Butterfly Cameroon, an association governed by Cameroonian law, aims at implementing actions for the empowerment of local communities and for the promotion of young people’s and women’s economic and social entrepreneurship, among others. Mindful of the fact that the Far-North region of Cameroon is experiencing a humanitarian crisis which has been affecting thousands of people, particularly women, children, the youth; the organization, through its Far-North regional unit, has been increasing and diversifying quality training opportunities for young professionals and recent graduates of this region in order to contribute to the local and community development.
The objectives of this training in community projects management, in-person edition organized on 10 April 2021 in Maroua were to build the participants’ capacities in community projects management to ensure that they are able to efficiently apply and implement the best management strategies to achieve the goals of the projects that they are implementing or looking forward to implementing within their communities.
This training falls within the scope of a project called in French “Salon de la Formation Professionnelle” or professional training fair, implemented by the association. Butterfly Cameroon intends to build the capacities and soft skills of members of association/organizations, recent graduates and young professionals in fields like personal development, leadership, entrepreneurship, administrative and financial management of organizations, community development, strategic and effective communication, etc.
The training registration stats
Registrations for the training were on an online application form that was made available on the organization’s website. After the registrations, the applications were shortlisted and then the final stage was the selection of the participants.
In all, we received a total number of 43 participation requests, from many cities of Cameroon, including Maroua (60%), Mokolo (11%), Garoua (6%), Yaoundé (4%), Garoua-Boulaï, Guider, Kousseri, Mora and Ngaoundéré, respectively 1% each. On the 43 applications, 80% were male and 20% female.
The predominant age range was 18 to 25 years (37%); closely followed by people aged 25 to 30 (32%). Candidates aged between 30 to 35 account for 18% of the registrations, while those aged more than 35 years are about 7% of the total number of applications. At the end of the shortlisting process, 16 people were selected to participate in the training.
Communication strategy on the training
From 27 March to 10 April 2021, our team maintained communication about the event on the organization’s Facebook page and on a WhatsApp group created specifically to facilite interactions with the public.
Pictures of awareness-raising campaign before the training
How the training went on
At the opening of the training, the Executive Director of Butterfly Cameroon, Whego Kenmegne Larissa, welcomed the participants. This initial stage was also marked by an activity called “l’histoire de mon nom” or the story behind my name; during which the participants were invited to introduce themselves, in an original and casual fashion.
Throughout the training, a particular emphasis was laid on practical activities, during which the participants were divided into working groups and were asked to identify a project and define its goals. The 5 working groups that were created then presented the results of their discussions and, by turn, made a presentation on the title of their project as practical case, its objectives, duration and expected results.
Pictures of working groups
Yves Stéphane Ngaleu, a Facilitator certified in Project Management For Development and by the Junior Chamber International (JCI) and the Faith In the CommonWealth taught all the training modules and moderated the group activities.
He insisted on the need for the participants to master the SMART goals formulation as part of their projects. The discussions between the participants and the facilitator enabled to understand the technical and methodological aspects related to community projects management.
Pictures of the trainer (in the training room)
Among the practical activities conducted, there was the “Crowdfunding and Connect” session whose objective was to develop techniques of dialogue among the participants.
Pictures of the session
In view of the training assessment provided by the participants, it appears that the targeted objectives were achieved and the expectations of the participants were met. They confirmed to have gained new, valuable and practical knowledge in the field of community project management.
The training ended by a group picture and an assessment of the activity, which was followed by the handing of training certificates signed by the Executive Director of Butterfly Cameroon and the training Facilitator.
The coaching stage has then started. It is coordinated by the Facilitator and the Butterfly Cameroon team in order to mentor the participants and their respective associations, for one month, in implementing the practical knowledge gained during the training.
Testimonials of the participants
