110 Volunteers Deployed to Promote Transparency in North West Councils

Tamfu Fai, North West PIC, Other Officials Flanked by Community Volunteers.

The Office of the Public Independent Conciliator (PIC) for the North West Region has trained 110 community volunteers to serve as watchdogs and promoters of accountability in local councils. The initiative, officials say, is part of efforts to strengthen participatory governance and rebuild trust between citizens and municipal authorities.

The three-day workshop, held at the PIC office in Bamenda from August 20 to 22, brought together 69 community-based assistants, 23 field agents from the Socio-Economic Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities programme, and 18 Safety Net volunteers. They will now act as frontline ambassadors of good governance across the region’s municipalities.

Tamfu Simon Fai, North West Public Independent Conciliator  Addressing Participants.

 

Opening the session, the North West Public Independent Conciliator, Tamfu Simon Fai, said effective decentralization requires citizens to engage directly with leaders and institutions. “When governance becomes participatory, it lays the foundation for lasting peace, dignity, and development,” he said, describing the training as both a call to action and a platform for joint strategizing.

Over the next three months, the volunteers will spearhead a regional campaign on good governance, delivering civic education materials, spreading campaign messages, and administering questionnaires designed to assess transparency, accountability, and citizen participation in councils. 

The information collected will feed into PIC’s official reports on council performance.

Tamfu Simon Fai, North Public Independent Conciliator, Talking to the Media.

Participants were trained on governance principles, ethical communication, the legal framework of decentralization, field security, and data collection techniques. They also engaged in role-play simulations and testing of survey tools to prepare them for direct work in communities.

Tamfu urged the volunteers to embrace neutrality, stressing that their credibility depends on impartial and accurate reporting. “You must henceforth be neutral, impartial, independent, confidential, and objective in the work you will be doing,” he cautioned. “Our mission is not to tarnish councils, but to get true information that can guide reforms and ensure sustainable peace within decentralization.”

The launch of the volunteer corps is expected to bolster PIC’s oversight role at the grassroots, while encouraging citizens to see transparency and accountability as shared responsibilities for community welfare.