CHANGE
COMMUNICATIONS AND PDUE COMMUNING WITH THE COMMONS OF CAMEROON
That mid-morning in October 2010, the people summoned to
attend a meeting announced several days before were
present in the conference hall of the city district council. All were seated.
But, the “chef de quartier”, the man whose presence was absolutely necessary was
no where to be found The neighbourhood meeting was going to make little sense
without his presence, given the tremendous influence he has over the people he
rules in the neighbourhood. In fact, his presence was all the more necessary as
the meeting was summoned to chart strategies for mobilising all the residents in
the neighbourhood to participate in all stages of the execution of a series of
socio-economic infrastructures - which the people desperately need – financed by
the World Bank through a program – PDUE – in the Cameroon’s Ministry of Housing
and Urban Development. Yet, the man who was supposed to be the
first at the meeting as the “quarter head” was the last, and there was no
indication that, he was any where near to attending the meeting. Some of the
people present began loosing their patience as they had other businesses to take
care of. Thirty minutes, one hour, two hours, “no chef de quartier”.
After some time, the organizers of the meeting were told that, the
“chef” did not come because, he was not given his “carburant” or fuel. In fact,
in Cameroonian parlance, carburant means “money” given to an official (not all
ask for it though) before he/she officiates at a ceremony or an event. They were
told that, the chef de quarier had expressed surprise that, a World Bank funded
project should fail to give “his share” of the World Bank money.
He was quoted to have exclaimed in total dismay, C’est quand meme la Banque
Mondiale!” /”It’s the World Bank after all!” meaning an institution which has so
much money, all the money in the World! And he could understand why the
organizers did not see as natural to give him the Bank’s money.
Curious and paradoxical as it may sound, this “chef de quartier” was
not to blame entirely for this development unfriendly attitude. Rumour was to
blame. How?
The government of Cameroon contracted a huge loan from the World Bank
and in 2007, it set up a structure, PDUE charged with the responsibility to
conceive and supervise the construction of health centres, schools, markets,
sports arenas, community halls and access roads in some of the poorest
neighbourhoods of five cities of the country – Maroua, Bamenda, Douala, Mbalmayo
and Yaoundé. From the start, the beneficiary population was quite enthusiastic
and energized to cooperate, and participate in all the stages of the project
cycle.
But, somewhere along the line, something happened. A rumour-virus hit
and dis-activated the connecting chains in the implementation process of the
project, and was about paralysing the whole project cycle. Rumours
held that, the World Bank channelled money for the poor in the poor
neighbourhoods through the PDUE, the councils as key partners in the project,
and some members of the executive of the NDC, but the money did not trickle down
to them. Some people reacted by not attending meetings. Some government
officials such as divisional officers as well, were not quite hot to attend
meetings because they were not steamed with some “carburant”/fuel.
The initial enthusiasm generated by the project began waning and
was almost petering out. This was a sufficiently serious threat to efforts by
PDUE to provide basic amenities to populations living in some of the most
life-negating areas of the five towns concerned by the project.
The amenities were their first ever in fifty years after the independence
of Cameroon.
Given the seriousness of the challenge, the executing agency PDUE,
called in communication “doctors” to deal with the rumour-virus and save the
project. After a stiff competitive selection process under World Bank criteria,
Change Communications (Change Comms.) was taken for the job. We were
committed by the terms of reference, to find out more about the
communication-based obstructions to the implementation of the project, and to
find a lasting solution to it by way of training intermediaries who would serve
as interface in information flows between the executing agency and the public,
and between the project management and the beneficiary communities.We carried
the training between February and March 2012.
The situational analysis, (baseline study) we carried out as a
prelude activity to our mission of training selected members of the
Neighbourhood Development Committees (NDC) of the five towns confirmed rumour as
a seriously dislocating force to the project. The generation of rumour was in
itself a consequence to a number of factors: insufficient information available
and accessible to all, use of inappropriate channels for the scanty information
available and with flows limited at the up-stairs of management, ignorance of
the beneficiary due to very low levels of literacy in some cases,
the multi-ethnic composition of the inhabitants with conflicting
interests and difficulties mobilizing such a mix for concerted action towards
the attainment of collective good, and the subversive activities
of some local political elite in their attempts to arrogate the paternity of the
projects to their list of achievements, if they have ever recorded any at all.
