If somebody asks me what changes I made; I will proudly tell him/her that am very proud of my work so far

By Shamsul Akhtar, VSO Volunteer, India

A Journey with VSO, North West Region, Cameroon This is a brief report about my accomplishments and other related engagements in Cameroon. Greetings from the peaceful ever Green country-Cameroon! I am among the many VSO volunteers working in the North West Region of Cameroon, specifically attached to Babessi Council since March 2008. I am under the Participation and Governance programme whose main focus is promoting Good Governance similar with the Strengthening Rural Decentralization (SRD) Program under Ministry of Panchayat and Rural Development, Government of West Bengal, India, where I was working before joining VSO. However by the time I joined VSO, I had resigned from the work employed by government of West Bengal; hence I abandoned the government job. Honestly, I dont know if I made a good decision suffice it to say that I enjoyed my work, because it is challenging to implement and have scope to implement. Making the decision to leave my job was not easy because of two main reasons, I was given a short notice of only 28 days by VSO to report to my placement in Cameroon yet my father was in ICCU, who was suffering from cancer. Well, volunteerism itself is a big challenge especially for us who come from developing countries. It was really a big challenge for me because It was something I had never imagined, resigning from a government job where I was assured of good pay and the related benefits and then transfer to a volunteering job, working far away from home, leaving my father very sick. Apart from my elder sister, all my family members were against this move. Therefore, I requested VSO to give me a month of preparation but they refused, instead they told me to withdraw from the volunteer programme. Caught between a rock and hard wall, I decided to join up volunteering; it was really a tough decision to make. I left home on 6th March 2008 and arrived in Cameroon on 8th March. We were many of us all coming from different parts of the world i.e. Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, France, Philippines, Kenya and Uganda but on the same mission. That was my inspiration because it gave me a vivid picture of my work as a global expatriate operating among a big international network. Due to my easy going and outgoing nature, I made friends with people easily and among my new friends was the Cameroon, VSO country director. He was very helpful, always giving me guidance.
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My placement was away from the Capital city Yaound and a sizeable distance from Bamenda the regional town of North West Cameroon. I was given a house of 7 rooms but it had no water nor did it have toilet/latrine facilities. To play safe, I decided to abstain from eating food so as to avoid any need for the toilet facilities. However after suffering for 8 days, I felt I could not abuse my body any longer. I decided to struggle for my basic rights. Hence, I contacted the program office, informed them of my plight and requested for proper accommodation. I reminded them of the fact that when I was accepted my placement, I made it clear that this type of accommodation was not appropriate. They arranged with my partner and they relocated me to another house which was more decent, though without electricity. I was assured that it was a temporally arrangement. Having moved to a more decent house, I felt motivated to begin working. I met the Mayor and other people whom I was to work with. I began acquainting myself with the work situation in relation to the local government and decentralization program. I discovered that the work ethics of Cameroon were different from what I was used to because the people fear change hence not flexible yet the Participation and Governance program requires a changing fundamental attitude and flexibility in beliefs. Corruption is another very big issue which is very widely spread, undermining any program that is attempts to uproot it. This was more spelt out when the report of Transparency International of 2005, declared Cameroon to have been the most corrupt country in Sub-Saharan Africa, that year. Since this was a new program for VSO Cameroon, It too felt challenged but as professionals, we worked hand in hand, volunteers and the program office, jointly feeling our way together to ensure we were all on the right path. At times we went stray but we could put our heads together to pull through. In my council, I was among rural poor, in the Community of Babessi. It was established as a council in 1996 but it had been experiencing and had Management and Governance problems, hence it could not progress as desired. Each of the three main entities of local government (The Council, the Mayor and the community) were isolated from each other. Decisions concerning the council issues like the budget were made by two top persons (Secretary General and Mayor) without consulting; no involving the community. Procedures seemed more important than the content. All this made me realize that it was going to require a very steep challenge to implement the good governance programme. So what did I do? I needed to develop a Strategic Plan to implement these changes. VSO has produced very good guidance but as always this principles need to be applied in practice and therefore I needed to be flexible, pragmatic and adapt as required. I decided I would work towards five goals: First, I need to establish an open and constructive relationship with the Mayor and Higher Authorities. Second, I needed to actively engage the Community in gaining an understanding of their responsibilities to active participation in decision making for their own benefits. Third, To increase the level of awareness of councillors and their responsibilities towards communities.
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D-134, First Floor, East of Kailash New Delhi-110065 Tel.: +91 11-26217459 Email : vso@ivolunteer.in Website: www.ivoindia.org

