Post-crisis assessments: UNDP, partners training stakeholders on best practices.

The Secretary General of the Ministry of Territorial Administration, MINAT, Yves Christian Edoa Effa, opened the training. 

It was in the presence of the Head of the European Union, EU, delegation in Cameroon, Jean-Marc Châtaigner, and UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Cameroon, Martin Hart-Hansen.

The UNDP, MINAT, EU and World Bank, officials said, are organising the training in partnership with the ministries of economy and that of finance.

The 50 participants, organisers stated, comprise; national and subnational authorities as well as international partners. 

Amongst them are representatives from the National Institute of Statistics, NIS; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, World Bank, EU, and other civil society actors.

Organizers said the training will equip participants with the capacity to develop a deep understanding of the approaches and adaptation to Cameroon’s multi-crisis context.

They also noted that those being trained will strengthen technical skills to estimate damages, losses, and recovery needs by integrating cross-cutting themes ranging from gender to conflicts and environment.

The design and operational management of hybrid assessments, including multi-stakeholder coordination and output formats are also areas which officials said the capacity of participants would be strengthened. 

It was said the ongoing exercise will make recovery planning based on reliable and verifiable data, effective coordination among government sectors and partners align with development priorities.

Decisive step in larger transformation bid

The Secretary General of the Ministry of Territorial Administration, Edoa Effa, said it is part of government’s move to take ownership of the culture of post-crisis assessments. 

Edoa Effa linked the training to one of government’s structural transformation priorities backed as outlined in the 2020-2030 National Development Strategy, SND30.

“The ongoing structural transformation of the country is based notably on more efficient public action, better planning, resilience and a greater resilience of the population in the face of crises and disaster risks,” Edoa Effa noted.

He added that: “What we are dealing with is a new dynamic that will allow us to ensure better reconstruction, rehabilitation at the recovery stage, and better care for the needs of the population based on the assessments that would have been conducted” using specific tools.

Enter UNDP Deputy Resident Representative

UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, Martin Hart-Hansen, said the training will enable Cameroon and its partners to be on the same page in post-disaster assessments projects.

Hart-Hansen noted that, the capacity building is vital in helping Cameroon considered a disaster-prone country to work with key partners to handle such hurdles.

“It is really a global partnership that has existed for decades between governments, of course in the countries in which we do them…,” Hart-Hansen noted.

EU hails initiative 

The Head of EU delegation in Cameroon, Jean-Marc Chataigner, said the bloc is part of actions needed for the country to become one of the biggest success stories in effective post-disaster assessments.

The diplomat said the sustained hope for a larger improvement in the sector is the reason the EU is continuously supporting its implementation. 

“One of the lessons we have learned from this collaboration is that we must ensure we have a strategic dialogue and communication from the very beginning,” Chataigner stated. He was firm that the objectives of such a capacity building exercise must be context specific.

“…we need to show flexibility in our assessment approaches. This is particularly true in countries where disasters and conflicts overlap,” he noted. Chataigner hailed the UNDP, the government and other stakeholders for supporting the project.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3806 of Wednesday June 03, 2026