INTRODUCTION

The United Nations instituted the International Day of Indigenous Peoples in 1994. This day is being celebrated every 9th of August; reason being that it coincides with the date of the first working session of the Sub Commission working to address discrimination and the protection of minorities who came together in 1982 and decided that 1983 will be considered as “The International Year of the Indigenous Peoples”. Cameroon being a member of the United Nations started celebrating this day officially last year. This year the celebration was carried out in three regions (North West, East, and Centre) on a theme and objectives defined by the Ministry of Social Affairs (MINAS). In the North West Region the Cultural Adviser at the Governor’s Office representing the Governor chaired this day. Also present, were the Regional Delegate of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Deputy Delegate of the Bamenda City Council, the Chief Technical Adviser of International Labour Organization (ILO) Office Bamenda and other partners. Also it is worth mentioning that the actual day is Sunday the 9th August, but it was celebrated in the North West Region on Saturday the 8th for convenience mindful of the fact that activities marking the celebration have already been launched on the 5th in the East Region by the Minister of Social Affairs Catherine Bakam Mbock. This year's theme was “Marginalized Populations, Rich and Diverse Cultures, a means to Development in the Context of Globalisation”

.MBOSCUDA received a grant from ILO worth 932,000CFA adding to the minimum financial contribution by MBOSCUDA and MINAS, which made it very possible for the occasion to be celebrated in a grand style.

 

PLANNED AND REALIZED ACTIVITIES

 

Preparatory Meetings: Several preparatory meetings were held with the regional representatives of the Ministry of Social Affairs at the Regional Delegation. Discussions were centred on the activities marking the day. The Regional Chief of Service for Elderly and Disable (Mrs. Nkwate Rebecca) at the MINAS regional office took the responsibility of engaging all the relevant government services and other stakeholders required by drafting invitation letters and also making contact visits to the various offices with MBOSCUDA NW Programme Coordinator. The programme was also drawn up by the Regional Delegation in consultation with MBOSCUDA NW.

 Media programmes: A round table conference was carried out over CRTV Bamenda to sensitize the public on issues of marginalised population and public initiatives for their development. The media discussion that involved four panellists from International Labour Organisation (ILO) Bamenda, MBOSCUDA and the Regional Delegation of Social Affairs was centred on the four subthemes formulated by the Ministry of Social Affairs as follows.

·  “Marginalized Population and Participation in Development”

·  “Marginalized Population, Diversity and Cultural Riches”

·  “Protection of Traditional know-how of Marginalized Population, Reservation of Ecosystem and Biodiversity

·  “Marginalized Population; Information and Training”.

The discussion over CRTV Bamenda took about 60 minutes. Another thirty minutes discussion each were carried out over Radio Hot Coco, Abakwa Radio Station and Foundation Radio by MBOSCUDA sensitizing the public on the main activities concerning the celebration of the International Day of Indigenous Population particularly in the North West Region.

Open Day: Friday the 7th of August 2009 was allocated as an Open Day where the public was invited to the MBOSCUDA Secretariat and MINAS Regional Offices for information, educative talks, questions and answers sessions on the Mbororo Community, the International Day of Indigenous Population and MBOSCUDA. Twenty three (23) persons mostly non-Mbororo and some few Mbororo people were received in both the Ministry of Social Affairs and MBOSCUDA NW offices on this day. Information such as copies of the MBSOCUDA brochure, ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and some background information on Mbororo Pastoralists were made available and distributed to the visitors.

 

Manifestation of Public Activities

March Pass:

This activity started with the assembly of the Mbororo population at the City Chemist Roundabout. Over 285 Mbororo people, involving youths, women and men, marched through the Commercial Avenue to the Bamenda Municipal Stadium accompanied by traditional drummers and horse riders. Cardboards with messages such as “No to all forms of discrimination”, “MBOSCUDA promotes the rights of marginalized people”, “Girl child education – our constant challenge” and cultural artefacts were exhibited and carried along the commercial avenue Bamenda. The colourful march pass along the commercial avenue attracted many on lookers (mostly non-Mbororo people and some few white men) who followed the population to the Municipal Stadium. Also worth noting is that the staff of MINAS accompanied the Mbororo population in the march pass as well.

