Fine Forest Foundation Cameroon Holds 3rd General Assembly

Fine Forest Foundation Cameroon Holds 3rd General Assembly And 1st AGM of Board of Trustees At Ncho-Njeh,Lebialem
The 3rd ordinary general assembly and first annual general meeting of the board of trustees of Fine Forest Foundation, FFF, Cameroon held in Nchou Njeh-Lebang, Lebialem Division in the South West Region of Cameroon under the chairperson of Dr. Mbi Asaah Nkohkwo on the 8th January 2009. The agenda of the deliberations was as follows:
- Registration
- Opening Prayer
- Introductions & Chair’s Welcome
- Annual Statement of Activities
- Annual Statement of Finances
- Feedback from Commonwealth Fellowship 2008
- Way forward : Short & Long term plans
- Review of Staffing & Trustees
- Communication
- AoB
- Next Meeting
- Closing Remarks
Registration
7 trustees out of 10 were present. The other trustees requested for permission due to administrative engagements and family commitments.
Prayers
The opening prayer was delivered by Trustee Anastasia Atabong Fontem, who invited the almighty to guide the board members throughout their deliberations for positive out come. And that God should lead everyone back home safely and peacefully.
Opening Address
In the opening address by the Fine Forest Foundation Chairman, Mbi Dr. Asaah Nkohkwo, welcome members with wishes of a Happy New Year 2009. he later invited everyone to make a self introduction highlighting the presence of Ms Mary Mbiseah as observer. The chairman made a brief introduction of the genesis of FFF Cameroon with up dates of activties.
Mbi Asaah reminded trustees that the foundation was a charitable arm of NSTechnoMed UK registered in London.
He lauded the out come of the registration of the organisation at the Senior Divisional Office in Menji, Lebialem in March 2008. He briefed the assembly on the objectives of the organisation, which is focused the the empowerment of the community.
Annual Statement of Activities
In the up date statement of activities, the Programmes Manager, James Achanyi-Fontem
, quoted the reference number of the organisation’s legal statute, before elaborating on the areas of impact and expenditures made for social inclusion, poverty alleviation, health promotion, information, education and communication, strategic development plan, the pharmaceutical factory project in the pipeline and the way forward for the management of programmes within the scope of statement of commitment that was addressed to the Commonwealth professional fellowship commission.
Circulation of information among FFF- Cameroon Members
Trustee James Achanyi-Fontem created the email address of the organisation for circulation of information and this has been very effective. fffcameroon@yahoo.com is the address
Legal Framework of FFF – Cameroon
The prefectoral authorisation, carries the registration n° 121/G41/67/VOL.3/PS/08 of 5th March 2008
Social Inclusion
Trustee Anna Nven was charged with channelling all donations for social inclusion and poverty alleviation. Buea Institute of Theology project was supported with some individuals.
Health Promotion
Trustee James Achanyi-Fontem made an exhaustive briefing on the project proposal to WHO in Geneva, Switzerland and the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship training,whose outcome have been positive, as activities are at the fundraising phase. This is a project that would cover Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Cameroon.Fine Forest Foundation will be the executing organisation for the phase of the project in Cameroon.
Health Library at Azi Hospital
Trustee Charles Aminnkeng and Peter Monet Otto briefed members on the development of the library. The library space at the Azi hospital is apparently small and needs to be developped to accommodate more books arriving in March.
Project's Sustainability
Equiping of FFF Cameroon secretariat at Nchou Njeh with a computer and the necessary accessories (printer, scanner and photocopy machine) has started with the expectation of shipped materials from Lonodn in March 2009. Thess equipments will also serve the schools and colleges around Nchou Njeh and Azi when the secretariat get operational. The BoT endorseed the employment of Pa Peter Monet Otto as one of the pioneer staff to work in the secretariat. Ursula, Anastasia and Charles were delegated to employ the second staff, who must be a female to respect the equal opportunities policy of the organisation.
The employment of secretariat staff on volunteer basis takes effect from the month of April 2009.
Pharmaceutical Industry
Meditech Cameroon Sarl which is another arm of NSTechnoMed engaged in the acquisition of land at the industrial zone of Ndokoti-Douala to set up a pharmaceutical industry. The land certificate is expected from MAETUR for the next step of issuing the license by the Ministry of Public Health to be engaged.
There are plans to set up a Community Pro-Pharmacy for essential drugs supplies at Nchou-Njeh to serve neighbouring enclave villages to Azi, since the exising pro-pharmacy does not meet the increasing popular demands of the population of the health district.
Programme Management
Emergence of roles and posts : The proposal by Trustee James Achanyi-Fontem to revamp the executive bureau member and BoT was endorsed with the appointment of Charles Amin as the Financial Secretary and Peter Monet Otto stepped down as trustee to pick up the position of secretary of the organisation.
Annual Financial Report
According to the report presented by the treasurer, Trustee Ursula Fontem, CFA 3.150.000 was spent in 2008 for social inclusion and poverty alleviation activities and training of staff is evaluated at CFA 15.000.000.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Trustee James Achanyi-Fontem suggested to the BoT that an annual operational administrative budget be agreed for purchase of consumable office materials and payment of transport fares of members to participate in meetings locally or at regional and national levels when it is deemed necessary. The proposal was endorsed, and amount is still to be fixed.
The Chairman, Dr. Mbi Asaah Nkohkwo, announced a working session with Dr. Stella Nana FABU of the University of Douala for the 11th January 2009 at 2 p.m. Dr. Stella Nana FABU was earmarked as the consultant to facilitate organisation of community empowerment training by FFF Cameroon.
He suggested the opening of a bank account for the organisation and this was endorsed with the activity attributed to Trustee Ursula Fontem (Treasurer) and Charles Amin (Financial Secretary.
On the development of the Azi Library, it was announced that more books are expected in March 2009 with computers for the FFF Cameroon secretariat that were shipped in London,UK.
About the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship training, trustees were invited to start scouting for another set of trainees, who must have at least a first degree and belong to non governmental organisations in Cameroon. The applications could be channeled under the canopy of the FFF Cameroon.
The action plans initiated in London by the Commonwealth Fellows were endorsed by the BoT for execution to take off. A multi-purpose grinning mill evaluated at CFA 350.000 was handed over to the ABAMOH Women’s Initiative Group at Nwametaw on the 7th January 2009 as part of the start of the micro-credit initiative plan.
Persons recruited to work in the secretariat have to prepare and present monthly reports of activities. This would be used for evaluation of the development of FFF Cameroon activities locally by an internal and external audit committee.It was agreed that meetings of the BoT will hold quarterly.
Present at the meeting were: Dr. Mbi Asaah Nkohkwo (Chairman), James Achanyi-Fontem (Programmes Manager), Peter Monet Otto (Secretary), Ursula Fontem (Treasurer), Charles Amin (Financial Secretary), Anastasia Atabong Fontem (Trustee), Nven-akeng Anne (Trustee), Misse Mary Mbiseah (Observer)