Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Cameroon and their partners

Benefits of Attendance

This seminar aims at significantly improving the ability of the participants to meet the challenges of living and working abroad. The objective is to enable them to identify the stumbling blocks that lie ahead and to be able to adapt and integrate in Cameroon.

At the end of this training, participants will have acquired insights and techniques to:

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Cameroonian context and culture
• Analyse situations in which misunderstandings may arise and identify ways of communicating more effectively
• Reduce and manage the symptoms of culture shock
• Understand Cameroonian mindset, work practices, decision-making processes and negotiating styles
• Strike the right balance between personal et professional lives

Training Approach

• A cross-cultural approach of International Mobility
• Country specific trainers
• Personalized and familiy focused action plan
• Access to the Nomad’ Network, an exclusive online tool for Akteos’ clients and experts:  find resources, exchange experiences, knowledge and insights

Programme Outline

Module 1 : Successful personnal integration in Cameroon

1. Cross-cultural awareness : the key to a successful expatriation

• Taking stock of one's own cultural baggage
• Culture shock and the integration process
• Identifying and going beyond cultural stereotypes

2. Key aspects of Cameroonian culture

• A West African nation boasting numerous sources of wealth
• A population comprising 200 different ethnic groups
• The impact of French colonisation
• A relatively stable economy

3. Cameroonian values and behaviour patterns

• A profoundly stratified patriarchal society
• The assertiveness of Cameroonian women
• Pride and a sense of honour
• A significant religious and spiritual tradition
• A flexible approach to time
• Les Lions Indomptables: a vital part of Cameroon's national identity
• Humour and irony

4. Practical day-to-day information

• Focus on the host town or city
• Transport, administration, housing, security, hygiene and healthcare
• Social life, leisure activities
• Schools, extracurricular activities, sport

Module 2 : Successful professionnal integration in Cameroon

1. The Cameroonian corporate world

• A friendly yet formal and hierarchical atmosphere in the workplace.
• The dichotomy between the public and private sectors
• Low productivity

2. Effective communication with the Cameroonians

• Explicit communication.
• The importance of tactile contact in communication
• The circulation of information.  Networking
• Deciphering non-verbal messages and ethnic aspects of communication
• The Cam-Fan-Glais, pidgin and the French language

3. Working with Cameroonian teams

• Diplomacy, prudence and subtlety
• Building trust and confidence: an open mind, firmness and discipline
• Building a group culture in order to create staff loyalty
• Protecting, supervising and explaining

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Cameroonian

• Meeting the right people
• Honesty and fairness
• Persevering and adapting
• Written contracts, their interpretation and implications

5. Final handy tips

• Caution, patience and humility
• Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code
• Sensitive subjects: politics, history, religion
• Humour: a double-edged sword