A Cameroonian foundation, alongside children and their communities
Founded in Douala in 2011 and supported in France by an association based in Lyon, Fondation Ndolo works so that every child has access to water, school and healthcare. Here is who we are, how we decide and who works at your side.
Illustration photo
Mission, vision, values
What guides us
Our mission
To guarantee every child in the areas where we work lasting access to water, school, healthcare and a household that earns a living.
Our vision
A Cameroon where growing up no longer depends on where you are born.
Dignity
Respectful stories, never poverty porn: families are actors of change, not images.
Closeness
36 of our 38 employees are Cameroonian and live near the project sites. Every project has its local committee.
Transparency
Our accounts are published, every franc is explained and every promise is followed by an indicator.
Sustainability
A borehole, a room, a cooperative: everything is designed to last, with funded maintenance and handover to communities.
The Foundation’s name comes from Duala: “ndolo” means “love”.
Our story
Fifteen years, one rule: act with communities
In 2011, Rose Etame Ngando, a primary school teacher in Bonamoussadi for thirty years, received a letter from a former colleague transferred to Mokolo, in the Far North: half the pupils were missing morning class because they were fetching water. Rose put her retirement bonus into a first endowment, gathered her family, her former pupils and three Douala companies, and founded Fondation Ndolo pour l’Enfance. In 2013, her nephew Patrice Ngando, a hydraulic engineer based in Lyon, founded with the diaspora the association Les Amis de la Fondation Ndolo, which collects donations in France. The first solar borehole went into service in Mokolo in 2014.
Fifteen years later, the Foundation employs 38 people, 36 of them in Cameroon, works in 5 regions and has enabled 68,000 people to gain access to water, school, healthcare or an income. Its rule has not changed: act with communities, never in their place, and account for every franc.
- 2011
Foundation created in Douala
Rose Etame Ngando puts her retirement bonus into it.
- 2013
Lyon support office created
Les Amis de la Fondation Ndolo collect donations in France.
- 2014
First solar borehole in Mokolo
It still supplies 1,100 people today.
- 2016
Full Schoolbag launched in the East
First kits handed out in Bertoua.
- 2018
Healthy Mothers launched in Adamawa
First mobile antenatal clinic.
- 2020
Hygiene kits in 60 schools
Distributed during the pandemic.
- 2021
First Click Youth room in Douala
Twenty refurbished computers.
- 2023
Women & Land launched in the West
First cooperative in Foumbot.
- 2024
Accounts under the SYCEBNL standard
And first independent external evaluation.
- 2025
40th borehole and 6,840 donors
Including 2,310 monthly donors.
- 2026
42nd borehole in Mokolo: 15 years of work
An unchanged rule: act with communities.
Illustration photo
The founder
Rose Etame Ngando, honorary president
Born in 1952 in Douala, Rose Etame Ngando taught for thirty years at the public school in Bonamoussadi. She saw generations of pupils leave class too early, for lack of exercise books, clean water or care for their mothers.
She founded the Foundation in 2011 with her retirement bonus, then handed over the presidency in 2019 to Prof. Bernadette Eyoum Mandengue. As honorary president, she visits a project site every year and continues to meet the local committees.
Our approach
With communities, not in their place
Four steps we follow for every project, from the first conversation to the handover of the facility.
A shared assessment
With the municipality and residents, we identify the need, local resources and risks before deciding anything.
A local committee with equal numbers of women and men
Women and men of the village form the committee that oversees the work, keeps the accounts and makes decisions.
Work with local craftspeople
Borehole, library or digital room: the labour, materials and know-how come from the area.
Handover and five years of follow-up
The facility is handed over to the community, with its maintenance funded. We come back to check how it is working for five years.
Governance
A volunteer board and an audit committee
The Foundation is run by a board of seven members, all volunteers. It meets four times a year; an audit committee, which meets twice a year, reviews the accounts, the risks and the alerts received.
Legal status: foundation under Cameroonian law (Law No. 2003/013), approved as an NGO (Law No. 99/014). Approval numbers are fictional, see the legal notice. Articles of association available on request.
- Chair
- Prof. Bernadette Eyoum Mandengue — Paediatrician, public health
- Vice-chair
- Jean-Claude Kamdem — Business owner, logistics, Douala
- Treasurer
- Odette Mbango — Chartered accountant
- Secretary
- Aline Mouangue — Lawyer
- Board member
- Dr Samuel Nana — Doctor, Bafoussam
- Board member
- Halima Oumarou — School head, Maroua
- Board member
- Patrice Ngando — Representative of the French support office
- Honorary president
- Rose Etame Ngando — founder
The team
38 employees, 120 regular volunteers
Here are the eight managers you can reach. The portraits are illustration photos.
Florence Ngo Biyong
Managing director
Douala
Ibrahim Hamadou Sali
Programmes director
Douala and Maroua
Haoua Bello
Midwife, maternal health manager
Ngaoundéré
Moussa Abba
Water and sanitation coordinator
Maroua
Josiane Mvondo Abega
Education manager
Bertoua
Yannick Ewane
Click Youth manager
Douala
Pascaline Tchokouani
Administrative and finance manager
Douala
Claire Nkeng
Child protection officer
Douala
The support office in France
Les Amis de la Fondation Ndolo, in Lyon
Why a French support office? A direct gift to an NGO outside the European Union does not, in principle, qualify for tax relief. The Lyon association, a public-interest body, collects in France and checks how the funds are used.
Your gift
In France, you give online, by cheque or by bank transfer.
Les Amis de la Fondation Ndolo
Lyon association: it receives the money, issues your tax receipt and checks how the funds are used.
Fondation Ndolo, Douala
It receives the funds by programme, runs the projects and reports back.
The projects
Boreholes, schools, clinics, rooms, cooperatives: followed on the map.
A partnership agreement binds the two organisations: funds are paid by programme, spending is justified, and the support office can audit the Foundation’s accounts on site. The association has 2 employees and 40 volunteers. Its board consists of Patrice Ngando, chair, and Anne-Sophie Morel, treasurer, both volunteers.
Its accounts are certified by a statutory auditor, and its financial report is published on the Transparency page.
- Patrice NgandoVolunteer chair
- Anne-Sophie MorelVolunteer treasurer
- Mariam DialloDonor relations officer
- Julien RavelSponsorship and events officer
Child protection
Children first, always
- A code of conduct signed by all employees, volunteers and contractors.
- A background check for anyone in contact with children.
- Never alone with a child, and no photo without the parents’ written consent.
- A named officer and a confidential channel, with acknowledgement within 48 hours.
Join us