Education -- Science -- Societal Development
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT RESOURCE CENTRE
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Major Project Profiles
Since 2009:
Teacher Education Textbooks and Tools Development Initiative for Africa.
The first volume has been sponsored by a Jacobs Foundation grant to produce an edited volume entitled: African Educational Theories and Practices: A Generative Teacher Education Handbook.
The project year was July 2009-June 2010. The Handbook is being edited for publication in English and French by L'Harmattan, a Paris-based Publishing House.
Our second product in progress is an Open Access Resourcebook on African Early Human Development
1998-2008:
Longitudinal Study of Infant Development and Nso Mother-Infant Interaction:
Physical interactions are important to the development, health, and well-being of children, but levels and types of these interactions differ cross-culturally.
This project was a collaborative cross-cultural study of mother-infant interaction with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. and involved videotaping first-born babies at home in interaction with their Nso mothers at age 5 months and 20 months.

The findings of this study have been presented at conferences.
2003-2006:
Adolescent Development and Participation Program:
The HDRC was the focal point for this UNICEF Cameroon program for the North West Region.
It was a youth program designed to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS through peer education and life skills.

An example of a training workshop follows.
1993-Date:
Lay Counsellor Training Program (LCTP):
The LCTP developed in response to specific needs of a faith-based organization (FBO), the Catholic Diocese of Kumbo, whose Family Life Office (FLO) recorded an alarming number of HIV/AIDS cases in the Christian community (Ephraim Lukong, 1994) and began to develop an outreach program in 1993 with a clear mission to educate the community and empower it to support and care for victims of the lethal disease.
Early attempts met with difficulty because church personnel lacked the knowledge to develop an AIDS care curriculum so they consulted and sought partnership with a psychologist, the director of the HDRC.

Together, the FLO and the HDRC initiated the faith-based LCTP. The HDRC assisted with the elaboration of the program curriculum and participated in the Kumbo Diocesan program from 1993-2006 and the Bamenda Arch-Diocesan program (with Sr. Sheila Elroy leading) from 1997 until date.
It began as an education and counsellor training program for the Catholic community, particularly those individuals living with HIV/AIDS and their families.
The initial target population was the Catholic HIV/AIDS community but we learned two important lessons from the outset.

First, focusing on Catholics only was not only seen as restrictive because Catholic Christians had non-Catholics are family members and friends.
Second, naming the program HIV/AIDS counsellor training would have hyped the HIV/AIDS stigma and would have discouraged many people identifying with it.

In consideration thereof, we designated it LCTP for terminal disease counselling. There are no religious barriers to trainee selection into the program.
The LCTP is an ongoing partnership program run by the Catholic Diocese of Kumbo and the Arch-Diocese of Bamenda for all interested youth and adults of any religion wherein staff of the HDRC are resource partners.
It trains civil society members from all walks of life selected from religious congregations, villages, and health institutions as lay counsellors for terminally ill persons, with special focus on psychosocial support to and home care of persons affected by HVI/AIDS.
1994-1996:
Risk perception of AIDS/STD's, unintended pregnancy, and prevention behaviors among adolescent students in Northwest Cameroon.
This was an inaugural project for the HDRC. It was Young Investigator Grant by the Johann Jacobs Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland to the Founding Director. With this Grant, we obtained a huge dataset on Cameroonian youth attitudes to HIV/AIDS and perceived risks to unintended pregnancy and STDs.
The most surprising finding was that youth were ignorant about several aspects of their reproductive health and their parents did not perceive their parents as helpful.

This dataset has served as baseline knowledge for many of the Centre's program and services, particularly the Lay Counsellor Training Program in which it partners with the Catholic Dioceses of Kumbo (1993-2006) and Bamenda (1997 and ongoing).