Rural women find empowerment through finance

Long before Cameroon’s independence and the creation of women’s NGOs and microfinance institutions, grassroots women realized the need to empower themselves through local means.

Known as ‘ngangis’ or ‘tontines’ (women-owned spaces), they have existed for centuries. To date, ngangis remain one of the most active and oldest forms of rotating micro savings programs for many people--grassroots women in particular.

Through these ngangis, women have sought better opportunities to realise their potential and make valuable contributions to the economy, as well as improve living conditions, and reduce poverty and hunger in their communities.

Mama Grace recently recounted how a ngangi remains beneficial to her.

“I make my contributions and when I receive my collections, I do something substantial. For instance, last December, I lost my father unexpectedly. And it was thanks to my daily ngangi contributions which I used to transport myself and four kids to the village,” she said, adding that she was able to pay for her father’s burial.
With each contribution immediately donated to a member, ngangis supporters say it is one of the best means to obtain an urgent fund for contributing members.

“Five years ago, before I became a member of this ngangis, I never dreamt of purchasing land. I couldn’t dare think of buying a plot”, said Jacky Bokwe, a Tole-based business woman with over four years’ experience belonging to ngangis. But thanks to the ngangis and its leader, Mama Mbong, Bokwe said, she is able to own a plot which she bought last year and also has been able to run her own grocery store for almost five years.

Ngangis group meetings can take place anywhere : in the corner of a house, at beer parlours, under a tree or in the classroom, in a hall or in the market, at different times of the day. Members assemble for their rotating contributions, or savings, which are immediately handed out to who’s receiving for that day.

“I love ngangis and would always belong in ngangis groups because I can negotiate to be given the first daily contribution, Celine Mbong, a local businesswoman, said in an interview. “And this is done without any interest or charge. Unlike other credit institutions where I am asked to bring in collateral or must register first”.

Ngangis groups are made up of members from all walks of life but are linked together by a common need: money. In order for anyone to benefit from this scheme, she must contribute. Contributions are usually daily, weekly or monthly depending on the ngangi. Each ngangi has its own format. So, each time contributions are made, it is offered to a member, chosen through ballots or individual nomination in sequence.

Just like women’s NGOs and microfinance institutions, ngangis groups aim to empower the sisterhood network through informal but quick means. Based on sheer trust and with volunteer assistance, leaders are assigned to manage these contributions.

Mama Mbong, leader of a small Tole-based ngangi that has existed for over five years, says that when the ngangi initiative came up among the women in her community, Buyuku, the few first women present chose her. And since then members have developed confidence in her and entrust her with their contributions.

This kind of gathering can sometimes last from 30 minutes to two hours or more. Apart from the core issue--to make monetary contributions--other activities occur during ngangi meetings. This, many ngangi members say, has been very helpful to them personally and professionally.

When you are in a group, said Mama Grace, you share ideas and learn more than when you don’t belong to any group. “Ngangi helps me grow”, she added.

“It talks about how we can help ourselves, or expand our businesses, educate children – the girls and boys– keep our environment clean”, a colleague of Mama Grace remarked.

A ngangi meeting is a school by itself, a place for informal education, said Susana Billa, a local business woman who has been into ngangis for decades. Due to ngangis, she added: “I have much knowledge on micro-credits unions and techniques in managing my small business, about HIV/AIDs prevention, and how to relate with people living with HIV”.

Many ngangis are also currently the best platforms for civil society organisations, community-based organisations, religious groups and NGOs, and political establishments’ advocacy campaigns and trainings.

Fonge Temate, a female condoms promoter for the Universal Access to Female Condoms (UAFC), Buea says ngangi groups are already a great platform for educational talks since membership is often over 10 or 20 people.

“My work requires me to reach out to as many people as possible”, women especially, he said. And such groups, Temate said, provide an excellent milieu to teach a larger audience on the correct and systematic use of condoms, negotiation skills and the advantage of the female condoms.

Most ngangis--especially those within smaller quarters or residences--do not have names or written bylaws to govern the internal management of the group. That’s irrespective of the number of years a group may have existed.

