Ten Partner Councils receive Inclusive Functional Websites
Persons with disabilities in Cameroon especially those with visual impairment and beyond will henceforth have access to some 10 inclusive websites developed, and funded by the SEEPD Program of the CBC Health Services for 10 partner Councils. This is in line with the partnership between the SEEPD Program and the Councils to promote Community Based Inclusive Development (CBID).
Handing over the project to the Councils’ Communication Officers on July 16, 2021 in Bamenda, SEEPD Program Manager drew their attention to the strategic development goals (SDGs) which emphasize on leaving no one behind in all actions. Awa Jacques Chirac highlighted that the inclusive websites handed to Councils are intended to provide visibility on their actions given that most of them have caught the vision of inclusion and are putting in place strategies to foster CBID.
The SEEPD Program Manager stressed that the inclusive functional websites will act as a tool to showcase the Council’s achievements in community development with a keen eye on CBID practices. “The websites will also be a platform for communication and collaboration between the actors which will include the SEEPD Program, media, Civil Society Organisations, donor community, and the general public,” he added.
The handing over ceremony was marked by a work session with the Councils Communication Officers during which they were drilled on the general usage of the websites. The lead facilitator, Mr. Nyangang Godlove who was contracted to design and develop the websites provided participants with the skills on the flexible features to update and upload contents.
On his part, Mr. Njoka Divine who edited and developed the contents of the websites, educated the Communication Officers on the kinds of news-making events in their municipalities which they should capture on a daily or weekly basis to make their websites functional and have high Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The SEEPD Program Officer Loshie Eugene had a work session with the participants as well on how to write CBID stories that will capture the attention of readers.
The following Councils were chosen to pilot the inclusive websites: Bamenda 1, II, and III, Jakiri, Santa, Tubah, Nkambe, Wum, Fundong and Magba.
The Communication Officer of Wum Council, Steve Ojong, in an interview, noted that “The development of my Council’s website by the SEEPD Program is a commendable initiative given that the Wum Council website is now not only well developed, but also inclusive which means that persons with disabilities, especially persons with visual impairment can now have access to the website without being assisted by someone. I very grateful to the CBC Health Services for choosing the Wum Council amongst the few pilot Councils to be using such an accessible website,” he expressed.
It should be noted that the development of the website by the SEEPD program for Councils is just one of the actions carried out by the program to support partner Councils promote CBID as underlined in the MoU with the Councils. All these actions by the SEEPD program are implemented thanks to support from the Australian Aid