 Speeches: The Deputy Government Delegate to the Bamenda City Council, MBOSCUDA NW Vice President, ILO Chief Technical Adviser, Regional Delegate of MINAS and the Governor’s representative presented their speeches during the occasion. All the speakers highlighted the role played by the indigenous people and or marginalized population in terms of contribution to the national economy and social integration. Also worth mentioning is the importance of the implementation of the UNDRIP.

 

Copies of some of the speeches are attached to this report. A presentation to sensitise the Mbororo population in particular on HIV/AIDS was carried out by a German Development Service (DED) staff working with the Regional Hospital in Bamenda. This presentation was not planned at the start but was viewed important and included in the programme considering the threat and consequences of this deadly disease among vulnerable groups like the Mbororo Pastoralists.

 

Horse riding and Traditional Dances: Thirty-seven Mbororo adult men and youths on traditionally decorated horses entertained the public by displaying their skills for close to sixty minutes. This activity was also accompanied by traditional music (singing and playing drums and flutes) and dancing. The dancing went on for one hour after the horse riding and most of the invitees and the Mbororo population joined in the dancing.

 

Exhibition of Cultural Artefacts: Several Mbororo cultural artefacts such as calabashes, knives, swords, bows and arrows, ropes, mats, drums and stools were displayed. Mbororo girls and boys in traditional dresses exhibited different forms of hairstyles and jewellery that symbolize married and non-married women and men. Different types of traditional meals were offered to the public.

Information cardboards with pictures about the Mbororo Community and MBOSCUDA were also displayed. The representative of the Governor, other dignitaries and participants took time to inspect every thing exhibited and also watched the horse display and traditional dances.

 

 

Reception: At the close of the day food was offered to the invitees at the MBOSCUDA NW secretariat and the other participants especially the youths were entertained at the municipal stadium. The financial contribution to MBOSCUDA NW as grant by the ILO office in Bamenda is what enabled MBOSCUDA NW to provide feeding to almost all the participants during this occasion.

 

CHALLENGES OR DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED:

These are few of the difficulties encountered while preparing and finalising the celebration of the second International Day of Indigenous Population in the North West Region particularly in Mezam Division where the occasion took place.

·  The venue was not very convenient, especially for the horse display as the Director of the stadium refused horses to demonstrate in the football field for fear of damaging it.

·  Feeding was not adequate as the previewed population was far more than the actual turnout. Only about 200 persons or less was fore seen for the occasion.

·  Transportation of cultural artefacts and traditional food from the hills down to Bamenda was tedious and costly placing MBOSCUDA in a very difficult position as the budget could not meet up that cost due to many participants.

·  MBOSCUDA was overwhelmed with many appeals from far off places out of Mezam

Division to supplement transportation cost for people to come and participate. The Landslide at one mile Santa Akum prevented huge number of interested Mbororo people from Santa, Awing and Baba II from participating.

As a way forward to address some of the difficulties or challenges encountered steps were immediately taken to improvise solutions where possible but also note was taken and lessons drawn for the future.

 

Lessons learnt:

·  Documentation and preservation of the Mbororo cultural artefacts and other cultural practices really need to be done urgently because it was experienced that to get the artefacts was not easy within the Mbororo community.

·  Majority of the youths especially those in cities and students do not know these artefacts and many cultural values and practices. In fact many of the youths saw some of the things for the first time, as these things are not commonly used in the Mbororo communities nowadays.

 

CONCLUSION:

The celebration of the 2nd International Day of Indigenous People was seen with interest and many non-Mbororo people came to witness this occasion. The Mbororo population turned out to be very enthusiastic to display their culture and therefore travelled from far and near to participate.

 The media coverage of the event from the preparatory phase to the final day was adequate as MBOSCUDA received many calls from far and wide to answer questions or receive encouraging words from individuals.

The occasion was rated very successful partly because of the role played by other stakeholders like ILO, the Regional Delegation of Social Affairs and of course the dedicated Regional Executive Committee, Board and staff members of MBOSCUDA North West Region.