Unlike ngangis, microfinance institutions started in the 1990s after a presidential decree was passed in Cameroon. Though the banking system was present before MFIs, it was beneficial only to the rich. Many rural people, most of all women, couldn’t benefit because of the stringent rules to request a loan.

Formal and accredited, MFIs offer men and women an alternative to gain access to finances to enhance their small businesses as well as to keep committed to their ngangis contributions. With no special gender considerations, interest rate ranges from 2 to 3 per cent.

In 2006, total microfinance institution transactions had risen to USD 324 million , representing 20 per cent of the national bank transactions in Cameroon, according to a 2008 report by Tamfu Hanson for IPS. Since then, MFI transactions have often been on the rise in most years.

In spite of the existence and success of MFIs, some critics say these programs still need to have a greater impact on women. In order to empower the grassroots women, more flexible loan conditions are required.

‘Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty’ was a theme at this year’s U.N. International Women’s Day, held earlier this month. It was the first time rural women were given such prominence at the event. Cameroon, like many U.N. member states, joined in the commemoration of this annual tradition to recognize women’s achievements and accomplishments in building a better world.

Even at that, Manga Clara, chief of service for the Economic Empowerment of Women at the Regional Delegation of Women, South West Region, said there is a need for more gender-sensitive cooperatives, agrarian and economic facilities, to empower the rural woman more. For rural women, she said, have remained the main sources of agricultural labour force. And thus must not always be labelled on this vicious cycle which is poverty all the time. Investing in rural women is for the betterment of the nation’s development and security. She added.

However, some women-focused MFIs are now serving as a boost to the centuries-old ngangis and offer additional opportunities for rural women in particular.

Because of these MFIs, many women can now provide meals to the family and no longer have to depend solely on their husbands or male peers or partners. More children (girls especially) are going to school. The standard of living, and health and social status of many families have improved.

Florence O Business Stand

Florence Onyama, one beneficiary of such a program, said: “I used to buy only one basket of tomatoes but now I buy three. Besides, my capital has increased. There are things I could not do a year back, but now I am able to live a comfortable life with my family”. She is a beneficiary of the 2011 NkongHill Top Microcredits Initiative.

NkongHill Top a local-based Common Initiative group (CIG) founded in 1996 on the basis to improve the socio economic status of the community especially rural and urban poor women, created its microcredits program for women, known as Nkong Women Cash Up (NWOCA) Scheme, in 2006. It has successfully provided financial support to over 800 young women within the southwest region of Cameroon. And many of whom interviewed testified that their lives have changed for the better thanks to the micro credits offers from Nkong.

Ms Anu Gospel , gender and community action officer for Nkonghill, says: The NWOCA Scheme is still touching and improving the lives of small scale business women in Fako and Lebialem Divisions respectively.

Similarly, the Rural Women Development Center (RUWDEC) NGO was founded in 1999 to facilitate rural women’s accessibility to microcredits with low interest rates to help them open and or expand small-business centers, hairdressing salons, and participate in animal rearing and farming. The same organization created the DROMBAYA Micro Credit Scheme in 2008, particularly for women. And this affected over 150 women’s lives from 2008 to 2011.

Many beneficiaries or microcredits borrowers reside within the South West Region of Cameroon: Ekona, Tiko, Buea, Muyuka, Mutengene and Yoké, Fontem.

Yonga Nelly-Shella, coordinator for RUWDEC, says that their microcredits program has been successful. Now, in the eight rounds of loan disbursement since 2008, they hope to affect as many lives as possible.

Why do grassroots women continue to participate in ngangis despite the existence of MFIs? 
They do it because most ngangis don’t ask for an additional fee such as: a registration or membership fee, the purchase of a savings book, passport-size photos, etc. In addition, ngangis grants are given to the beneficiary with no charge.

Each member is entitled to what she contributed and sometimes with some benefits given that some members are fined for either overdue or late contributions or because members offer solidarity, or freewill, contributions to support a member who has just had a new-born baby, or is having a severe family crisis (ill-health, death, accident etc.) Ngangis provide urgent help, like within 24 hours depending on the situation. Moreover,
 ngangis are less procedural and less intimidating, especially as because they involve less paper work.

