School Canteens: Mayor Ottou Crescence’s Latest Toast Project

Mayor Ottou Crescence of Bikok Council in Mefou and Akono Division in the Centre Region is no “ordinary personality.” She is a goal getter. A goal getter not for personal aggrandizement, but to uplift the standards of living people in her council area. Mrs. Ottou had long come to a realization. That the rural setting and resource-poor nature of her council area needs external support to develop. Such as from international technical and financial development partners.

Doing It - Quite Well
And this, Mrs. Ottou has been doing quite well. Reason why Bikok Council area, located on the outskirts of the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, is today the toast of international development partners. The latest of such international partners in town are Plan International Cameroon. And the World Food Programme, WFP. Who have brought forth an innovative project - the Home-Grown School Feeding project. 
Otherwise known as school canteens or school feeding project. Which offers free, quality varied to pupils every day. The goal being to raise pupil enrolment, school attendance and better academic results. Not forgetting healthy living, training in responsible citizenship and harmonious living together.    

Vision Becomes Reality  
“As part of my vision for Bikok Council area located near the city of Yaounde, but rural in nature without much resources, we decided to invite international development partners to come and help in the development of the Bikok Council area,” explains Mayor Ottou Crescence. “Some of these partners are Plan International Cameroon and the World Food Programme, which are supporting Home-grown School Feeding project. Otherwise known as the School Canteen of School Feeding project. 

Committed Leadership
“This has been possible thanks to the dynamism of my leadership of the council, the attractiveness of the council area and the cooperation and collaboration of community volunteers in Oman II and now Bikok Centre - in assuring the success of the project,” Mayor Crescence told Cameroon Tribune in her office on November 25, 2025. The coming of Plan International Cameroon and the World Food Programme to Bikok Council is sequel to that of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF. Which began working with Bikok Council and declaring it a child-friendly council. 

Here Come Plan International, World Food Programme!
“Plan International and WFP were invited to our council area because of the poor school attendance rates. The introduction of school canteens has brought about a turnaround. Pupils eat the food prepared by some of their women whose children attend these schools, and the children enjoy these meals. I must congratulate these volunteer women for dropping their farm work to come to school everyday and prepare meals for over 500 pupils. This is great sacrifice on their part,” Mrs. acknowledges. 
“The school canteen experiences in Oman II, and now Bikok, are attracting much interest from other communities in the council area. Many of them are already lining up to apply to Plan International and the World Food Programme to extend the project to their communities. Because they have seen it all – the beautiful school meals, school gardens, community farms for supplying food for feeding pupils, the construction of school kitchens…” the Mayor points out.

Learning By Doing, Watching
According her, through all this, pupils learn hands-on by watching how meals are prepared for them and how to grow the crops and vegetables that are used in preparing their meals. “Our prayer is that our technical and financial partners - Plan International Cameroon and the World Food Programme - extend the project to other communities in Bikok Council area,” Crescence points out. 

1,000 Quality Meals Everyday 
So far, some 1,000 pupils in Oman II and Bikok Centre enjoy free m...