Cameroon’s Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family (Minproff) signed Thursday an agreement with the humanitarian NGO Care International. The objective, we learned, is to improve the living conditions of women and girls, and hence of Cameroonian families.

The two parties pledge to pool their efforts in the fight against harmful socio-cultural practices and poverty through the economic empowerment of women and to promote gender equality and female leadership. Commenting on the partnership, Minister Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa said "A stable, harmonious family is based on social growth and women's economic autonomy".

The partners have pledged to combat all forms of discrimination against women, to build the capacities of women and girls in "all sectors of activity", to support the creation of income-generating activities by women, and to combat maternal and infant mortality and HIV/AIDS.

"The government is working, but the government can't do everything. We need partners like Care International to help the government improve the situation of women," the minister said, adding that this is a win-win partnership. Care has been present in Cameroon since 1978, where it implements projects to provide access to water, improve food security and primary health care, as well as projects to combat AIDS and tuberculosis, in collaboration with government and local development players. It also works with displaced populations in the country, as a result of the crisis affecting the Lake Chad basin.