30th anniversary of the International Day of Families
Learning how to register domestic workers
The NSIF allowed employers to discuss the importance of registering their domestic workers. The event was held on the second day of the International Day of the Family. It occurred in the Ongola a Samba room of the Centre Regional Council.
"Resilient families in the face of socio-economic, migratory, climatic and technological challenges" was the 30th International Day of the Family theme. The event, organised under the patronage of the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family, brought together various professional bodies and administrative figures to rally around the common challenge of changing social attitudes to create a healthy and productive family union. The NSIF delegation for the occasion was made up of: Christiane Mpongo Kono, Technical Adviser in charge of good governance and personal representative of the NSIF Director General, Bidima Bisso Lucien, Project Officer and Bella Annie Mbele, Deputy Chief of Centre of the Social Insurance Centre Yaounde-Independence. The event, dubbed "Family Café", was an opportunity for the NSIF to discuss the issues surrounding the consideration of domestic workers by their employers.
A speech by the Deputy Chief of the Centre, on the theme of fighting against social inequality and poverty by encouraging the registration of domestic workers: "The place and importance of domestic workers are regularly at the centre of social concerns. Improving their living and working conditions and defining their status in society. Many domestic workers carry out their work in extremely difficult conditions. These include low wages below the minimum wage, no employment contract, no pay slips, no health insurance, no annual leave, and no social security cover, all of which reflect a lack of consideration on the part of their employers. Domestic workers must enjoy the same rights as other workers. The figures are very low, it should be noted", declared Bella Annie Mbele, before a very attentive audience curious about the NSIF's proposals, before adding: "We have almost 90% of workers who are not known to the NSIF and 10% who declare their employees but whose contributions are not systematically paid. It should be pointed out that the majority of these 10% come from expatriate employers who have a culture of social security. To counter this, we have opted to raise awareness. We implemented a communication system using a variety of media, including audio and video trailers, visuals and posters, as well as raising awareness among administrative, political, religious, traditional and private authorities through visits by our teams in the field. The aim is to educate the masses about the importance and necessity of registering these workers”.
Several other events were organised to raise awareness of the issue, including a round table during which staff from related institutions discussed the theme of the celebrations. The panel was made up of staff from the Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED), a member of staff from the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ANTIC), a member of staff from the Tyrannus Institute and anthropologist François Bingono Bingono. Some topics were discussed during the meeting, including the need to get back to basics to solve Africa's problems, the problem of climate change, the need for mothers to monitor their children and raise their awareness of the use of portable digital devices in the fight against the depravation of morals.
Following this technical exchange, the Minister for the Promotion of Women and the Family, Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa, was keen to congratulate the quality of the exchanges and suggested that there should be a domestic follow-up to these lessons learned: "Today, the family continues to face many problems, and we mentioned them, the list is exhaustive. We can add the proliferation of hate speech and the proliferation of Fake news, among others. Hence the importance of the discussions we are holding, the components of which are designed to raise awareness and provide better support for families. We remain very open at the Ministry, we recognise the struggle of families in distress and hope that what has been said here shall be repeated at homes".
The Minister's address marked the end of the 30th International Day of the Family, which began on Saturday 11 May 2024 at the Adna parish church, with a national buffet for families. At the end of the discussions, each of the parties involved expressed their satisfaction and praised the initiative, which they felt should be popularized and perpetuated.
