“Water is life”. There is no life without water. Water is one of the human basic needs like food, housing, clothing, education, work, health.

It was in 1962 that HELVETAS, the Swiss Association for International Cooperation — in those days named as SATA, Swiss Association for Technical Assistance — started its development cooperation in the then Anglophone federal State West-Cameroon. Swiss relations existed since long in this country, mainly through the Basel Mission — now Presbyterian Church — which encouraged HELVETAS to provide drinking water to villages in rural regions. In the same year a first SATA technician was sent to Kumba, to the forest region, to explore the construction of simple water points for the population.

Two years later, in 1964, a first agreement was signed between the then West- Cameroon Government and SATA regarding technical cooperation with as partner institution the newly created Community Development Department (CD), supporting self-help initiatives of the rural population for the improvement of their living conditions, focussing mainly drinking water, but also farm-to-market roads, bridges, community centres and other infrastructural buildings.

Three SATA Water-Engineers were stationed in Kumba, Mamfe and Bamenda after, starting water supply projects in close collaboration with the benefiting village population and the local CD-Offices. The lack of qualified Cameroonian technical staff led to the establishment of the BTC, Building Training Centre in Kumba, instructing the required technical craftsmen like masons, plumbers, carpenters and providing advanced level courses for foremen, work supervisors, technicians and maintenance staff. The two CD-workshops in Kumba and Bamenda where rehabilitated by SATA-Mechanical Engineers and local mechanics trained, as well as the CD-Technical Service built up within the Department.

Due to the high demand of drinking water in the villages, the programme was rapidly expanding. New Swiss Water-Engineers were engaged in Ndu, in Victoria (Limbe) and – after the unification of the two federated States into the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 – also in the francophone part in Bafoussam and Yaoundé. Unfortunately, the CD-Philosophy never gained a successful foothold in the French speaking Provinces of the country. Later, the Department as such lost influence and power, became weak and inefficient when integrated the unified central Government in Yaoundé.

In the last decade and after handing over most of the institutional projects and activities, HELVETAS concentrated its interventions and assistance mainly to the water sector in the North-West-Province and transferred the Programme Directors Office to Bamenda. New partnerships came up, first with some Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and especially with Local Councils. This led to a new Council Support Programme (CSP), which in the recent time became very successful and strengthened the ownership of the water projects in communities.

After 45 years of work, HELVETAS decided to withdraw from Cameroon. The future will show whether the long-lasting activities will be sustainable or not. About 550 water schemes have been built during this time, then thousands of Cameroonians been trained, and 90 millions of Swiss francs were invested. Despite of many problems, disappointments (e.g. lack of maintenance of completed projects, in many cases weak participation of the Government or beneficiaries, corruption etc.) and mistakes made by HELVETAS and its local partners, the Cameroon programme has to be considered as one of the most interesting, challenging and successful development programmes of HELVETAS in countries of the South. Fitting well in its working policy, the Cameroon engagement has been an excellent learning field of 80 expatriate collaborators and a model for many similar engagements and development ventures in the field of drinking water in rural areas. The experiences first made in Cameroon were applied and copied in countries like Lesotho, Mozambique, Kenya, Togo, Benin, Mali, Haiti, Guatemala, Nepal, Sri Lanka and others. Thanks to this pioneer engagement in Cameroon, HELVETAS has become the Swiss non-governmental organisation specialized in infrastructure and water projects in rural areas. It has also to be emphasized that this programme has made “Water is life” the prevailing theme in the information and fundraising campaigns and public relations of HELVETAS in Switzerland.

We are very grateful to the Cameroonian people, partners and friends for their longstanding and fruitful cooperation, for their big hospitality and goodwill. HELVETAS and its collaborators have learned a lot from them. The project activities will come to an end now, but the friendship will last for many years to come. We wish Cameroon all the best and a bright future.

Our sincerest thanks also go to the Federal Government of Switzerland/Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) for having co-financed heavily these endeavours from the beginning till the end.

Water is life!