On the basis of this baseline data, Change Comms, conceived
contents, and designed methodology for the training. The training was carried
out by seasoned communicators and information experts. Shifu Ngalla, Coordinator
of Change Comms, as the brain behind the conception and design of the entire
training program was the lead trainer. To deal with various components of the
communication-connected problem, we designed modules on basic notions of
information and communication, rumour, citizenship communication, techniques of
mobilization etc. We expected that, at the end of the training seminars, the
participants should be able to mobilize the primary beneficiaries of PDUE
projects (quarter residents) to participate in all phases of the project from
conception through all stages of the project cycle, prevent poor management of information
marked by the spread of rumour all of which constituted a serious constraint to
the realization of PDUE projects, disseminate abundant and reliable public
information to enable people better understand the philosophy and activities of
PDUE as a development organization, and to use information and communication
correctly as tools for the
protection of the infrastructure already provided.
Given
the very low levels of literacy of some of the trainees, Change Comms
designed a methodology based on the simple principle of learning by doing.
We used lots of practical drills to concretized illusive
communication concepts, pictorials based on local colour and flavour to
familiarize them with concepts and digest them for easy assimilation. We also
used linguistic devices. Whenever necessary, we used lingua franca of the people
such as Fulfulde in Maroua, and Pidgin English in Bamenda and Douala. In Yaoundé
and Mbalmayo, the Ewondo language was used from time to time. Our lead trainer
Shifu Ngalla’s linguistic proficiency was particularly helpful as he could
switch from French to English, French to Fulfulde, and from English to Pidgin
English. Bingono Bingono Francois, an accomplished communicator and man of
theatre, simplified some of the most complex communication concepts by simply
dramatizing them.
In a
brief chart during the seminar in Bamenda, the PDUE coordinator, Marie-Claire
Essono expressed satisfaction with the job done by Change Communications.
She encouraged the organization to continue with “same spirit of
seriousness.”
At the
end of the day, the series of seminar born out of an atmosphere of suspicion
provoked by wild rumours and marked by uncertainty at the start of each session,
turned out to be sessions of communion between trainers and trainees , and by
extension, communion between PDUE and the beneficiaries.
However, an evaluation of how the trainees
are applying what they learned during the seminar would be necessary as a
matter of logic.
Photo album of workshops
1)
Yaounde III – Nsam-Efoulan, Ngoa-Ekelle, Dakar
Consultant/Lead
Trainer Shifu Ngalla
Participants presenting an Expose on a workshop topic
Participants practicing the Public Speaking exercise in Yaounde
Participants
at the CRTV National Station Yaounde
2) Douala
II Council – New Bell
and Nkolmitag,
Bingono
Bingono training participant at the Douala II Council Library
Bingono
Bingono, Lazare Etoundi and Lead Consultant Shifu Ngalla in Douala
Some underdeveloped quarters of New-Bell Douala
Participants
visiting the CRTV National Station Douala
3) Bamenda Atua-Azire Community Hall - Atuazire, Mugheb, Ntambag
Participants
at the Atua-Azire Community Hall
Jean Claude Tchapchet and Mme Marie Essono
PDUE Training Officer PDUE Coordinator
Atua-Azire –
Bamenda
Demonstration exercise on spread of rumour/kongossa
Bamenda
– Atua-Azire Community Hall
Lead Trainer Shifu Ngalla training participants in Bamenda
Lead Trainer Shifu Ngalla replying to a Participant in Bamenda
Participants
visiting CRTV Installations Up-Station
Bamenda
4) Mbalmayo Motel Hall
– Obeck and New Town
Francois BINGONO BINGONO training in Mbalmayo
Participants
visiting the District Hospital Mbalmayo as an information centre
5) Yaounde IV – Nkoldongo and Ekounou
Lazare
Etoundi at the Workshop in Nkoldongo
Participants
in methods of role playing in Nkoldongo