Speaking with some rural women in Tole, they say both ngangis and MFIs are helpful, but more financial support is needed to sustain their daily activities. They would love to move from using rudimentary agricultural tools to more advanced machinery and modern farming technology to improve their yields and production.

They would also love to belong (save) in many more ngangis groups given that they have the finance to contribute.

In addition, they say, more investment is also required in transforming their perishable produce into long-lasting and other supplementary products.

Last but not least, they say that more flexible microcredits conditions would empower the rural woman and raise her status into a more advanced, independent and enlightened woman

This article originally appeared on World Pulse, an action media network powered by women from 185 countries. 

CTE Workers: A Night Gathering with the Children [video]

This is the most recent Video Documentary  on the CTE Workers Strike, shot 2 days before their evacuation from the Labour Office and National Security Buea, having lived there for closed to 6months (click on CTE ). Their evacuation came after an agreement was reached between govenment officials and the Tea Workers Representatives in the meeting held in Yaounde early this march  (towards resolving the CTE Crisis).  

Government says solution to be sought within 9months!

"Each day, I head for the Labour office, hoping to hear my mother tells me it is over! Finally, let's go home today together. Instead she says: my daughter, we are still waiting on the government to make a statement. Since September 12th till today March 3rd, it remains the same story. Nothing has change. And just like my friends whose parents are also here, we got tired of waiting and hearing the same story all the time. So, today-- we decided to come and stay with our parents. sleep on the same bare floor". Emelda Aka, daughter to an Ex-CTE Worker.

CTE Workers: Children Support Parents in Leading the Fight for Social Justice

On 3^rd March, the CTE erstwhile workers’ children (mostly under 35 years) for the first time publicly gathered at the Labour Office and National Security here in Buea. Organizing an all-night empathetic candlelight vigil to relief [distract]their parents, the Ex-CTE Workers from the suffering depression and emotional distress brought to them by the Cameroon government

Attendance to this candle lighting event included; Reverends,youth advocates, supporters, family and friends. An act the organizers (Ex-CTE Workers’ Children)hope it re-energizes and enables their parents to remain steadfaston their cause till it comes to fruition- the payment of fcfa 2.4 billion severance. This was supposed to be paid to the Ex-CTE Workers (736 workers) a decade ago when the tea plantation was privatized.

When asked some of the children - why coming now? Jenalus and Kinde stood next to each other among the crowd said: “Enough is enough: we the Ex-CTE Workers children are fed up with lies”.

“We want our parents to tell us…Let them tell us what is actually happening. We have heard rumors upon rumors. And we don’t know which is which?” Esoh Samson, son to one Ex-CTE Worker

“Each day, I head for the Labour office, hoping to hear my mother tells me it is over! Finally, let’s go home today together. Instead she says: my daughter, we are still waiting on the government to make a statement. Since September 12^th till today March 3^rd, it remains the same story. Nothing has change. And just like my friends whose parents are also here, we got tired of waiting and hearing the same story all the time. So, today– we decided to come and stay with our parents. sleep on the same bare floor”. Emelda Aka, daughter to an Ex-CTE Worker.

 "we love our parents. we miss them so much" Emelda Aka added.

Condemning the government negligence and ill-treatment against its own people,the Ex-CTE Workers’ children expressed their dissatisfaction.

“This is humiliating and degrading”, Son to one of the Ex-CTE Worker remarked, with heavy face.

“My sick mother now lives like beggar, no dignity and no integrity”Nfor Gilbert, son to one of the Ex-CTE Worker.   “it is here that she has been sleeping, sitting - on this bare ground in the dust. With only one pit toilet (already full) shared among them (over 700)”. Gilbert added.

Truth be said, it is a shame knowing that the Cameroon government could abandon and expose parts of its elderly citizens (mostly women 40 or older) to such harsh, harmful and unhealthy conditions, for closed to 6months (half a year). A nation that has signed and ratified most international conventions (UDHR, CEDAW) and regional instruments(African Charter on Peoples and Human Rights) for the promotion, protection and respect for peoples human rights, now seems hypocritical through its actions.

