The African Development Bank (AfDB) (www.AfDB.org) has underscored the success of its program aimed at bolstering job opportunities for young people in Cameroon.

At a meeting convened in Yaoundé on April 9, 2024, chaired by Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, the Bank Group’s Vice-President for Regional Development, Integration, and Business Delivery, stakeholders across various sectors gathered to discuss the Bank’s Program to Support Youth Employability in Cameroon.

The meeting saw significant participation from female entrepreneurs and young graduates who have benefited from work placements in projects financed by the Bank.

The event took place just ahead of the official inauguration of the African Development Bank Group’s regional office for Central Africa, signaling the Bank’s unwavering commitment to regional development.

Alongside young interns engaged in professional immersion within Bank-funded projects, the gathering also brought together male and female entrepreneurs active in agriculture, fishing, livestock, fish farming, and young women supported by the Bank to establish their own businesses. Additionally, managers from project management units were in attendance.

According to Serge N’Guessan, Director General of the Bank Group for Central Africa and head of the Bank’s Country Office in Cameroon, interns are deployed to projects in roles such as disbursement or contract award assistants, assistant engineers for road projects, archivists, among others.

N’Guessan revealed that 284 young individuals had already benefited from 12-month placements, providing them with valuable opportunities to integrate into various workplace settings, including projects funded by the Bank or other donors, as well as the private or public sectors. Notably, seven of them have secured positions within the Ministry of Public Works.

As the program prepares to receive its seventh cohort of interns, it has significantly contributed to integrating the majority of beneficiaries into the workforce.

Dieudonné Toukea, one of the program beneficiaries, shared her experience, underscoring the opportunities afforded by her initial exposure to the workplace, which enabled her to pursue her aspirations in the consultancy field.

“This initial experience really opened up opportunities for my friends and me. It gave me the chance to develop other activities after my placement and look for additional qualifications, which means I can now pursue a career in consultancy. Thank you for the opportunity we were given,” she said.

The participants advocated for the opening up a fund to finance entrepreneurs and for more opportunities to work on Bank projects. Finally, they hoped that the process of creating a web platform for networking with former interns could be speeded up.

Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade reasserted the importance of self-employment, especially for young people and women, emphasizing the Bank Group’s support through initiatives such as AFAWA (Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa). She highlighted collaboration with commercial banks to make access to credit easier for female entrepreneurs, emphasizing their reliability and greater capacity for repaying loans.

“We work with the commercial banks and offer them guarantees that help them to lend to female entrepreneurs. We also organize training for credit managers in banks to raise their awareness about being more open to funding applications submitted by women, since – contrary to popular belief – there is little risk in lending to women and women are best when it comes to repayments,” she stated.

“The project here in Cameroon is unique and I urge you to seize the opportunity, keep training and improve your skills to be even more competitive in the labour market,” the Vice-President of the Bank Group told the young people present. She pointed out that Africa needed to find work for the 12 million jobseekers who joined the labour market every year.

The meeting was also an opportunity for Jeanine Nkodo, coordinator of the Agricultural Value Chain Development Project, to highlight the specific efforts to support female entrepreneurs in this sector.

The Vice-President concluded by speaking about the Bank’s recent adoption of its ten-year strategy, which puts young people and women at the heart of its priorities. She also reaffirmed the Bank’s role as one of Cameroon’s key partners, particularly in terms of infrastructure funding and support for regions in crisis.

The Bank is also keen to support large businesses, particularly in the private sector, to encourage greater openness to young people and women.

“The Bank is open to providing funding to support these interns’ projects to help them integrate into society and the workplace by starting their own businesses,” said the Vice-President.

“We offer guarantees to commercial banks so that they can lend to female entrepreneurs” – Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, Vice-President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Download more images: https://apo-opa.co/448VlS3

Media contact:
Romaric Ollo Hien
Communication and External Relations Department
media@afdb.org

About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is the premier multilateral financing institution dedicated to Africa’s development. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NSF).  The AfDB has a field presence in 44 African countries, with an external office in Japan, and contributes to the economic development and social progress of its 54 regional member states.

For more information: www.AfDB.org

The World Bank announced the Central Bank of Cabo Verde (CBCV) as the second beneficiary of a multi-donor trust fund for advancing public asset management worldwide. Representatives from CBCV and the World Bank signed the technical assistance agreement, which delivers technical advisory services under the World Bank’s Reserve Advisory&Management Partnership (RAMP) program.

Announced in October, the trust fund brings the World Bank’s public asset management expertise to lower-income, fragile, or conflict-affected countries that could not otherwise afford it. CBCV becomes the 75th member of the Partnership’s global network of public asset managers and second beneficiary of the trust fund.

