World Bank-Backed SWEDD Achieves 81% Fund Utilization After 66% Budget Cut

(Business in Cameroon) – The Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Project (SWEDD), supported by the World Bank, wrapped up in December 2024, utilizing 81% of its credit. This execution rate was achieved despite a major budget overhaul that significantly trimmed its initial financial envelope.

The project, which began in June 2022, originally had a budget of $75 million, equivalent to 44.9 billion CFA francs. However, in February 2024, “in light of delays accumulated in the effective start of activities,” the project underwent a restructuring. This led to a drastic reduction in its credit amount to 15.9 billion CFA francs, an absolute drop of 29 billion CFA francs, or a 66% cut, according to an evaluation document validated by the World Bank. An annual budgeted work plan of 13 billion CFA francs was approved in March 2024, with 11 billion CFA francs effectively spent by the project’s closing date of December 31, 2024. The uncommitted credit balance of 29 billion CFA francs was canceled at the Cameroonian government’s request.

Despite the significant budget reduction, SWEDD maintained its core objectives: to boost the empowerment of women and girls, enhance their access to quality reproductive, maternal, and child health services, and improve the production and sharing of knowledge regionally. The project was structured around three key components: driving demand for health services through social and behavioral change, improving service delivery particularly in rural areas, and supporting policies focused on demographic transition, human capital, and gender equality.

Key Achievements and Lasting Impact

Among the project’s notable achievements, academic support was provided to over 28,000 girls in CM2 and Class 6 across the three target regions: Adamawa, North, and Far North. Furthermore, exam fees were covered for more than 17,000 schoolgirls during the 2023/2024 school year, and 32,000 school kits were distributed. In terms of skills development, 45 “community safe spaces” were established, allowing nearly 3,000 women to learn income-generating activities.

Even after the project concluded, the management unit, led by Alphonse Glory Mbah Ngami, continued strategic acquisitions into 2025. These included 12 mobile clinics, 3 ambulances, 4 refrigerated trucks, 3 podium trucks, and 5 forklifts. According to the coordinator, the podium trucks are intended for the Ministry of Youth and Civic Education and will be used for social mobilization and awareness campaigns to promote social and behavioral change within beneficiary communities. The refrigerated trucks will be allocated to the National Center for the Procurement of Essential Medicines (Cename) and the Regional Health Promotion Fund of Adamawa. The five forklifts will bolster the secure handling of pharmaceutical products in warehouses. The mobile clinics, fully equipped with systems like refrigerators, examination tables, X-ray units, and emergency kits, along with the ambulances, will be deployed across the three northern regions.

Ludovic Amara

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