Cameroon/Bangangangté Commune and AFD organize a technical visit for local executives from African local authorities

On Saturday 23rd January 2021, Mrs Nana, fourth deputy mayor, Honoré Tchaewo, and Georges Dongmo received about twenty participants from African local authorities, who came to the school of decentralisation and project management in Bangangté Commune, considered as a model of success by its international influence.

It is 1:00 pm under the skies of Bangangté city as the participants arrived from Yaounde under the leadership of Mrs. Olli Moumie, Director of Development, Administration and Finance at the partner firm AGORA Consulting which works in close collaboration with the French Development Agency (AFD). They will be greeted as they get out of the vehicle by the Head of the Hygiene and Sanitation Department, Honoré Tchaewo and Madam the Fourth Deputy Mayor Antoinette Nana, personal representative of Mayor Dr Kouamouo who is prevented from attending for the occasion .

The new City Hall, whose construction is currently being completed, served as a forum for exchanges between the participants and representatives of the Bangangté City Hall. After welcoming her guests to Bangangté, the Mayor handed over to Honoré Tchaewo who opened the meeting by presenting the main lines of what would constitute the roadmap of this mission, or this technical visit in the Commune which welcomes them. While the Head of the Hygiene Department interviewed the participants by sharing the experience of the MODEAB project and its secondary activities, Georges Dongmo, Renewable Energy Engineer, walked around the site. his listeners along the path of the project "Women and Renewable Energy in the Bangangté Commune" and its extension to the other communes led by women mayors. These two projects, which meet AFD's objectives for the happiness of its learners, place Bangangté in the network of sustainable cities. The main target beneficiaries of these two projects shared in exchange of experience are the local and even surrounding populations.

The presentation plan of the MODEAB Project by the Sanitary Engineering Engineer revolved around the presentation of the Bangangté Commune, the context and justification, the collection, treatment and recovery of household waste in the municipality. Valorization of ecological latrines, sustainable management of emptying sludge, Sanitation as a key to sustainable development for Decentralized Territorial Collectivities. The various financial and technical partners such as AIMF, the Veolia Foundation, SIAAP and Eau Seine-Normandie, L'Association Les Enfants du Nde,Honoré Tchaewo presented with figures, then their involvement at all levels which made it possible to carry out these social projects in the Commune. The many questions asked by the participants to better understand this example testify to the interest that they give to this component, and to the module of their training which is the strategic planning of a project. Georges Dongmo, for his part, planned his presentation around seven points. From the genesis of the Women and Renewable Energies programme, the different stages and budgets to its extension in some twenty communes piloted by women mayors under the auspices of decentralised international cooperation with IAMF as the lead agency.

After these exchanges and discussions, the participants shared a meal together with the leaders in order to give them a little more energy after this long journey, given that a visit to the achievements in the field was on the agenda. The first field visit was to the thermal power plant of the Bangangté District Hospital where the operation and the supply of renewable energy to the hospital will be explained to them by Georges Dongmo. The continuation takes place at the Noumgha sewage sludge treatment plant where they had the opportunity to appreciate the quality of the project, its impact and its national scope.

According to Olli Moumie, Head of Delegation, Olli Moumie explained that the Local Authorities Management Training Course has been organized and implemented by AFD since 2009 through its Knowledge Development Department. It is a training program for local authority actors and elected representatives, i.e. actors in the field. There are four modules in this program: the fundamentals of project management in territorial authorities for the first module, the second is the strategic diagnosis of territorial development, the third is the strategic plan for territorial development for the second module, the fourth is the strategic plan for territorial development for the third module and the fifth is the strategic plan for territorial development for the fifth module.The third is the medium-term strategic development plan and the priority investment plan (PIP) and finally the strategic planning of a project, and it is this last module that is the reason for their presence in Bangangté. In the various activities proposed, which make up the overall pedagogical approach, they have a field visit of a real project in order to illustrate what is seen in the workshop. And why did they choose the city of Bangangté when we know that last year the participants were in Douala in the urban community, the one before them was in Kribi? The answer is unequivocal: AFD wanted Bangangté to be a stage in the training thanks to its international influence and the quality of its projects which have a direct impact on the daily lives of populations. It is therefore a question for AFD and Agora Consulting to show participants from several African countries that it is possible to set up local projects that can attract foreign investors as is the case in Bangangté. The participants who are students of AFD are not actually learners in the true sense of the word. They are professionals, local elected officials and local authority executives who exercise and have responsibilities in many fields, including management and project management.

For the participants, having noticed that the two proposed projects were initiated by the former Mayor and current Cameroonian Minister of Urban Development and Water Management, they are now in the process of being implemented.Habitat, Célestine Ketcha Courtès, some wished to meet her to learn more about the targeting of projects with positive impacts on beneficiaries and territorial marketing. From the concerns raised by them, one feels the desire to duplicate, to transpose these projects in their respective communes. Regarding the international influence of the commune of Bangangté, territorial marketing is another major theme that is necessary for them.

Source: www.communedebangangte.net