Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon
The National Civic Service Agency for Participation in Development has launched the 2014 recruitment opportunities for volunteers. Southwest Regional Coordinator for the agency, Ivo Vevanje made public the information Saturday, November 23 2013 in Buea at a press briefing.
Vevanje said for 2014, training will be opened to all the different categories of the youth population from the ages of 17 – 35 for voluntary training and from 17 – 21 for the compulsory training. He indicated that registration is ongoing and interested persons should constitute themselves in homogenous groups of ten and go to the Sub-divisional and
Ivo Vevanje, outgoing Southwest Regional Coordinator for the National Civic Service Agency
Divisional delegations of Youth and Civic Affairs across the Southwest Region and get themselves enlisted. “The forms are available, people should come along with their National Identity Cards and register in this capacity building opportunities created by the state,” he mentioned.
According to the Southwest Regional boss of the Civic Service Agency, the training of the second batch of volunteers, which opened November 1 and is due to end November 30 is unfolding successfully. “These limited group of vulnerable persons; youths from border towns, street children, the mbororos, albinos and pigmies are been trained on agriculture, with specialisation on maize, vegetable, cassava and water melon farming,” he said.
He will add that after the one-month training, the 99 trainees from the Southwest Region will converge at one of the training centres, yet to be designated, to receive support from the government. “Tentatively, we are looking forward to December 5 2013, the International Day of Volunteerism. The government will make available material support, based on the needs expressed by the volunteers and some amount of money for them to transport their materials and subsequently hire labour,” Vevanje explained.
The 99 volunteers in the Southwest Region are distributed in the following training centres; Borstal Institute for volunteers in Fako Division, 20 persons, Eyumojock, Ekok and Otu in Manyu Division, 19 volunteers, Mundemba for the Bakassi area in Ndian Division has 30 persons and Akwaya town for the people in that locality has 30 people.
To better manage their respective projects and their future, the 99 volunteers in the Southwest Region have been constituted into twelve working groups of 2 in Fako, 2 in Eyumojock, 4 in Mundemba and 4 in Akwaya. “The support will be given in groups, with the intention that they should eventually turn into Common Initiative Groups, CIGs or Civil Society Organisations, COSs, so as to source for funding elsewhere,” Vevanje said.
He expressed happiness that the feedback from the trainees is positive, especially those involved in the agricultural sector, noting that those in the livestock are wobbling. “Generally, the training is moving on smoothly. Many of the volunteers are committed, making a lot of sacrifices, going to the demonstration farms with their trainers, who are Agricultural Engineers from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. A good number of the trainees have learnt from others and have promised to make a difference as the projects unfold,” he said.
At the close of 2013, Vevanje will round off his activities at the Southwest Regional Coordination of the National Civic Service Agency as he moves on to his new assignment, the Southwest Regional Delegate of Transport.
