The association — Les 3A, Yaoundé

Who we are

The Association Assistance et Accompagnement, known as “les 3A”, is a Cameroonian non-profit association constituted on 19 October 2005 in Yaoundé under Law no. 90/053 of 19 December 1990 on freedom of association. Its registered office is in the Mimboman Beach district.

Its statutory purpose is short and demanding: to help bring a sense of well-being to older and ill people and to their families. Twenty years on, that sentence still describes exactly what our teams do.

The association’s revised charter for 2026–2031 sets out that purpose across five complementary strands, which structure all our activities today.

Train

Vocational training of social care workers according to the standards accredited by the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training.

Support

Supporting dependent older people and people in vulnerable situations, at home and in residential settings.

Innovate

Bringing digital technology into training and monitoring: adaptive learning platforms, prevention, decision support.

Pass on

Preserving the founder’s legacy, and creating residential and care facilities for older people.

The founder

Mrs Enguéléguélé Bobé Sara Murielle, a State-registered paediatric nurse, founded Les 3A in 2005 and presided over it until her death on 1 July 2024. The first executive committee, certified on 10 November 2005, brought together eight women around her: a chief social affairs inspector, a paediatrician, a pharmacist, a midwife, two social workers and a businesswoman.

That composition says everything about the project: an association founded by professionals in care and social work, who knew precisely what they intended to teach.

The founder’s work is not a memory: it is a programme. 3A strategic modernisation plan 2026–2031

A remembrance framework written into the rules

The founder’s ethical charter — respectful care, universal access, multidisciplinarity and intergenerational solidarity, set out as the preamble to the revised internal rules.
The “Mémoire Sara Murielle” archive — digitisation of the association’s records and collection of testimony from founding members.
The annual Sara Murielle excellence award — presented every 1 October, the International Day of Older Persons.
The Sara Murielle cohort — each training cohort bears a founding member’s name; the first of the renewed cycle carries hers.

Our four principles

01

Respectful care

Respect for the person supported takes precedence over the efficiency of the task. Our assessment frameworks include a six-monthly review of respectful care, with input from service users and their families.

02

Universal access

Support cannot be reserved for well-off families. Our pricing model is designed so that a share of beneficiaries is supported at no cost to them.

03

Multidisciplinarity

Care, social work, teaching, law, technology: the first committee was multidisciplinary by design. The advisory bodies carry that choice forward.

04

Intergenerational solidarity

Training young people for the care professions binds two generations by mutual usefulness: one finds work, the other regains a presence.

Twenty years

The steps that brought us here

19 October 2005

The association is constituted

Eighteen founding members adopt the constitution at a general meeting in Yaoundé. The executive committee is certified on 10 November.

2005 – 2020

Training activity takes shape

The association opens and sustains its training centre in Mimboman, trains successive cohorts of social care workers, and connects them with families.

December 2020

Internal rules adopted

In force from 1 January 2021, they set out membership dues and the guarantee fund, among other provisions.

1 July 2024

The founding president dies

The loss of Mrs Enguéléguélé Bobé Sara Murielle opens a period of institutional transition and forces a rethink of how the work is to continue.

22 August 2024

Operational assessment

The preparatory meeting for the training year identifies four issues: precarious conditions for trained care workers, no registered specialisation, accreditation to renew, and a vacant presidency. Two specialisations are chosen.

2026 – 2031

Modernisation plan

Governance reform, a new economic model, a digital training and monitoring platform. The aim: to make the work durable regardless of who carries it.

Read the 2026–2031 vision

Joining Les 3A. The association recognises several categories of membership — founding, benefactor and service-provider members — and the revised constitution adds institutional and honorary members. Membership, giving, technical partnership, volunteering, hosting students on placement: several forms of commitment are possible.

See how you can help