Women’s Empowerment Partnership with CESO-SACO

Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO) is a Canadian organization working towards strengthening social and economic well-being in Canada and abroad through engagement of skilled and experienced Canadian volunteers working cooperatively with our partners to effectively service client needs. IDF and CESO started working together in the late 2000s.

Marielle (CESO Volunteer) works with IDF staff

CESO volunteers have predominantly worked in the area of strategic planning and women’s empowerment. CESO volunteers have been instrumental in developing training modules for the Vocational Training Centre for single adolescent mothers.

Empowering Young Single Mothers

CESO Marielle (Volunteer April-May 2010)

In April 2010, Marielle Bastien, a volunteer came to work with IDF on developing a training manual to be used at the Isabelle de Boismenu Voctaional Training Centre.

“ It was a pleasure for me to work with CESO for IDF and during the short placement I was able to learn a bit about the life of Cameroonian women in Bamenda and its surrounding. IN that short time I was also able to see and evaluate the quantity of development work done by IDF despite limited finances and limited human resources. During my placement, I created a training manual for young single mothers [for the seminars to be carried out at the Isabelle de Boismenu vocational training centre]. This manual contains seminars with exercises on self esteem, human and women’s rights, sexuality and reproduction, anatomy and physiology, family planning, and health topics such as principles of sexually transmitted infections (including HIV and AIDS) and first aid. This manual is designed not only to give young women a chance to explore their potential and to gain financial autonomy but it also gives them a global vision of their possibilities and an opportunity to interest them in a second training session that will focus on vocation skills such as tailoring or cooking.

This training manual was a big undertaking and now the next step is to train trainers on delivering the training so that they will be able to engage and educate the young women who will attend the classes and to give them the courage and raised self esteem to realize change and take control of their lives.”

IDF Impresses a Visiting CESO Volunteer

In May 2011, Louise Montague, a CESO volunteer placed with the Bamenda City Council came to visit IDF on the recommendation of a previous CESO volunteer and the CESO Cameroon Office.

A visit from Louise (CESO Volunteer in Bamenda)

The CESO volunteer was presented with the IDF presentation which introduces the organization, its mission, activities and future direction. She expressed that she was overwhelmingly impressed to see the improvement and progress reached by IDF. She commended the IDF coordinator for her leadership and the use of different approaches. It is hoped that this interest in IDF marks the beginning of a strong relationship between CESO and IDF.