Professor Mathias Fru Fonteh has been the Director of the College of Technology (COT) since August 30th, 2023. Prior to his arrival at COT, he was Professor of water resources management and Director of The College of Technology, at The University of Bamenda from January 2018 to August 2023. Previously he was Professor & Head, in the Department of Agricultural Engineering in the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Dschang where he spent about 30 years of his career. He is an experienced expert in university administration; development of agricultural mechanization strategies and sustainable water resources management for socio-economic development in a changing climate based on the principles of integrated water resources management (IWRM).
Prof. Fonteh is a founding member of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) not only in Cameroon but also in Central Africa. As the president of GWP-Cameroon from 2005-2013, he was instrumental in raising awareness on the need to manage water resources based on Integrated Water Resources Management principles and in carrying out the diagnostic analysis of the water sector in Cameroon leading to the elaboration of the IWRM strategy for Cameroon. Because of his mastery of the water sector in Cameroon, he was appointed Director of Water Resources in the Ministry in Charge of Water Resources in Cameroon in the year 2011.
He has also developed capacity from training seminars and workshops over the years and from on-the-job experience in the following areas; legal framework of water resources management, conflict management, team building, facilitation of participatory processes and project management. As a result of carrying out consultancy assignments for the following organizations; The World Bank, Global Water Partnership, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Food and Agricultural Organization, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, African Development Bank, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), African Network for Agriculture, Agro-forestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE), European Union, United Nations Development Program, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Prof. Fonteh has also gained valuable experiences in development planning and working with development partners. He has carried out assignments not only in Cameroon but also in Gabon, Mali, Ghana, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Sao Tome & Principe, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and in the Central African Republic and also travelled extensively to many regions of the world.
Full-Time Professional Experience
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Period |
Employer/Position,activities |
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August 30th, 2023 – present |
Director, College of Technology, University of Buea |
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January 29, 2018 – August 30th, 2023 |
Director, College of Technology, The University of Bamenda |
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December 2017 |
Professor of water resources management, Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Dschang |
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2011-2012
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Director of Water Resources, Ministry of Water Resources and Energy (MINEE), Yaoundé, Cameroon |
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August 2003-December 2017 |
Associate Professor, University of Dschang, Cameroon.
May 2000-March 2018: Head, Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Dschang, Cameroon. |
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1990- 2003 |
Lecturer, University of Dschang, Cameroon |
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1985- 1986 |
Assistant lecturer Institute of Agricultural Technology, Dschang University Centre, Cameroon |
Part-Time Professional Experience
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January 31, 2024-present: |
Member of Editorial Board of the Journal of Engineering in Agriculture and the Environment (JEAE), published by the Kenya Society of Environmental, Biological and Agricultural Engineers; Nairobi, Kenya |
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August 2023-present |
Consultant/Team leader for World Bank sponsored Project for the Development of the Sanaga River Basin Commission in Cameroon by a consortium of BRLi Engineering (France) and GWP-Cameroon |
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2019-2020 |
Short-term lecturer; Pan African University. Institute for Water and Energy Sciences (PAUWES), Algeria |
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October 2018-2021. |
Member of Global Water Partnership Steering Committee, Global Water Partnership Organization, Stockholm, Sweden |
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June-December, 2017 |
Resource person, Elaboration of a national water policy for Cameroon, Ministry of Water and Energy, Yaoundé-Cameroon |
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Sept 1 – Dec. 31, 2016 |
Consultant for the FAO Regional Office for East Africa, Addis Ababa-Ethiopia |
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March to June, 2016 |
Water resources management specialist (IWRM) for the The World Bank, Yaoundé, Cameroon |
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2014-2015 (80 days of work) |
International Consultant on agricultural mechanization strategy formulation for the FAO Regional Office for Central Africa, Libreville-Gabon |
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June-October, 2013 |
Expert in IWRM for CapNet-UNDP, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa for an assignment in Zimbabwe. |
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2013-2015 (20 days of work) |
Member of the Reference Group (RG) for Africa for the Water, Climate and Development Program (WACDEP) in support of the work program of the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW). This was for GWP-O Stockholm, Sweden |
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Aug-Sept, 2011
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Consultant in land and water management for the FAO Regional Office for Central Africa, Libreville-Gabon |
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May 16-19, 2011
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International expert rapporteur for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Geneva for the 8th Steering Committee Meeting of the Interim Gulf of Guinea Current Commission holding in Accra-Ghana. |
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December, 2010
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Water Resources Management Specialist for UNESCO, Yaounde-Cameroon. Elaboration of the 2009 Cameroon state of the environment report on freshwater resources. |
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Aug-Sept, 2010
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Resource person, FAO, Yaounde-Cameroon. Elaboration of the agricultural mechanization strategy for Cameroon. |
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Feb-June, 2009
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Expert in IWRM for the Joint Africa Institute (JAI) and the African Water Facility of the African Development Bank, Tunis. |
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2009-2011 |
Project Manager for Cameroon for an EU, funded project on the elaborated of a demand-driven three-year BSc degree program in Agriculture for the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Dschang within the framework of a project titled “European-African Network to improve Higher Education Institutions in agriculture and forestry-based on new labour market needs” between Universidad de Alicante (UA), Spain; Albert-Ludwigs Universität, Freiburg, Germany; Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria; University of Dschang, Cameroon; and the University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana. |
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June 2005- December 2013 |
President of the Cameroon Water Partnership of the Global Water Partnership Organization |
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1997-1998 (10 months) |
Soil and water engineer and team leader; for the European Union project, Yaoundé-Cameroon. |
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1996-2019 |
Coordinator, Post Graduate Programs (M.Sc and Ph.D.) in Water Management in the Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences; University of Dschang, Cameroon |
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1994 – 2006 |
Manager of the Dschang University Printing Press in the University of Dschang, Cameroon |
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1992-Present |
Co-operating Editor for the Journal, Agricultural Mechanization in Asia, Africa and Latin America, Tokyo, Japan.
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