At annual conference: MINAS evaluates progress, sets roadmap to strengthen social protection programs.

This was at a two-day annual conference which opened in Yaounde on Wednesday January 29. The confab which ended Thursday, brought together officials of the central and decentralised services of the Ministry of Social Affairs as well as partners of the ministry.

The Minister of Social Affairs, Pauline Irene Nguene, officially opened annual gathering. It held this year under the theme: “Strategies for strengthening social protection programs: MINAS’s contribution to preserving the purchasing power and well-being of socially vulnerable individuals and households”.

Discussions during the conference centered on the evaluative, appropriative and projective reflection on the contribution of MINAS on the strengthening of social protection programs by maintaining the purchasing power and well-being of SVPs.

The ministry and its partners also deliberated on contributing to maintaining the purchasing power of SVPs, identifying the actual or potential contributions of other actors as well as to formulating proposals for actions that could increase and optimise their contribution to ministerial initiatives.

It was also an opportunity to identify strategies, based on lessons learned and good practice, to increase the effectiveness and sustainability of ministries’ interventions.

Addressing stakeholders at the annual conference, the Minister Irene Nguene expressed her optimism, stating that the come together will enable them to carry out a forward-looking assessment of their actions. 

Elaborating on the theme of the conference, the government official, said: “…It is based on based on the orientation of the Head of State on how to ameliorate the well-being of the Socially Vulnerable Persons, and it’s a theme whose scope already reveals the cross-cutting and multi-dimensional nature of our intervention”. 

Minister Irene Nguene said “the annual conference is a moment for us to do a prospective evaluation for our ministry to see what we did last year and what is going to happen this year, basing ourselves on past performances…”.

Problems faced 

She said the ministry has put in a lot of work despite so many setbacks. Disclosing some of the challenges faced at national level, she said “the persistence of war, climatic disruptions, inflationary pressures and fluctuations in oil prices have all had a negative impact on the domestic socio-economic situation, with rising prices for consumer goods and consequently the cost of living accentuating poverty and increasing the vulnerability of the population”. 

Achievements 

The minister said despite challemges faced, government has had to implement appropriate strategies, with the support of its partners, to guarantee the social protection of the population with particular emphasis on the most vulnerable categories. 

“With a view to “leaving no one behind”, our ministry has stepped up actions to prevent the aggravation of social vulnerabilities, to guarantee satisfactory and equitable access to basic social services for socially fragile people, to ensure their social protection and inclusion, and to facilitate their economic inclusion,” said Minister Irene Nguene.

She further mentioned that through her ministry, numerous initiatives have been carried out in favour of early childhood development, prevention of social maladjustment, reinforcement of special child protection, as well as support for the insertion and reintegration of vulnerable maladjusted children.

The member of government added: “Social assistance actions have benefited men and women from other social categories, presenting categorical or conjunctural vulnerabilities, notably the disabled, the elderly, indigenous populations, and victims of disasters, catastrophes and security crises”.

She concluded by saying that the ministry has been a front-runner in sectoral dynamics aimed at preventing social exclusion, psychosocial care and the socio-economic reintegration of vulnerable social groups.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3355 of Friday January 31, 2025