Mainelin / Douala / Kamerun
Employment opportunities are grim for many young people in Cameroon. The rate of unemployment is high; hopelessness and frustration are mounting among them. The training center MAINELIN of Douala counters this situation: it provides courses and vocational training to adolescents in the fields of construction work, bricklaying, tiling, plumbing, painting, electrical works, electrical fitting, joining, carpentry and roof-building. During school vacations, computer science courses are also offered to older students. In order to provide special training to girls and young women, a tailoring and hairdresser’s workshop were set up at the center. In 2008, MAINELIN entered into cooperation with another association specialized in vocational trainings only for young women.
Young people acquire skills "on the job" at construction sites, in workshops at the center as well as during classes. Trainings increase their chances of finding employment or getting self-employed and eventually make a living in the informal sector.
MAINELIN is based in a neighbourhood of Douala –the economic heart of the country– and attracts migrants fleeing from rural areas where they have only few employment opportunities. However, MAINELIN’s activities are not restricted to Douala only; it also works in other cities of Cameroon.
"Vocational training" in Cameroon is not regulated and standardized. Theoretical classes and practical trainings are usually not interwoven. Attending a vocational training school and getting a degree means, one is qualified for a job without ever having worked practically in his or her profession. Or, for instance, one has got a job as unskilled labourer employed in a work shop –for a period of two weeks or two years– without any theoretical background. Usually young people keep moving from one odd job to another and lose employment easily since they lack formal qualifications.
Against this background, Jules Blaise Tchuenche Boum took the initiative and founded MAINELIN in 2000 along with like-minded people. After completing his studies in electric engineering at a university institute in Bandjoun near Bafoussam, Jules Blaise had to face unemployment, a problem so common to many young people in Cameroon, and was forced to take up occasional jobs in order to eke out a living. He convinced like-minded, young and dedicated people from different professions and they jointly founded an association providing vocational training to young people; as well as carrying out commercial business. At the beginning of 2001, MAINELIN got recognized by the government as a non-profit association.
MAINELIN‘s priority is to closely combine practical work experience and vocational education. Practical experience on the job is ensured through the acquisition of construction and repair work contracts – also to ensure a source of income for the trainees. Thereby, MAINELIN seeks to acquire contracts from different clients, for example from private firms, state projects of urban development, self help groups as well as from the Church.
MAINELIN shifted its main office from Bafoussam to Douala in 2003 due to better economic prospects here. While the office was initially housed in a rental building, MAINELIN, with the help of the Threshold Foundation, managed to buy a small operational building that also accommodates an office, an art studio and a warehouse. The building was enlarged in 2008 and now additionally houses class rooms for vocational, extra-occupational education for each respective profession. Courses are given by association members and partly by external trainers employed on a temporary basis.
Duration and aims of vocational training programs are not fixed; they are rather set by local prerequisites and interests of training participants. Therefore, MAINELIN offers project-based, short-term trainings, for example internships combined with workshops lasting several days. Offering short-time "crash courses" is also due to the fact that some adolescents are not able to pass through long-term courses and that on some construction sites work is not scheduled to last very long.
Besides, special training courses are offered to senior students during three-month holidays in summer as well as two-week holidays in winter and Easter. Students generally take up vacation jobs during holidays and thus, the prospect of a "qualifying job" is somehow attractive to them. Long-term vocational trainings lasting a few years also exist in Cameroon. They are however the exception, due to the companies’ unstable order situation and the uncertain economic situation in general.
Vocational Training programs offered by MAINELIN provide employment opportunities for youth and prevent them from getting discouraged and staying on the streets or scratching along as petty criminals. Vocational education at MAINELIN helps them to find employment or to acquire contract orders themselves. This creates a basis for legal employment and the prospect of getting out of poverty; an opportunity that is invaluable in a country like Cameroon.
