Launched in October 2019, the FO4ACP project in Central Africa, initiated by PROPAC and its member NPOs, has shown significant progress during its second phase, which began in 2023. The first phase, lasting four years, had revealed financial shortfalls; however, the IFAD supervision mission in October 2023 highlighted crucial improvements. The 2024 PTBA launch workshop in Douala identified strategies for optimizing performance , such as implementing the TOP UP phase , improving technical reports and capitalizing on experiences .
The PROPAC Regional Coordination undertook field visits to monitor, support and evaluate the progress of the OPNs in implementing the FO4ACP . These visits helped to strengthen financial management , monitoring and evaluation and capitalization and reporting mechanisms , while preparing for the closure scheduled for 2025. The PROPAC mission, carried out from November 3 to 10, 2024 in collaboration with the CNCPRT teams , examined the implementation of previous recommendations, ensured the appropriation of financial management tools by the OPNs, checked the compliance and quality of supporting documents and collected available unaccounted documents . The teams also assessed the execution of the PTBA 2024 , inventoried the equipment acquired and verified the effectiveness of the document classification and archiving systems .
In terms of communication, the CNCPRT has appointed a communications officer and has updated its digital platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram . A quarterly newsletter is in preparation. The CNCPRT systematically collaborates with the media and integrates partner logos into all visuals. However, the mission recommends creating an institutional website and systematically updating the Facebook page for better visibility .
The mission visited several economic initiatives, including the Bio-Kagi group , composed of 30 members (26 women and 4 men) who work on the processing of agricultural and forestry products. The Cooperative of Women Fish Sellers’ Organizations , a group of 19 women , stands out for its activities of collecting and transforming waste into organic fertilizer (liquid and solid) and fish feed . The Dairy Products Development Group transforms milk into various by-products such as yogurt, cheese, cakes and nutritional flour . Finally, the Cooperative Society for the Production of Livestock Food (SECOPAB) focuses on cultivating and processing the Pennisetum “maralfarfar” plant into fodder for livestock.
During the SECOPAB visit , the mission observed floods that affected 10 hectares of production , destroyed the storage building and damaged some of the equipment , a consequence of rainwater between August and October 2024. This situation highlights the need to invest in resilient infrastructure and adopt preventive measures against climatic hazards .
Article from PROPAC