Rural dev't: Korean best practices Showcased

The Korean model has been explained to rural development stakeholders in Yaounde.

Rovintangta is a community in Kumbo, Bui Division, North West of Cameroon. The main activity in the locality is rearing. In 2015, the Kumbo Council was selected among seven others to benefit from training in Korea on how the country developed its rural communities through self help, diligence and cooperation.

The implementation of the Korean model in the Rovintangta community has brought light, curbing farmer-grazier conflicts that hitherto rocked development efforts, the Mayor of Kumbo Council, Donatus Njong Fonyuy, disclosed at a two-day training workshop in Yaounde on May 3, 2016. He stated that the commnity now works as one person, explaining how the weak are helped by the strong and the poor by the rich.

“Each rearer offered two sheep to the community and everyone is taking care of it.At the end of the day, both farmers and rearers own the sheep and so take care of it,” he said, stressing that; “It is already changing the mindset of the population with farmers and graziers living together. It is a wonderful and a miraculous formular which applied on our rural communities in Cameroon.”

Sharing success stories inspires and the Korean International Cooperation Agency, KOICA wants in such experience-sharing to create more impact in communities. The agency on May 3, 2016 organised a training workshop on community development with contributions from the Ministry of the Economy, Planning, and Regional Development, Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The Resident Representative of KOICA, Kim Tae Young, reminded participants that rural development is an important pillar to fight poverty, and if well implemented, can improve the livelihoods of the population.

The Saemaul Undong Movement which means the “New Village Movement” is one of the very successful cases of rural development, which was implemented in Korea in the 1970s on the basis of diligence, cooperation and selft-help. It modernised and reformed rural communities and mentalities respectively, stepping up economic growth. Kim Tae Young said Cameroon can achieve sustainable development by embracing that concept which hinges on changing the mentality of the people on defeatism and gambling to instil a “can do” spirit.

The model uplifted communities, and the communities went on to transform the nation. “This explains why Korea is sharing her experience with Cameroon,” KOICA’s Resident Representative said, stressing that a country can never develop from grants especially when most of the population lives in the rural area.