Fourth, To address the opposition leaders and supporters understand and make sure their support for their own communities in development aspect. Fifth, I needed to establish a Strategic Plan for the council which put the Community at the centre of their activities. From my extensive experience in India through professional study and gaining a Masters in Rural Development from Visva Bharati University, INDIA (which I would highly recommend) and my professional career in government with Strengthening Rural Decentralization programme, working with NGO, in very remote areas of India and deprived groups all provided me a very good grounding for this role. It was not easy. Relationships and trust take time to build but after honest discussions with the Mayor, Community and Opposition Leaders and Supporters I was beginning to make progress. I held many workshops, informal and formal discussions and I began to feel and see the changes. According to the decentralization law, 2004 in Cameroon, the Lord Mayor of the Council has enormous power to operate only himself. I started to convince him the benefits of delegation of power. My first three month was just terrible! I used to travel to office from my accommodation with Lord Mayor and sometimes fifteen days he didnt come to not even communicate. At that time I thought why I am here? Is it for spending holidays or something else? At that time I had a good offer from one reputed funding organisation, India. I was really confused to take a decision. I decided to continue in my role. It was not always straightforward with the VSO office in Cameroon with a new a developing programme again together we worked out clearer communication lines! Before concluding my works as per VSOs guideline (Assessment work for Institutional Development) I observed and felt that need to increase participation in every aspect. Started various workshops, meeting with community, councillors, staff and opposition leaders from each community, ministry delegates, administration and traditional authorities and gave some messages about their role and responsibilities and also the benefit of community participation. From one of the workshops the participants decided and requested to the council for recruitment of teachers. I provided feedback and the council promised and recruited 20 teachers in primary schools in their area. When I was came in Babessi Council for Institutional Development; the community expected some changes and development from my work and I felt it is very important to have a quick win to engage people in council development process. For that idea I was able to ask one volunteer Tamara from UK to find out some computers for schools. Finally she helped me to get the computers from Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Manchester, UK. They gave us 45 computers as a donation and council distributed to the various schools and administrative offices. We also agreed to put computerized system in council for finance, civil status and documentation. Being Indian in Cameroon

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I am proud myself as an Indian which I started to strongly to feel after came here. I met some other Indian working in Cameroon. They are from different parts of India but we have very good relationship. Just as a friend, brother and some of them are sisters. I have had a wonderful experience from other Indians with different faith and background. After a motor cycle accident, I was visited by Sister Matilde and others, who is South Indian, 86 years and behaves like my own elder sister. The families who are working in nearby tea estate all are much closer to me whoever they are whatever faith we all are. I never cooked in India and here after some months I hosted so many people from the UK, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, German, Spain, UAE, USA, Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, The Philippines, Bangladesh and off course India. I hosted a wide range of people from university student to businessman, British MP to Diplomat to Nasa Scientist. All love to eat my preparation (Indian dishes)!! Summary I feel very pleased to have joined VSO because this is an organisation where we can explore our potentials to the full maximum. Now I am very confident to organise workshops, planning and budgeting accordingly. If somebody asks me what changes I made; I will proudly tell him/her that am very proud of my work so far although I always want to do more. Now, the Mayor is much closer to me and I believe I have a greatly facilitated the smooth running of the council especially between the relationship between the Mayors office, the council and the community. There is cordial relationship and constant communication amongst themselves. Councillors and the community have begun to apply their rights to some degree, though they still need more support. At least I am happy to note that we have started the journey........... Others have commented too I was asked by VSO to work alongside with a British MP, Mr. Andrew Love, on a short term placement. He was pleased with the progress being made with support from the British Government. I would also like to thank Mr. Andrew Love, for his appreciation of my work and encouragement to move forward. One other colleague from the UK Government in Wales who was placed for two months to work with my council told me Shamsul do not underestimate the significant change and progress you have made in the participation and governance programme, it is a very complicated and complex programme you have made very considerable progress here.. This comment made me happy. One councillor Mr. Lebo Sidu once commented while we were in the Infrastructure Committee (Council) Meeting Mr. Shamsul is not giving money to the people but giving them necessary advice along with enormous information and logical attitude to open our eyes by which we are building our capacities and looking forward to move ahed.

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D-134, First Floor, East of Kailash New Delhi-110065

Tel.: +91 11-26217459 Email : vso@ivolunteer.in Website: www.ivoindia.org