(Business in Cameroon) - Minister of Employment and Vocational Training Issa Tchiroma Bakary recently signed a partnership agreement with Nachtigal Hydro Power Company (NHPC), the project company in charge of the 420MW Nachtigal dam, to support vocational training institutions under the Ministry of Vocational Training.  

The agreement includes the promotion of the local labor force, youth employment, and micro-project financing in the project area. It occurs just weeks after Cameroon, through Minister of Water and Energy Gaston Eloundou Essomba issued a call for expression of interest for the elaboration of a human resources development strategy in the hydroelectricity sector.

The selected firm will elaborate a curriculum of courses covering the whole hydroelectricity value chain, identify the current training gap and future needs in the local electricity sector. It will also lay out a 20-year human resources development plan for the sub-sector.

For human resources experts, the human resource development strategy and similar initiatives like the partnership between the NHPC and the Ministry of Employment would help reduce the importation of hydroelectricity skills, reduce maintenance costs (because such expensive contracts are usually outsourced to foreign contractors), and guarantee the infrastructures are effectively maintained.

BRM