Hundreds of women have voiced the strides made in bringing peace in the society thanks to a training acquired from Reach Out Cameroon and sponsored by the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPs) of Global Affairs, Canada.
The women were trained to carry out peace initiatives in their various communities, within the context of a project known as “Peace Tables: Promoting WPS Through a Culture of Peace and Social Cohesion in Cameroon”. This project has since 2022 been implemented by Reach Out Cameroon, under it’s executive Director, Esther Omam Njomo.
Over three thousand women have been trained within the context of the project, specifically women in the Northwest, Southwest, West and Littoral Regions of Cameroon. The choice of the four regions is because they are hubs of Internally Displaced Persons arising from socio political conflicts in the Northwest and Southwest Regions. The project is aimed to increase the representation and participation of women and young adult women of diverse identities in local peacebuilding processes and decision-making mechanisms. Thus sponsored by Global Affairs Canada, Reach Out, on May 9th, 2024, in Yaounde, rallied women on a peace table where the women expressed themselves on grassroot peace initiatives which they have carried out so far as well as the challenges that they face.
The event had the distinguished presence of the Canadian High Commissioner to Cameroon, Her Excellency Lorraine Anderson who in the course of the day noted the role of women while agreeing that it has been a successful project. “It is very important for us to make sure that women’s voices have spaces in which they can be heard, taking into consideration ways to ensure more social cohesion and more peace in the community. We are very happy, the way reach out Cameroon has taken this project in a collaborative way and we have been seeing more and more women leaders and men working with women and women of all diversities coming together to empower their communities.
So I’m really grateful to see how this project has been put forth and also the cooperation of the traditional leaders, religious leaders, the Regional administrators and the government of Cameroon. So we say on es ensemble in order to reinforce the voices of women for peace and security” the Canadian High Commissioner to Cameroon said, regarding the project.
Voicing out the strides made in peace, the women noted that they have been able to bring about transformation in the society by working with diverse entities including persons with disability, internally displaced persons, traditional rulers, religious leaders, community leaders and government authorities. The peace transformation has been visible through the empowerment of persons with disability with skills and their subsequent inclusion in job occupation, the participation of women in traditional councils which was formally reserved only for men, the empowerment of IDPs in host communities, the acceptance of family planning in Muslim communities which was previously a taboo and the fight against Gender Based Violence among others.An Example of a leader that has transformed lives through the project is Nyoyung Armel from the Northwest Region. Speaking, she said”Reach Out has carried us throughout the project cycle and many of us have been able to benefit in one way or the other because there are many women with disability who have experienced violence, experience rape. Some of them have been taken advantage of because of shelter issues and some of them lost their livelihoods and the persons they were depending on but reach out came gave us that hope again to make us realize that we also have a say when it comes to peace building and that’s what we have been doing. I being a leader with many skills have been able to mobilise some of the women who had lost their livelihoods and trained them and they are able to put food on their table” In thesame light, Adamu Ajara from a Muslim community in Menchum Division of the Northwest Region said she has been able to dialogue with Ardos and Imams to accept family planning methods so as to ensure responsible child birth.
Edube Miranda elume awasume from Mamfe in the Southwest Region, testified of new skills gained by disability through her efforts who were previously locked up in homes and regarded as none performant. In Santchou in the West Region, IDPs from the Northwest who were previously idle and looked upon as a community burden have been empowered. Hundreds of other women shared similar success stories in peace strides.
Talking about how this progress in peace was arrived at, the Executive Director of Reach Out, revealed that the strategy focused on local stakeholders. “As per the testimonies you heard, it’s not by magic, it took us time to do that. And we had to make sure that from the grassroots they went to the Divisional level to talk about their stories and from the Divisional level they went to the Regional levels to have these conversations with administrative, traditional and religious authorities and other stakeholders. And after that we saw the need to bring them at the national level. Our grassroot communities have voices but how to simplify those voices is a problem. How to connect those voices from Grassroot to national level is the problem. How to make sure that they participate , they get spaces where they can fully participate and talk about the issues they live everyday is the problem. So we think that strengthening community systems is key to achieving positive peace within the context in which we live. while people look at the bigger picture, we are look at the community level grassroot pictures where people are bearing the brunt of the conflict, where there is suffering” Esther Omam Njomo, Executive Director of Reach Out told the press.
Esther Omam Njomo, Executive Director of Reach Out told the press.
The peace table that took place on Thursday enhanced strategies on peace building for increased social cohesion, the fight against Gender Based Violence and integration of IDPs.By Mildred Ndum Wung
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