Day: 15 February 2018
British Minister of State for Africa Lauds SHUMAS’ Strides In Sustainable Development
The British Minister of State for Africa, Harriet Baldwin has expressed satisfaction to endeavors made by Strategic Humanitarian Services, SHUMAS, Cameroon in fostering sustainable rural development and her fruitful partnership with United Kingdom Charities with whom SHUMAS has been working with over the years.
She made the appreciation on Wednesday February 14, 2018 in Sodiko, a locality in Douala IV sub division, Wouri Division of the Littoral Region of Cameroon while on a tour to do an appraisal of the impact of work of UK Charities who have been partnering with SHUMAS.
Accompanied by the British High Commissioner to Cameroon Rowan Laxton, the British Minister of State for Africa visited an ultra-modern laboratory with state of the art equipment worth over FCFA 35 million at Government Bilingual High School Sodiko which was realized and handed over by SHUMAS and Building Schools for Africa, a UK Charity that has partnered with SHUMAS over the years to build schools in Cameroon.
It is worth mentioning that SHUMAS has over the years worked in close partnership with UK Charities and NGOs such as Aid Camps International, Spreading health UK, Future in Our Hands, UK, Building Schools for Africa, amongst others with whom they have achieved life changing results.
Harriet Baldwin and Rowan Laxton were briefed by the Programs Coordinator of SHUMAS, Mme Nyuykighan Billian on the areas that SHUMAS intervenes in, the various UK Charities that SHUMAS works with and a brief balance sheet of results attained so far much to the satisfaction of the duo.
They were guided around the laboratory project of GBHS Sodiko by the Programs Coordinator of SHUMAS who explained the details of the project and the mode of implementation.
On site to welcome the British Minister of State for Africa and the British High Commissioner were the officials and students of GBHS Sodiko, the Chief of Sodiko, Elites, cross section of the Sodiko population and SHUMAS staff. Harriet Baldwin and Rowan Laxton also received gifts from the population handed over by the Chief of Sodiko.
SHUMAS is a Developmental Non-Governmental Organization that focuses on integrated sustainable rural development and aims to improve lives, reduce poverty, and empower people to meet their needs without compromising the needs of posterity.
The organization was legalized in 1997 as an association and subsequently as an NGO per the decision of the Ministry of Territorial Administration in the 2013. SHUMAS also holds a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2013.
SHUMAS activities cover the national territory of Cameroon and targets rural as well as urban poor communities. SHUMAS strongly believes on impacts of integrated development activities for communities, instead of isolated actions that might have no meaningful results.
To achieve this SHUMAS has eight interconnected axes of intervention namely; health, water and sanitation, social welfare, environmental protection and management, women empowerment, agriculture, volunteering and education.
In all these areas, SHUMAS works towards the achievement of the Cameroon Government’s Growth and Employment Strategy of making Cameroon an emerging country by 2035 through infrastructural and human development.
By Njodzefe Nestor
Prof. Bame Nsamenang “Crosses The Bar”
The erstwhile Director of the Higher Teachers Training College, HTTC Bambili of the University of Bamenda, Prof Bame Nsamenang has reportedly joined his ancestors. According to family sources who confided to The Focus, the seasoned psychologist, counsellor and researcher died in the evening of February 14, 2018 after a brief illness.
Apart from his administrative and academic commitments at the University of Bamenda, Prof. Bame before his retirement was a visiting professor to the University of Buea and the Bamenda University of Science and Technology (BUST) and an Adjunct Professor of Early Childhood Development (ECD) with the University of Victoria, BC, Canada.
The renowned professor of psychology and counseling was a leading African developmental scientist and psychologist who was well connected to global scientific and professional networks. He strived to garner opportunities for Africa’s emerging scholars and strategized to bring Africa’s developmental and educative knowledge and practices into Western-dominated scientific discourses and literature.
He was the founding director of a research and service facility, the Human Development Resource Centre (www.thehdrc.org), which hosts an Africa-centric international initiative for research and publishing of literature and educative tools that are sensitive to African child development and teacher education.
Prof Bame Nsamenang won the inaugural international fellow (2008) of the Society for Research on Adolescence for his research and work with African youth and theory development in adolescent research. His research and practice sought to understand and improve the circumstances of Africa’s future generations – children and youth. He has published very influential works in developmental and educative sciences.
He was on the Consultative Board of the International Journal of Psychology, the Journal of Psychology (2006-2010), and was on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Behavioral Development (1998-2002), Human Development (1998-2002), Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (1994-2005) and Journal of Psychology in Africa (1993-2006).
He was also Ad Hoc Adviser to the EC of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD) and served on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Applied Psychology (1998-2006).
Prof. Bame was Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (2002-2003), a Fogarty Fellow of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (1987-1990) and a Nehru Chair Visiting Professor at Baroda University, India (2001). In May 2007 Prof. Bame received from The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International the prestigious “Paul Harris Fellow in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world.”
Over the years, Bame made valuable contributions to UNICEF, UNESCO and WHO as consultant and in commissioned work, at both national and global platforms.
By Njodzefe Nestor
THE FOCUS 237 