Refugees in Cameroon: A Look at a normal day experience for the Ex-CTE Workers at the Labour Office

Today was fogy. Still I managed to take some pics of a day-to-day experience for the Ex-CTE

Today, 16^th February marks the 7^th day after the Ex-CTE Workers blocked the main road axis between the court junction and the central prison Buea. 

Under the drizzling and fogy (18 degree Celsius) condition sat the Ex-CTE Workers melancholic, this morning when I visited.

It is 5 months since the Former Cameroon Tea Estate (CTE) Workers now occupy the Labour Office and Social Security in Buea. This therefore means that it is over 5 months since the workers of these two government offices have not visited their offices and the building closed.

My visit to the CTE Workers at Labour Office was initially to see how they manage themselves when it rains and also for a post-CTE Workers blockage follow-up. I was eager to see something new. And indeed, I did see something new - how a normal day looks like for them.

Pictures of Some of the most common activities

In brevity, I was made to understand that each day is a repetition of usual routines. Probably not in the same sense a banker, student or a civil servant would articulate her/her usual day-to-day experience. For the Tole Estate Workers, it is far more different and ridiculous. Unlike the aforementioned, the Tea workers are neither privileged to havingproper medical facilities, sufficient food to eat, a healthy and sanitary conditions. At their age, they are not supposed to be exposed to certain harsh conditions and malnutrition.

Some of them have even stayed for days without a meal. And currently, the only one toilet they shared is full. So should the Cameroon government delay to pay their severance of FCFA 2.4 Billion. What would the situation be like without a toilet to defecate? No room to sleep, no bathing room to shower and no kitchen to cook.

Every day inthe morning at 6am to 7am, the Ex-Workers would assemble for prayers. And as from 8am to 9am, it is tea time for those who can afford to buy bread, sugar and milk.  9am to 9pmnothing major takes place within these hours except at 9pm – they gather for evening prayers.  But within the day, those who can afford to cook a meal do so. And those who can’t, they either sleep or just sited in small groups or individually scattered looking at the road, playing cards and / or watching the sky. 

But when they are offered food stuffs 9items0 like tomatoes, rice, groundnuts, cooking oil etc., they prepare a general meal which is shared around 3pm.

“Some Cameroonians are generous” Ma A, an Ex-CTE Worker said in an interview

“People keep coming and giving us raw food. Sometimes, our families also bring us food. Though it seems as if people are already feed up with our situation. And unlike previously they used to be frequent.  Now they rarely visit us” Fredrick one of the Ex-CTE Workers said.

That notwithstanding, lately, the presence of the Ex-CTE Workers  has definitely made the entire clerk’s quarters starting from the Central Prison Junction to the Youth Affairs Delegation and up to the Court Junction a new touristic site in Buea.

And who could have ever imagined that by 2012 an ordinary day for the CTE erstwhile workers would be this miserable? That a day shall come when a demand by the Ex-CTE Workers for what is rightfully theirs shall result to the state abandoning over 700 of its employees, its citizens to live like their nation is experiencing  famineor violent crisis. The Ex-CTE workers are now refugees in their own beloved nation, abandoned to their own fate.

The CTE Workers Blockage

Thursday, 09 February 2012, some 400 Ex-CTE Workers blocked the main road axis between the junction of the Central Prison and the Court Junction, Buea - Cameroon.

It is worth noting that the Ex-CTE Workers are now spending their fifth month sitting / sleeping on the ground and bare concrete at the Labour Office here in Buea, since September 12th 2011. [read more]

The Feb 9^th demonstration pressured the Buea authorities to call for a Special Crisis meeting, aimed at seeking urgent solutions to the CTE Workers crisis.

The meeting was held and presided over by the SG at the Governor's Office. And participants included the Ex-CTE Workers (3 women and 3 men), some South west government officials; the Mayor of Fako, Divisional Delegates.

