In a bid to address public policy gaps faced by governments and civil society organizations in the 11 member states of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in the implementation of projects for the good of the target population, the Nkafu Policy Institute, a leading Think Tank of the Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation has embarked on empowering a new generation of well-informed , strategic and proactive policymakers.
The institute last Monday in Yaounde launched the 2025 edition of its Public Policy Analysis Course (PPAC) which is aligned with AU and global priorities.
The program is a strategic initiative aimed to provide a structured, practical platform for building capacity among policymakers, researchers, and civil society leaders to respond to ECCAS-specific challenges. This three-day annual event will enhance technical and interpersonal competencies in policy analysis, communication, and advocacy, contributing to evidence-based policymaking and fostering collaboration among ECCAS stakeholders.
Expected Outcomes
By the end of the course, participants will:
Enhance Technical Proficiency: Develop skills in policy analysis, evaluation, and implementation.
Formulate Actionable Recommendations: Learn to craft concrete and practical policy recommendations based on sound analysis.
Improve Writing Skills: Gain expertise in producing compelling, evidence-based opinion pieces advocating for policy reform.
Design Advocacy Plans: Create comprehensive advocacy strategies that include clear objectives, target audiences, messages, and tactical approaches.
Master Advocacy Techniques: Acquire communication and advocacy skills critical for influencing policy decisions.
Strengthen Stakeholder Engagement: Cultivate the ability to effectively engage diverse stakeholders to advance policy reforms and governance initiatives.
Opening the training, Dr Denis Foretia said : “The complex we face today, ranging from economic instability, governance deficits, climate change , and social inequalities , demand a new generation of well-informed , strategic and proactive policymakers.”
He said participants would, among other things, “gain hands-on experience in policy analysis, communication and advocacy, ensuring that research and data are effectively translated into measurable policy impact.”
Next the participants were treated to a keynote discourse on Understanding Public Policy by Prof. William Herman Arrey, an expert in public policy.
They then broke up into groups to examine several themes chosen by experts.
Speaking to the press, Prof. Arrey justified why enhancing public policy skills in Cameroon is very useful.
“Public policy is so important because this is what helps the government and other stakeholders to take decisions that work for the citizens, the people. We cannot pretend to prescribe solutions to a problem when we donot understand it. As a matter of fact, it is important that the policies that are already in place should be evaluated to see how they policies are working . If they are not working, how can we ameliorate?”
For him “one of the reasons why most of our projects, be they regional, local, national and so on fail is because the issues were poorly evaluated, poorly analysed. As a matter of fact, the solutions that were given were not adapted to the issue or problem. That is why you would see government waste so much money, time without really tackling the problem”. He concluded that it is not only important to have that policy but to take some sort of retrospective look at that policy so as to guide front decision makers on how to tackle societal problems.
For her part, Adeline Nembot, Senior Policy Analyst at the Nkafu Policy Institute who was the main organizer explained why they continued to organize the event.
“What pushes us to continue to organize the event is the problem identified in Central Africa which is that of implantation of policies put in place, she said, adding: “We summon here economic policy leaders and equip them with notions of knowledge, practical capacities in order that they should not only identify the problem but also implement good decisions which can bring happiness in the region.”
On measures taken to reverse the trend of failure on the grounde, Mrs Nembot quipped: “Through our studies we have results which are published to permit our policymakers to take informed decisions which will reverse the trend. So one of our main activities is to engage in advocacy through the notes we publish so that governments can implement the results we publish.”
On their expectations after these three days, Adeline Nembot replied: “During these three days of training we expect to capacitate our participants with the aptitudes to identify first of all the problem because if this is not done it will be difficult to resolve them. This edition concerns several countries in Central Africa, so it is intended to identify the problems that the people face in a bid to bring solutions that can better the living standards and economies of these countries. “
For Barrister Enow Martina nee Aji Azaah, a practicing lawyer and founder of an NGO called Women Imparting Values for Development, she is very particularly interested in policy because growing up she discovered that “most of the problems society has is not because we do not have laws or existing people who have the capacity to solve these problems but we just have a limitation in how policy is implemented.”
“ Sometimes we have problems on ground but they are wrongly approached. Sometimes we are trying to cut off branches when the root causes of problems are still lying there”, she regretted.
Barrister Enow Martina was of the view that “this particular training on public policy analysis is important to every Cameroonian and important to me as a lawyer and civil society activist because I believe that when citizens are empowered with the right knowledge it can go a long way to drive the right information about policy. You have many instances where there is a problem on the ground but the wrong policies are deliberated upon – a lot of resources are put on ground, a lot of talk and mobilization is done but at the end of the day, the design of implementation does not meet the problem on the ground.”
She said she was convinced that “a proper training on policy analysis would empower stakeholders to know what policy options to take , what is the real problem to be addressed”.
She concluded that in order to solve most of the problems society is experiencing, “we need to know exactly what has to be addressed in order to avoid browbeating and then getting to spend resources without tangible results”.
Another participant, Tamno Tekam Jean, Statistical engineer at the ministry of justice, researcher, “the course helped us to understand what is public policy. Working for the administration, we understood that the main target is the population. We also learnt the steps into public policy and understood how to better evaluate in the administration to know the progress made and also know if this public policy has an impact on the population to which it is destined”.
