CARITAS Builds Workers Capacity On Project Management

Diocesan and parish workers of CARITAS in the Buea Diocese were, on November 9, trained in a seminar that focused on project management as a tool for assisting the needy and fighting against misery in communities.

The seminar, dedicated to project management, had as one of its resource persons, the Director of CARITAS in the Buea Diocese, Pierre Ernest Tchinda, who drilled participants on guiding rules and principles which they should follow to stay in line with the goals and objectives of each project they may be working on, at the various levels in their parishes. He also drilled them in guiding modalities towards choosing and managing essential projects that best suit the needs of their communities.

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In an interview with the press, Pierre Ernest Tchinda said, because of the poverty situation, they are striving to train the personnel of the various parishes in the Buea Diocese, so that, in the nearest future, they can be self-reliant and be able to respond to the needs of their community.

On what CARITAS expects from its workers after the seminar, the Director said: “We expect that at the level of each parish CARITAS, they should be able to take care of their needy with their own proper resources.”

Talking about what CARITAS is doing in the Diocese, the Director said CARITAS is engaged in projects like animal husbandry, crop production, grinding mill services, as well as a wide range of small business schemes, through which CARITAS has financed and empowered people in the communities.

“We operate in many domains, depending on the needs of the concerned community. We train them and we give them financial support. We do follow-up through CARITAS in the grassroots. We have about 23 permanent staff and a network of more than 350 persons throughout parishes in the Diocese of Buea. They are the ones in charge of day to day follow-up, he said.”

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The representative of Bishop Immanuel Bushu, Rev. Fr. Kingsley Chinonso Nwabuze, Parish Priest of St. Francis Parish Mutengene, remarked that the activities of CARITAS are much needed now in the communities. He further said that, as a representative of the Bishop, he had come to ascertain that CARITAS in the Buea Diocese was working in line with its mission of reaching out to the needy in society and empowering them to be able to meet up with their daily needs.

On the need to organise a seminar, Rev. Chinonso said: “The Catholic Church is organised, and as such, we wouldn’t want a project such as CARITAS to be thrown into the hands of individuals who don’t know what to do, and that is why we have gone as far as organising this seminar, to tell them what exactly is expected of them: Taking care of the needy, the disadvantaged and the destitute in society requires knowledge and tact.”

A participant, Mercy Veronica Madubunze, from St Jude Thaddeus Mile 14, said, from the first presentations, she understood the difference between operations and projects and will, in her next assignments, better understand and know how to rightfully carry out her duties.

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