Civil society groups upgrade skills on fund management

Civil society activists received training on their roles and proper use of funds recently in Douala. The workshop was necessitated by a recent disbursement of about FCFA 68 billion by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis in Cameroon. Hence a workshop to update the skills of the civil society delegation to the Country Coordination Mechanism Cameroon, CCM, and other actors and leaders of the civil society who are non-members of CCM, in Bonamoussadi was held.

The main purpose of the workshop is to enable participants to effectively play their role to support and follow up on the use of funds.

CCM Vice Chair, Fogue Foguito, revealed that the money will be used to offer free treatment for children less than five years old suffering from simple and complicated malaria and offer 12 million treated mosquito bed nets to pregnant women, among others. The objective, he said, is to reach at least 80 percent of the population with the nets.

As concerns HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, Fogue Foguito said FCFA 98 billion was pending disbursement as the donor had asked for modifications to certain areas of the proposals, which CCM was already working on.

He made the disclosure to the press in Douala as part of a five-day workshop organized by a local association, “Positive-Generation,” with the support of GIZ/Initiative Back Up, on “Understanding the mechanism of the Global Funds for HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.”

The workshop also harped on the role and place of CCM members and the determinant place of accountability of members of the civil society delegation to the CCM.

Fogue Foguito said the workshop was of great importance to Cameroon, regarding its relations with the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDs, Malaria and Tuberculosis. He described the press as an invaluable stakeholder in accomplishing the civil society’s triple mission of watching, advocacy and mobilization.