The National Development Foundation (NDEF) is a proactive development organisation working in Cameroon. Their main objective is to generate programmes that enhance the socio-economic development of impoverished populations with the ultimate goal of providing sustainable solutions to their acute problems. NDEF has following goals:
- Promoting cultural and social cohesion among the people
- Encouraging education at all levels
- Child development
- Environmental protection and improvement
- Combating malnutrition by improving agricultural practices
- Improving the health sector
- Economic development
Economic advisor
- Advising on the strategic priorities of the charity
- Drawing up a new management strategy
- Making project and funding proposals
- Advising on development and sustainability of micro-enterprise projects
- Monitoring and evaluation of projects
Descending onto the tarmac at Douala airport, I was greeted by a banner welcoming me to the "Armpit of Africa". Luckily the humidity declined as I made my way to the cool air of the Bamenda highlands. The NGO I was to be working with was based eight miles outside Bamenda along the famous ‘Ring Road', which is lined with rolling hills, lush forests and the occasional bush meat stand.
During my stay, I spent many exhilarating hours on the NDEF motorbike, flying along trails to visit remote groups of farmers with a gigantic bunch of plantains strapped to my back. The role of NDEF was to work with these groups to encourage improved agricultural practices such as agroforestry, bee keeping and the growing of medicinal plants. Even though the environment was often heavily degraded and all these activities were quite profitable, this proved frustratingly difficult. Complex social hierarchies and the persistence of a barter economy in some areas meant that nearly all my training as an economist was thrown out of the window by the end of the first week.
Perhaps the single most important skill I acquired during my placement was being able to spot the challenges people faced in taking up new opportunities, and discussing the ways in which NDEF might be able to help. One village leader insisted we guarantee a price for the new crops we were encouraging them to plant, even though the current market price was three times what they would get for their existing crops. He simply wasn't confident he would find a market, which was pretty valid once you understood the sharp currency devaluations they had experienced and that they were cut off by the rainy season for six months of the year.
In practice I found that general management and communications skills to guide the NGO were most important in achieving change in a sometimes overpowering environment of inertia, but also to help me feel I was able to contribute something in a culture based on connections, deference and (often mystifying) parables.
When I arrived, the objectives of NDEF - like many NGOs in this part of the world - were vague and constantly changing to match aid and grant programmes. The scatter-gun approach to fund-raising clearly constrained the organisation so after a few weeks I decided that my biggest contribution would be to help focus the organisation so it could at least do one role really well. Working with a partner, the World Agroforestry Centre, and after convincing the president and consulting staff, we decided to focus on promoting the integrated use of improved trees and crops in poor areas, taking advantage of the natural fertility of the region and also helping to reverse rapid deforestation.
There were many difficult decisions to be made, including suspending work in some existing villages to focus our resources more effectively, and drawing up a new management strategy for NDEF. Personally, much of my time was spent making project and funding proposals to embassies, foreign development agencies
and international NGOs. This involved a lot of hectic travel to get quotations (how much do six piglets and 3,000 black plastic bags cost in Cameroon?), explain how our work would benefit the local people, and trips to the capital to meet with potential donors. I am confident we made progress, but the process was slow and frustrating, with villagers' efforts being entirely wiped-out by a single storm and some funding applications literally taking years to complete.
Being a small NGO of just three or four people, we worked irregular hours and most weekends, although I was always encouraged to take time out to visit local events and to explore. In fact, I probably learned the most about the local society from chatting about tribal disputes at the local bar in the evening, or observing the contrast between modern Christian wedding celebrations that dominate the lives of young people and the week-long traditional funeral celebrations (involving endless supplies of potent palm wine) that take up an increasing amount of time for the older population.
Cameroon is famed for its corruption and while our NGO status provided some protection, I quickly learned to set-aside any moral dilemmas and that a couple of 500CFA bills could make a journey or an application pass in half the time. A visit from the Ministry of Labour, for example, resulted in us not only taking the two officials for a (very expensive) lunch of porcupine meat and boxed red wine, but even paying for the fuel their vehicle required to get to our office and back. Despite our generosity, as a foreigner I was obliged to provide them with an astonishing array of documents, including a ‘certificate of non-conviction'. My suggestion that it would be easier to keep track of those who had been locked-up was not well received!
Reconciling the absurdly petty corruption of a civil servant who refuses to process your application until you "dash" him your ring-binder, with the village store owner who refuses to accept any payment for the remaining contents of his store - a tiny bunch of three bananas - occupied a great deal of my time. Since I was supposed to be supporting NDEF as an economist, episodes like this made me feel rather inadequate. But working for a respected local NGO placed me in the most diverse and representative situations to get a grip on the complexities, and these have definitely helped me to frame my thoughts on my current Masters course.
I have recently been offered a post as an ODI Fellow, which is a scheme to send postgraduate economists to work in selected African Ministries for two years as civil servants. Not only did my placement in Cameroon give me an edge in the interviews, where I could show an understanding of practical policy constraints and give some concrete examples of how I responded to the frustrations of everyday life, but it has given me the confidence that I will be able to adapt to a new job and lifestyle, which was by far the most enjoyable aspect of my time in Cameroon.