By Doh Bertrand Nua
The United Nations, UN, resident and humanitarian coordinator for Cameroon, Mathias Z. Naab, has enjoined coworkers in the UN system in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital city, in the Littoral region to inspire hope amongst the needy population as they set out to carry out their humanitarian missions.
“Give hope and not just food to the population. When you go out to give food to those in the North West and South West regions, make sure they end up with smiles of hope on their faces …that is the mission,” Naabsaid.
As part of his visit, Mathias Z. Naab, with UN workers at the World Food Programme Douala field office and warehouse, strategiseon how they work collaboratively with their logistic partners, and ensure that food preservation and delivery to the needy population in the North West and South West regions is done in record time, while ensuring safety and quality.
Naabcommended the work coworkers at the UN entities put together to save lives. But he also called for more collaborative work among colleagues within the entities of the UN system.
“When faced with challenges, think of opportunities. For that to be done, I think it’s time we work more as one body, the UN System, not as separate entities…in order to meet the mission to serve, there is a call for better collaboration amongst colleagues,” he continued.
While visiting the Douala seaport, the UN resident coordinator, lobbied with the port authorities, led by the Director General of the port, Cyrus Ngoh, for a reduction of transit taxes levied for the shipment of goods pertaining to the UN sub entities.
…”the port is a big establishment for the activities of UN entities, like UNICEF, UNDP, WFP, IOM, amongst others. We do have a lot of challenges with port services, especially with regards to delay in documentations, extra charges, which fall back on the UN entities making the cost of doing business in support of the needy population exorbitant…,” Naab said.
“I am particularly delighted to hear from them on how they value this partnership with the UN in support of the government’s efforts in advancing the development of this country…It is my hope that the commitment we made will see some lights in terms of solving some of the challenges we face,” he noted.
Impressed with the inputs of the United Nations Human Rights Commission,UNHRC, in training some refugees from the Central African Republic and Chad with specialisedprogrammes at the Pan African Institute for Development in Douala, the UN resident coordinator pledged to ensure, after training, employment for the selected refugee trainees.
“I am impressed with the initiative of the UNHRC and the school for the young people they are training.I am particularly impressed with their ambition and vision to include refugees in their programme…I think we have a lot of opportunities here as the UN to partner with such institutes to make sure no one is left behind and ensure that these young people get jobs or start their own businesses. That is a pledge that I made, so that they can take care of their families and continue to give hope in their communities and inspire other young people,” he said.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Africanian News.
