Share the page

Maïtena Master’s Program in Cameroon: The Response to the Training Needs Of Development Professionals

AFD News

Published on

Lancement Master Maitena 2022
© Campus AFD

Maïtena Master 2 is a two-year master’s degree program created through a partnership between Université Senghor (Université de la Francophonie) and Campus AFD. The program provides capacity building for managers in African countries who work on development project management, be it in the public or private sector, in NGOs, or in civil society organizations. On April 18, 2022, the first class year was officially launched at the Catholic University of Central Africa (UCAC) in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

First published May 2, 2022.



Today, development in Africa largely depends on the professionalization of the steering and management of development projects. To address this great challenge, Université Senghor and Campus AFD have joined forces to develop and put into action a modified version of the emblematic Master’s Degree in Project Management for Development (Master Maîtrise d’Ouvrage pour le Développement – MODEV), in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This training is adapted to the needs and realities of each of these two countries.


“This master’s program is a very valuable tool for supporting the capacity building of our partners and thus for serving AFD-funded projects. The fact that it’s located in Cameroon allows for better contextualization of development and training issues, and also for attracting people already working on projects.”

Claire Galante, Head of Human Development & Economic Inclusion at AFD in Cameroon

The first class year of the Maïtena Master 2 program will bring together 30  managers from Cameroon and the subregion (Chad, the CAR, and the DRC). They generally work as consultants, project officers or managers working in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. The program is multidisciplinary and includes a set of theme-based modules on project management, the current great economic issues, and development financing. These modules respond to the specific context of Central Africa and particularly to that of Cameroon.

The training also gives great importance to the acquisition and strengthening of cross-cutting skills such as leadership, creativity, cooperation, critical thinking, and communication, etc. These are essential for project leaders so that they can bring their projects to a successful conclusion in all areas of development.

 

“The Maïtena Master’s program meets the need for skill acquisition among development leaders in Africa.”

François Ntonga, University Secretary and Coordinator of Partnerships at UCAC

Campus AFD and Université Senghor also offer support to speakers on including active teaching methods (e.g., critical case studies, role-playing, teamwork, etc.) in their training programs. Some distance learning courses will be led by Campus AFD, which acts here as a catalyst for the emergence and dissemination of relevant solutions for sustainable development. Campus AFD seeks to stimulate long-term initiatives outside of established frameworks, rooted in the realities of the areas in which AFD Group operates and which respond to the major transitions of the 21st century.

“At Campus AFD, we rely a lot on collaborating with our academic partners to think together about the challenges of today, to develop hybrid approaches and to disseminate new methods and solutions. For more than 20 years, we’ve been organizing the MODEV Master’s program, which is part of Cefeb’s long history and is now put into action with Ferdi and the University of Clermont-Auvergne. This experience has made us keen to develop similar formats in universities in the South.   The Maïtena Master’s degree is all the richer because it draws on the experience and expertise of its three co-organizers—UCAC, Université Senghor and Campus AFD—and encourages interdisciplinarity of profiles and skills. The start of the Maïtena Master’s program illustrates our vision of ‘learning together’ to help transform development actors and the communities to which they belong, so that they contribute to speeding up the change of trajectory we so badly need.”  

Sarah Marniesse, Head of Campus AFD