sava Division of the Far North Region. The council was rewarded for expanding civil status in the area, and carted home 20 million FCFA.

The last prize in this category, that of promoting women´s rights, (Women´s Rights Special Prize), went to Ngaoundere III Council. The council went away with the 20 million FCFA prize money for implementing a project that aimed at discouraging pregnant women from giving birth at home. It is a practice which the government believes is the cause of the high incidence of virginal fistula, noted to be plaguing the area.

For the Regional Prizes, Ngaoundere City Council went home with the 20 million FCFA prize money allocated for that Region, thanks to its project to transform the urban landscape.

Mbalmayo Council in the Centre Region won the regional prize for its project to improve the management of markets and ‘motor parks’. This, the assessors said, had helped in no small measure to improve internally generated revenue of the council.

Kaele Council in the Far North also won the regional prize for its project that focused on promoting the protection of the environment in the council area.

Nkongsamba I Council also won the regional prize for the Littoral Region. The council implemented a project to ease the integration of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in its area of jurisdiction.

The Garoua II Council in the North Region won the regional prize for its project to encourage community participation in development effort. Meanwhile, Baham Council in the West Region, won the regional prize for a project in which the council constructed a sports complex in the area.

Ambam Council was winner of the regional prize for the South Region. The Council was singled out for its reforestation project, which assessors said was exemplary in the effort to fight against land degradation.

The Alioune Badiane Special Prize of the international jury, worth 25 million FCFA, was awarded to Douala V Council. The Council was praised for instituting a system that allows both officials and contributors to easily master the tax base.

Officials speak

Before handing out the awards, some top personalities addressed the audience. The Director General of FEICOM, Camille Philippe Akoa, showered praises on some members of the international jury, particularly Prof Peter Anyang Nyong´o from Kenya who was President of Jury and Beryl Nozipho Khanyile, from South Africa, Vice President of the Jury. Akoa praised them for accepting to honou not only FEICOM, but Cameroon as a whole by assuming the responsibility.

Akoa announced that the number of prizes had increased from 14 in the past five editions to 17 this year, thanks to three special prizes introduced by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, in conjunction with the Board of Directors of FEICOM. 

Akoa praised FEICOM’s Board of Directors for coming up with the initiative of national award in 2010, adding that now in its sixth edition, the FEICOM National Award has continued to win acclaim both nationally and internationally. 

For the Minister of Decentralisation and Local Development, MINDDEVEL, Georges Elanga Obam, who is also Board Chair of FEICOM, both the government and the UN-HABITAT, remain unwavering in promoting the ideals that underlie the institution of the FEICOM National Award.

Khanyile, the South African who acted as President of the Jury, and handed out the awards, it was an honour for her and her team to be honoured to act in that capacity as assessors of best practices and award meritorious councils accordingly. 

She encouraged Cameroonians to continue to support the initiative, assuring that the FEICOM Councils Best Practices Award has the potential of spurring competition among decentralised collectivities for the overall good of enhancing national development. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3656 of Monday December 15, 2025