The 34st PBF course organised by the Special Fund of Littoral and SINA Health finished the 7th of March, 2014 in Limbé, Cameroon.

There were 27 participants. 15 came from Cameroon, 9 from Burundi, 2 from Burkina Faso, and 1 person from DRC and the Netherlands.

At the end of the course the participants conducted a test and everybody obtained at least a certificate of merit (55% or more) and seven participants obtained a distinction (90% or more).

PBF course participants at the Cameroon reunification statue

In the weekend 16 participants reached after a two hour walk the first level of Cameroon mountain at 2100 meters.

The same group also visited the reunification monument in Buea.

There was a 6 person delegation, financed by Cordaid, which will start implementing a PBF Education program in Burundi. They will cover primary schools in Bubanza province. The main problem to improve educational standards in Burundi is how to motivate teachers. Their salaries are currently a pitiful $ 80 per month. School revenues should therefore at least triple before minimum quality standards can be achieved, necessary to motivate teachers and to obtain adequate equipment and to improve infrastructure.

PBF conflict resolution role play

The main problems with PBF in Cameroon remains the weak co-ordination by the Ministry of Health. They lack an effective technical PBF Unit. As a result the Cameroon government does not yet coordinate donors and different Regional PBF initiatives. As a result the French, German and World Bank PBF efforts operate in parallel. Government also does still not differentiate the PBF subsidies on a per capita basis per Region.  This could be a powerful tool to reduce inter-regional inequalities, which are immense such as between the poor Extreme North Region compared to for example the Littoral Region. The World Bank announced that it will support new PBF initiatives in the North of Cameroon and there were 8 participants from the Extreme North, the North and Adamoua Regions.

The Burkina Faso group were happy to report that the second phase of the scaling up of the PBF program has started at the beginning of 2014 and does not cover 15 districts with 4.5 million people.

Traditional Dance in Cameroon

In Limbé there was also a 5 person delegation of the Reproductive Health Department of the Ministry of Health from Burundi. We applaud the fact that German KFW started to support PBF in Burundi.