Ideas: The Woman Behind the NSIF Fabric
Recruited at the NSIF on the 20th of January 1971, Rose Ndjana had a brilliant idea, which not only brought colour to the 1992 Labour Day celebrations, but also made an active and lasting contribution to the identity of the NSIF.
At the beginning of 1991, NSIF employees had no idea that during the 1992 Labour Day celebrations marking the Institution’s 25th anniversary, they would be swapping their usual T-shirts—whose size and quality were not always eye-catching—for fabric.
In any case, Rose Ndjana, who worked at the Accounting Officer’s Service and was a member of several associations, already had an idea: to transpose women's meeting uniform into the company. So on the 6th of March 1991, she suggested to the staff delegates that they forward to the Director General a proposal for the production of a fabric in the NSIF colours. But the proposal initially fell on deaf ears because of the problem of funding; the suggestion was that the funding of the production of the fabric should be taken care of by the staff, voluntarily. The brave lady didn’t give up, she pushed forward her proposal. Her letter to the hierarchy dated 3rd December 1991 finally pushed through her idea. When a woman wants it, God Himself wants it...
The Director General at the time, Pierre Désiré Engo, signed a Service Note published on the 21st of January 1992, authorising the implementation of the initiative. In-house artist Bernard Kamdem, alias Coco, designed the model. The DG's private secretariat facilitated contacts with CICAM and the Provincial Social Insurance Centres. On the 10th of April 1992, 6,867 fabric coupons purchased by 2,500 staff at 3,495 CFA Francs each, for a total expenditure of 24,000,165 million CFA Francs, were delivered to the NSIF. As agreed, deductions were made later from the salaries of staff in two or three monthly instalments. And so, on the 1st of May 1992, employees of the NSIF lit up the Labour Day parade grounds with their new colours.
Staff in NSIF fabrics on the 1st of May 1992 (Mrs Ndjana, 2nd from left)
The fabric is highly appreciated. NSIF workers give them to family and friends. It has become a veritable propaganda tool for the Institution's values, used to mark its presence everywhere. It symbolised both belonging to the NSIF and the desire to show pride in serving the people. That year, dressed in their fabrics at the parade preceding the Cameroon Cup final at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium, the women's Prévoyance Handball players - then at the top of their game - drew rapturous applause, even from the Head of State. “I am delighted. On the one hand, we no longer envy the employees of other companies when they wear their fabrics, and on the other, our Institution has a fabric that identifies it”, said the woman to whom we owe the first NSIF fabric, in an interview with Louis Marie Ondoa, published in CNPS Informations No. 45 of March 1993.
Today, the NSIF fabric has undergone several changes to reflect the Institution's ever-increasing ambition and responsibility in providing modern social protection that is accessible to all Cameroonians. It is now offered free of charge to staff and is a source of pride for all.