“A warm welcome to the Central Bank of Cabo Verde as the newest RAMP member supported by the trust fund,” said Jorge Familiar, World Bank Vice President&Treasurer. “We are grateful for the continuous support and generosity of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) to share our asset management expertise, expanding RAMP’s global impact.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The World Bank Group.

Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, Sergei Naryshkin, and his accompanying delegation. The meeting was attended by Director of the General Intelligence Service, Major General Abbas Kamel.

Spokesman for the Presidency, Counselor Dr. Ahmed Fahmy, said the meeting focused on the regional situation, primarily ways to achieve stability in the Middle East amid the crisis in the Gaza Strip and the escalating tension in the region. They also touched on a number of African issues, counterterrorism efforts, as well as the latest developments on the international arena, especially in Ukraine and Afghanistan. 

The meeting also reviewed Egypt’s efforts to calm the situation in the region through its engagement with all parties, affirming Egypt’s vision regarding the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the unfettered flow of sufficient humanitarian aid and relief, as fundamental steps to defuse regional tension. Egypt’s stance also envisages the crucial need to reach a just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue, and the establishment of the Palestinian state, along the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, to ensure peace and stability in the Middle East.

The two sides emphasized their commitment to continuing consultations and coordination between the two countries on various dossiers, given their outstanding historical relations.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

It’s early morning, but Soba Arão Moma, a traditional leader in Benfica neighbourhood in Huambo province, Angola, is already interacting with residents and handing out leaflets. His mission is clear: to ensure everyone is fully informed about the meningitis outbreak affecting Angola’s Huambo province and that no sick children are at home unattended when they should be in hospital.

Moma was part of a critical collaboration by the World Health Organization (WHO), Angola’s Health Ministry, and the European Union to halt an alarming surge in meningitis cases in the province last year, reduce mortality rates, and boost healthcare capacity.

Between January and December 2023, Angola recorded a significant increase in suspected cases of meningitis, with 68,169 cases and 169 deaths. The high case fatality rate of 40% among the 336 cases reported in Huambo province means that it has accounted for almost 80% of deaths countrywide.

In general, Huambo province has been the focus of intervention to control a possible outbreak in the country since between January and December 2023, Angola recorded a significant increase in suspected cases of meningitis, with 68,169 cases and 169 deaths, of which 336 cases were reported in Huambo province, with a fatality rate of over 40%. This mortality rate is relatively high when compared to the average number of deaths recorded in the countries considered part of the meningitis belt in the WHO African region, of which Angola is not part.

Between January and May 2023, the province recorded 103 meningitis cases, resulting in 42 deaths, with a concerning 41% fatality rate. Medication shortages, healthcare personnel, and health facility understaffing exacerbated Huambo province’s meningitis outbreak. To ensure an effective response and safeguard high-risk populations, a 20-day joint response mission to Huambo aimed to enhance the functionality of local health systems, improve infrastructure and medication availability, and bolster human resources.

Critical outcomes of joint efforts included training 37 healthcare technicians in risk communication and community engagement, training 30 journalists in how to communicate for meningitis prevention and response, engaging 595 community leaders, and training 1548 social mobilisers and community leaders like Moma to disseminate critical messages broadly.

“We never tired of walking the streets, passionate about conveying the crucial message to everyone that if they experienced symptoms of meningitis, they should seek immediate assistance at their nearest health facility,” recalls Moma.

The experts supported local meningitis education initiatives, identified high-risk groups, and advocated with local leaders to disseminate critical messages while conducting assessments to rapidly investigate the social factors impacting meningitis prevention.

Provincial health director Lucas Yamba says, “We have been able to count on the support of the Directorate of Public Health in this regard, with the excellent partnership of WHO.”

Through collaborative efforts involving the community, churches and traditional authorities, information about meningitis prevention and treatment was widely disseminated in healthcare facilities and communities.

“We gave talks to churches on Saturdays and Sundays, while here [at the health centre] in each of the service areas, our users also received information about meningitis,” said Martins Canuela, a technician at the Benfica Baixo health facility located in Moma’s neighbourhood.

According to Yamba, because of the push to bring the outbreak under control, mortality rates from meningitis in the last months of 2023 had decreased from 53% to 35%.

While significant strides had been made to address the meningitis crisis in Huambo, including increased awareness and reduced mortality rates, ongoing support was crucial to sustain these achievements, says Dr Yoti Zabulon, WHO Acting Representative in Angola.

“By continuing to work together and leverage partnerships, we can ensure that all communities have access to quality health care services and can effectively manage preventable diseases like meningitis,” he says.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO) – Angola.