FEICOM DG recommits to work towards gender parity in institution.

He took the commitment during a dinner offered by female staff of FEICOM. The dinner was organised at the close of week-long activities that culminated in the marking of International Women’s Day, on Sunday, March 8.

The DG unveiled that at present, the gender balance at the institution stands at sixty to forty, (60:40). But he promised the female staff that he will continue working to bring the balance to fifty-fifty, (50:50), in the not-too-distant future. 

He opined that human advancement could be accelerated if all human institutions refrained from undermining the importance of women. 

Akoa insisted that if the feminine gender is appropriately empowered and put to effective use, the advancement of human society would be accelerated.

The DG spoke briefly on the theme of this year’s celebration: “Rights, Justice, Action, for women and Girls”, blaming men for not standing up as protectors of their wives, mothers, aunties, sisters and daughters.

He told men that whenever a woman is molested, beaten; worst of all, if she is killed, no man should ask what the woman did before such ignominious fate befell her.

He urged men to rise up, condemn whatever act and take action, because no woman or girl is supposed to be beaten, raped or killed by a man, for whatever reason. 

Any maltreatment of women, he said, is a manifestation of the depravity of the male folk. Before boasting that as Ambassador of HeForShe, protecting the rights of women and girls, and empowering them is not something he practices only at his duty post, but even right at home. 

Reason why, he announced that his wife is the President of the Association of Female Jurists of Cameroon.

Innovations in the 2026 edition

Apart from honouring and handing over prizes to women who excelled at sporting competitions, and other activities that took place in prelude to March 8, the women highlighted innovations they introduced during this year’s celebration.

One of them was the godmotherhood initiative. This was introduced as a measure to entrench and pass on the values of hard work, resilience, team work, promoting inclusion and living together that are the hallmarks of FEICOM staff.

Godmotherhood at the institution took the form of pairing up younger and newly recruited staff, with senior and more experienced staff who mentored the younger ones to make sure they imbibe and conform to the values, and aspirations of the organization.

Dubbed, “Programme de Marrainage 2026”, it is being implemented under the theme: “Inspire them today, follow them up tomorrow: Shared Trajectories”. 

The vision bearers have insisted that such mentoring and follow up bears fruits that stabilise and ensure the long-term survival of an institution, not only FEICOM, but any other.

Another innovation the women introduced this year was to offer special prizes to female staff who are expected to go on retirement before the end of this year.

After handing over the special retirement prizes, the Director General promised all the women that retirement is not supposed to be a painful exercise that causes a worker anxiety and sorrow. Reason why at FEICOM, retirement is considered to be a merited period for the worker to enjoy a deserved rest after long years of service.

In his closing remarks, Camille Akoa told the women that if many women are still not being appreciated at this point in time, it could be because the women themselves don’t come out to valorise themselves. 

“For men to accomplish their goals, we need women. We need you to continue doing the good work of accelerated decentralization. We need you so that we can make local communities in Cameroon places where people can live well and accomplish the dreams of their lives,” Akoa told FEICOM women.

Meanwhile, speaking earlier, the women representative at FEICOM, Melanie Noah, who doubles as Sub Director in charge of Human Capital Development, elaborated on the Godmotherhood initiative. 

On behalf of her peers, Melanie Noah praised FEICOM DG for his efforts in empowering women and instituting gender parity in the institution.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3727 of Tuesday March 10, 2026