After the meeting, as I was struggling to inform the virtual public on the current CTE crisis, Mayor Mbella Moki Charles distorted me from performing my rightful duty as he asked a Police commissioner to chase me out from getting information at the Labour Delegation - Buea. This was after truce was reached between the south west administration and the CTE erstwhile workers to meet the Prime Minister in the days ahead for a permanent solution to be sought.

The Mayor threatened to send me to jail saying " Do you know I can send you to jail". This occurred after a confrontation which I had with him on basis of my quest to gather information about the state of affairs in the CTE Matter. 

Earlier, Mayor Mbella warned me that I didn't have a right to cover the strike action of the CTE Former Workers, terming it a 'crisis' moment which should be free from members of the public like me me.

[Video of CTE Workers on the Main Road]

                              



However, sources say; the culminating results from this meeting were the adoption of 4 resolutions.

1.      An urgent need  to address the 2006 Ad Hoc Committee convention under the surmonship of H.E Prime Minster Ephraim Inoni. 

2.      A delegation comprising of representatives of regional administration and Ex-CTE Workers be sent to have a dialogue with the current PM, Head of Government in view of a plan of action for an immediate solution to the CTE Crisis.

3.      Ex-CTE are expected to remain calm and respect the law and institutions of the State, and thus should withdraw from the highway pending feedback. 

4.      Upon reeving this feedback, the ex-CTE will assess the action envisaged by the public authorities on their behalf in view of voluntarily returning to their respective homes.

Tole Tea Workers Leading the Fight for Social Justice

This article originally appeared on World Pulse,
 an action media network powered by women from 185 countries. 

For the past four months, if you take a walk or drive by the Labour office in Buea, Cameroon , you are bound to see over 500  people (mostly women 40 or older), sleeping, sitting or lying outside on the  ground in the dust or on concrete. At the main entrance to this building, placards are hung in a straight line making a fence, carrying messages like: “Refugees Camp in Cameroon”, “…only death or money can remove us here”, “who owns the Tole Tea Estates; Brobon or Danpullo?”

Placards: Who owns the Tea Estate?

 Some of them have developed pains, suffered heart attacks, caught colds and infections, as there is only one pit toilet shared among the 500 women and men present. 

 Since September 12th , the Ex-Cameroon Tole Tea (CTE) Workers have occupied the Labour office and National Security building here. All in demand for what is rightfully theirs: severance that was supposed to be paid to them a decade ago when the tea plantation was privatized.

The ex-Tole tea workers incident demands a reflection on the state of social justice and workers’ rights in Cameroon. This is a very serious problem in the country: protecting workers rights and providing social justice.

Ten years back, in the media nationwide, the government of Cameroon announced privatizing the tea plantations, which included Tole Tea Estate situated in Tole Village in the Southwest region.  

News reports first said Tole Tea had been bought by a South African-based company known as Brobon Finex, whose chairperson was Derrick Garvie. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Tole Tea was owned by a Northwest Cameroonian-based tycoon by the name of Ahaji Danpullo. 

Ahaji Danpullo, highly influential in the country, owns multi-mega companies, countless herds of cattle and abundant hectares of land. He also is the proprietor of one of the leading satellite TV stations in the country.

In  October 2002, a convention was signed determining the terms of privatization of the tea sector which demanded that all workers jobs, conditions and privileges for employees would remain the same should workers agree to sign a contract to work with the new employer. 

It is important to note that, in that time, employees for the tea sector were housed in camps on the plantation land. Schools were built for employees’ children, health care and other facilities were provided to the employees and their families. 

ex-CTE Workers sitting on the ground

In addition, the Cameroon legislation at that time stipulated that employers terminating employees’ contracts should ensure that their employees be paid all entitlements which include a so-called good separation bonus. And in this case, the government which was the CTE former employer was supposed to pay these due on or before  October 2002.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case.

And shortly after the new management of the Tole Tea Estate under the leadership of Ahaji Danpullo, the benefits agreed upon were gradually breached. By 2006, all these workers who were in total 736 were dismissed without compensation.  In order words, Danpullo did not honour the privatization agreement nor did the government in its own part.  

