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Cameroon: Special Youth Employment Programme - Over 1400 Projects Already Financed
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Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)
18 April 2008
Posted to the web 18 April 2008
Lukong Pius Nyuylime
The steering committee of the Special Support Fund for self-employment and micro-projects met in Yaounde yesterday.
More than 4,500 application files for self-employment and micro-projects financing have been received by the Loan Award Committee of the Special Support Fund for self-employment and micro-projects. The president of the committee, Camille Moute à Bidias, who doubles as the General Manager of the National Employment Fund, announced during the fourth session of the Steering Committee of the programme yesterday, that the said projects will cost not less than CFA four billion. Of this number of applicants, 1,447 projects have so far been financed since the programme took off in October, 2005. This, he said, has generated 3,644 direct employments and 5,000 indirect jobs.
The Minister of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicraft, Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, presided at the session in his capacity as president of the programme. He was particularly impressed with the milestone covered recalling the importance of the programme as defined by the Head of State and situating it in the whole gamut of the fight against poverty and promotion of personal initiative.
Yesterday's meeting made a critical assessment of the execution of the programme identifying the hurdles and possible solutions. One of the major obstacles observed so far has to do with the disbursement of the second instalment of the funds for the projects. Other obstacles include: insufficiency of the funds in meeting the increasing demand, lateness in replying to various application files, difficulties in mobilising collateral security and the vast nature of the area covered by the agents on the field.
According to Camille Moute à Bidias, the projects financed are of two categories, individual and group projects. So far, 376 projects have been financed in the West province, 210 projects in the Centre, 201 in the North West, 162 in the Littoral, 138 in the South West, 127 in the East, 106 in the North, 73 in the South, 41 in the Far North and 13 in the Adamawa. The programme has equally trained 339 promoters in Small and Medium Sized Management.
So far 63 per cent of the funds given out to youths have been reimbursed.
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As the steering committee progresses with the execution of the programme with the pious hope that more funds could likely be injected into it, the socio-economic impact is already being felt. This include enabling peasant organisations to organise themselves in Common Initiative Groups, improving production and productivity, enhancing the quality of life of the population, through the payment of school needs, family health, housing and feeding.
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