FESADE is a non-profit organization created in May 1993. FESADE evolved from the Women and Health project (Femmes et Santé) which originated in 1988 as an initiative of l’Institut Panafricain pour le Développement with the financial support of the Canadian Agency of International Development’s (ACDI) program entitled Africa 2000. In 1990, the ACDI awarded the Women and Health project a long-term financing agreement for a period of five years. In 1992, the project was encouraged to pursue NGO status for FESADE which FESADE achieved in May 1993 as a national NGO in Cameroon. International NGO status was not obtained until 1995 due to the added bureaucracy in spite of the fact that FESADE continues to contribute to women in development efforts in four countries.

The mission of FESADE is to "Improve women’s participation in the resolution of their own health problems and those health problems within the community as they relate to development." The philosophy behind this mission is the belief that women play an instrumental role in the health of the entire community although this supporting role often puts the woman’s health at risk. FESADE operates under the belief that focusing its efforts on the health of the woman will also serve to improve the health of children, families, and communities and thus contribute to overall development.

FESADE pursues a multidisciplinary approach to the problems of health and development by taking into consideration a multitude of environmental factors within the realm of socio-cultural and economic issues that might affect women’s health. It concentrates its efforts on the following strategic areas: training, information, and research-action. Training activities include the development of teaching/training aids to address the needs of grass-roots level trainers and the organization of training workshops. Through its information initiatives, FESADE provides a well-organized document/information center which specializes in health and development issues and specifically those related to women and young adolescents. The center is open to the public and free consultations are available. Other information activities include the publication and distribution of Fanta magazine and the Women and Health Review, theater productions on themes pertaining to women and health, and the promotion of female literacy among others. The area of research-action conducts research activities and supports a network of individuals and organizations interested in issues related to women and development. In addition, IEC (information, education, and communication) initiatives are promoted and include evaluations of IEC messages and methods of dissemination.

The SFPS Project through the IEC component (SFPS/IEC) plans to support FESADE becoming a more important resource center for school-based and youth programs, gender training, and community mobilization replication in the West and Central African region. Collaboration in the past year has enabled FESADE to develop a community mobilization strategy, implement it in three sites and document the process and outcome via baseline and evaluation research, a video documentary and the production of a blueprint manual. In the future, SFPS/IEC will focus on working with FESADE to replicate this strategy in other regions and countries, expand their resource center into a clearing house for school-based and youth projects, and advance staff training in materials development and gender perspective. These activities will be a significant part of FESADE’s ongoing work and as such are expected to have a great deal of impact on the institution's technical capacity.

Contact Information:

Femmes-SanteDeveloppement en Afrique Sub-saharienne (FESADE)
B.P. 724
Yaounde, Cameroon

Phone/FAX: 227.23.42.32

Director: Mme. Damaris Mounlom

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