The resulting effect to these led to strike demonstrations in February and July 2006. Later, some of the workers were arrested in the cause and this action by the GMI Police angered the workers more, so much so that the female workers stripped naked at the GMI Police Station where the arrested male colleagues were kept until they were realized. 

This behaviour by the female tea workers, besides other mounted pressure led to former Prime Minister .H.E. Ephraim Inoni to summon an adhoc committee meeting in August 2006 on the verification of the social rights of the Tole CTE workers. 

Attendance for the meeting were some six ministers; six CTE Management including Danpullo and six worker representatives of Tole and CTE Head Office, Bota. 

In the meeting, nine resolutions were adopted. And these resolutions were meant to be respected and realized soonest. Over the years, seven of the resolutions have been realized except for two; articles seven and nine. Both talk about the good separation bonuses or “a golden handshake”, which is the main reason the ex-CTE Workers have been sleeping in an open air since September 12. 

“No human being should be allowed to live in an open space for over four months” Pa Nicholas, former ex-CTE Worker, said when interviewed on the Tole Tea workers sit-down demonstration. 

It hurts to see old mothers and fathers suffering. And it hurts most to realize that a state can leave part of its population, especially the old, exposed to health risks and other forms of human security threats.

It is true that in some situations, governments worldwide haven’t served in the interest of its people. But the case of Cameroon is most complicated to address. 

On most instances, standing up against unjust practices and for fairness and equality in Cameroon, even at a minimal level, is often very challenging, painful, and exhausting. However, this shouldn’t be a reason not to keep fighting for social justice. And I believe that if the citizens embrace such commitment and devotion like those of the ex-CTE workers in condemning unjust practices, there might be a significant decrease on the level of employers’ abuse on workers’ rights. 

This brings us back to the severance due. As explained by Ma Regina, an Ex-CTE Worker, “A good separation bonus simply means the old employer pays a worker a negotiable amount depending on the employee length of service and salary”. 

 A spokesman for the Ex-CTE Workers, Bate Atem said “It has stopped from being a Labour problem. It is now a social problem”.   

And in an interview with the Regional Delegate for Youth affairs and Sport, Buea , since his office building  is the nearest official structural to the Labour Office building, he stated  “ my personal worry is the youth under their care,  the effect of these young people living  without parental control might be dangerous to our society”. 

The fact that the Tole crisis has slowly expanded into a social issue is already threatening to the community and the nation at large.  For example, the Tole Estates was estimated to have a population of 5,264 in the year 2006, with the majority being women and children.   And three-quarters of these workers are the breadwinners to their families and extended relations.  

With the shutdown of the Estate and the abuse of workers’ rights and agreement, the estate’s population, especially the women, are exposed to social challenges and health risks due to their vulnerability and increased level of unemployment.  

For instance, it is obvious that once a person loses her / his financial grounds and social status, (s)he becomes emotional distressed and traumatized; having invested so much so that life won’t become uncomfortable. 

And as a woman and a daughter, seeing another woman, a mother subjected to such harsh conditions saddens me. Worse of all as a women’s human rights defender seeing women’s human rights violated just metres away from my base is offensive. 

Being a student, knowing what it means to lose an academic year makes me feel extremely sad for the Ex-CTE Workers’ children for losing this academic year.  And yet, their parents have not received any compensation from the government.  

“Education is a gift and should never be denied to a child; directly or indirectly”, Ma Indingo, Ex-CTE Worker explained when interviewed on the Tole Tea workers sit-down demonstration.

This is a very sensitive issue and should be resolved with care and interest. 

I strongly recommend that proper counselling and guidance be offered to these kids, during the post-demonstration moments. So as to enable the children to grow up without nursing bitter hatred and grievances against the state, especially those of the Labour office sector.

Though as of now, very little research is made available to know the total numbers of children who stayed out of school due to the Ex-CTE Camping at the Labour Office. Nonetheless, based on past experiences from different communities, there are certain consequences that are common and the CTE situation is not very dissimilar. 

And I hope that, sooner would this cause come to a pleasant end and may this endeavour bring meaningful change and end abuse of workers’ rights in Cameroon.