Q&A with ASCOA Founder and CEO During 2020 fiscal end of year meeting.
The year 2020 was full of challenges for the Association for Community Awareness (ASCOA). The Covid-19 pandemic, the increasing violence in South West and North West regions of Cameroon, and the lack of resources forced the organisation to revisit its operations and go to great lengths to implement their activities across the communities they serve. We spoke to ASCOA’s founder and CEO Linus Ayangwoh Embe about his vision for the future as the organisation enters a new strategic period.
ASCOA supports a wide range of causes, from environment protection, to women empowerment and health. How difficult is it to design projects in so many areas?
It is definitely challenging. However, ASCOA has the advantage of a large and dynamic team consisting of members and volunteers both national and international. ASCOA also benefits from being a part of the UN Volunteer platform that grants us access to a wide skillset necessary to design projects on the different focus areas. With proper coordination from the onsite team, designing projects for the five focus areas is not such a daunting task as it may seem.
What are your organisation’s strengths?
Teamwork: ASCOA has a dynamic team of members, event volunteers, and permanent volunteers who go to great lengths to see that any designed project is executed. ASCOA looks forward to continually empowering its members and volunteers to have the much-needed skills to improve productivity in the team.
Partnerships and alliances: ASCOA has over the years, established sustainable partnerships with renowned international organisations such as Ocean Conservancy; these organisations help ASCOA with recommendations, material, and financial support. One of our most recent achievements has been obtaining consultative status with the United Nations through ECOSOC. ASCOA is very dynamic, each time any assistance is needed, volunteers are always there to help.
How has the Anglophone crisis affected your work on the ground? Have you shifted your priorities as a result?
The recent anglophone crisis in Cameroon has significantly affected the work and priorities of ASCOA. We have had problems accessing rural communities due to insecurity. The crisis has led to a lot of problems of insecurity especially in rural and peri-urban areas. As a result, certain communities like Tole, in the Buea municipality, which previously benefitted a lot from our medical and educational outreach schemes, have experienced a reduction in such activities. In addition, ASCOA planned to expand its influence in other parts of the South West and North West regions of Cameroon, but unfortunately, preparations for such work and projects came to a halt with the onset of the Anglophone crisis. ASCOA’s priorities have shifted towards capacity building through education/sensitisation in communities with internally displaced persons (IDPs), material assistance to IDPs, health and sanitation campaigns within communities in Buea.
We were expecting the arrival of experts through a request granted by SES Expert (www.ses-bonn.de), a Germany-based non-profit that sends experts to assist organisations; but because of the Anglophobe crisis, SES Expert received travel warnings from the Federal Foreign Office advising against travel to Cameroon.
Covid-19 has forced NGOs to change the way they operate, raise funds and deliver services. How has ASCOA adapted to those changes? Has the pandemic affected your projects and activities?
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about an unprecedented change in ASCOA’s operations.
Firstly, most operations were carried out online. We had more virtual meetings for projects, and for situations where physical meetings were a necessity, security measures were put in place like the provision of hand sanitizer, facemasks and respect of social distancing.
We also sought funds using online platforms. Our projects’ focus also turned towards the production and supply of safety items like face masks.
Which has been your most successful project?
The coastal plastic cleanup and anti-pollution drive. ASCOA’s coastal cleanup projects have helped keep local beaches litter-free. From 2018 till date, the organisation has involved 800 people (volunteers) in cleanups collecting 70,020 plastic bottles, and removing a total of 28,8583 items from the coastlines while creating partnerships with nine environmental organisations.
What are your priority areas for the next few years?
We have three priority areas. Environmental protection, which will focus on marine littering, through our beach cleanup campaigns, waste management, plastic pollution, and tree planting. Health, focusing on biomedical, behavioural, and structural interventions. And peacebuilding through peace education in schools, peace workshops and seminars, and our peace crane project.
Tell me about your plans to expand into other countries.
Because of the tremendous work of ASCOA in early 2017, young people in other countries requested we expanded our activities to their communities. Therefore, ASCOA decided to give back to communities in need, not only in Cameroon but in other part in the world.
ASCOA has a board of directors based in other countries that serve as an arm of ASCOA outside Cameroon, so we look forward to continuing with our mission and vision in other countries and contribute to the 17 sustainable development goals.
What are ASCOA’s biggest challenges as you move forward?
Our biggest challenge is getting skilled staff who can use their talents to improve the organisation. We also lack sponsors and supporters. Since its inception, ASCOA’s board of directors has been supporting and sponsoring the organisation’s projects and overhead costs. Another challenge is mobilizing the much-needed funds for project execution, and winning grants.