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Cameroon: Nkafu Policy Institute equips youths to ensure good policy, transparency, accountability

September 21, 2022

By Boris Esono Nwenfor [caption id="attachment_100633" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Participants pose with their certificates at the end of the training program[/caption] Some youths have been equipped with policy analysis to ensure good policy, government transparency, and fiscal accountability. The close to 30 youths we drilled during a special one-week intensive training course designed by the Nkafu Policy Institute, a think tank of the Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation and organised in Yaounde. The five-day training which culminated in an award ceremony last Friday in Yaounde brought together some young graduates, scholars, and leaders of civil society organisations, amongst others. For more than six years, the Nkafu Policy Institute at the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation has been working towards making Cameroon a better place to live and work, by promoting research-based policy reforms grounded in free enterprise and economic freedoms. According to Bin Joachem Meh, Researcher in Economic affairs at the Nkafu Policy Institute, the programme is aimed at enhancing the skills of young Cameroonians and Africa at large to ensure accountability, transparency and proper policy making. Speaking about the training, the economic researcher said “the 2022 cohort of this programme was very enriching as we started with the fundamentals of creating a business, policy analysis and policy gaps and how to draft a policy proposal”. He continued: "When we look at the UN SDG number 1, it focuses on poverty and poverty is a brainchild of poor policymaking. So, if we can enhance the skills of young Cameroonians and Africans, then shortly, there will be good policy-making, monitoring and evaluation, accountability and learning”. While urging many more to take interest in and enrolled on the programme when next it is launched, Meh noted policy making and the level of poverty in the country and the continent will greatly be improved upon. The training was characterised by lectures, simulations, case-study discussion, group debates, and post-course follow-up and culminated in a ceremony marked by group presentations and an award of certificates. To streamline gender in training, 15 of the trainees were ladies. According to one of the participants, Koti Tina Brenda, the course provided them with the "opportunity to learn about public policy analysis and gaps, policy proposals, and how to draft op-eds". "It was very easy to assimilate because the trainers are experts from different fields who equipped us on how to put the theory into practice, how to draft good and sensitive policies and advocate for them in our society. This course is very valuable to me because the knowledge acquired here will help me in my community on how to draft policies, especially in my humanitarian works in the community," Koti added. Another participant, Saron Obia applauded the training course which he said will be very helpful to him. “It has given me a great insight on how to establish public policies and analyse policies. We also gained knowledge of how businesses are set in Cameroon and why some businesses fail especially at their early stages. This will help to establish policies in top security organisations in the country and beyond,” security expert mentioned. [caption id="attachment_100635" align="alignnone" width="1280"] The training from Nkafu Policy Institute was characterised by lectures, simulations, case-study discussion, group debates, and post-course follow-up[/caption] To Meingeh Sandrine, since graduated in 2017, she hasn’t been able to get a job in my field of studies.  “So, this training has permitted me to gain practical knowledge and have another view of the society to come up with a programme that can help communities and the country in general towards achieving her objectives in 2035,” Maingeh assured. A free enterprise economic system stimulates competition amongst private businesses and helps in the safeguarding of an economy where small businesses can thrive, being largely free from government control. However, SMEs in Cameroon face several obstacles that prevent them from growing and catalyzing a system that generates economic opportunities for all. The various obstacles faced by Cameroon’s SMEs include high tax rates, administrative bottlenecks, corruption, difficult access to finance, and difficult access to electricity just to name but a few. Therefore, there is an urgent need for liberating enterprises to advance prosperity in Cameroon.    

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