There is a particular kind of validation that comes when the work you are doing in the field is recognised at the highest levels of government. For Local Youth Corner Cameroon, that moment came in a recent audience with the Minister of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, Honourable MOUNOUNA FOUTSOU, when a LOYOC delegation headed by Executive Director Achaleke Christian Leke visited the Minister in Yaounde to brief him on the progress of the 5th Edition of the Na We We Sports Jamboree and present the vision for the closing ceremony on 29th August 2026.

The meeting was a testament to the depth of the relationship between LOYOC and MINJEC, an institutional partnership that has anchored the Na We We Sports Jamboree since its very first edition and continued to grow with every city this programme has called home.

Updates to the Minister

The briefing covered the full arc of the 5th Edition so far. From the opening ceremony at GS Upper Costain Field on 3rd and 4th July, presided over by the Secretary General of MINJEC Monsieur BENGA Zachee Robert, to the three completed rounds of sporting activities that have brought more than 1000 participants onto the pitch at Constain Field across male football, female football, and handball.

The Minister heard about the Camping of Living Together, where 500 young people from displaced and host communities have been living, learning, and building trust alongside one another throughout the Jamboree. He heard about the Village of Opportunities, which has welcomed thousands of participants across multiple days of masterclasses, health screenings, vocational exhibitions, and entrepreneurship sessions. He heard about the talent shows, the peer dialogue sessions, the community service activities, and the jersey sponsors who have ensured that every young athlete steps onto the field properly kitted and fully seen.

Most importantly, he heard about what this Jamboree is actually producing: not just matches and medals, but measurable shifts in how young people from displaced and host communities see and relate to one another. The pedagogic sports model at the heart of Na We We, where team names carry values, where players speak to crowds about peace before every match, where the game is a vehicle for vivre ensemble, is working. Round by round, it is working.

A Gift Fit for a Champion of Youth

As a gesture of appreciation and solidarity, the Na We We team presented Minister MOUNOUNA FOUTSOU with his personalised Na We We joggings and T-shirt. It was a small but meaningful moment. When the Minister of Youth Affairs and Civic Education wears the colours of a programme dedicated to youth empowerment and social cohesion, the message travels far beyond any speech.

The Minister’s engagement with the Na We We Sports Jamboree reflects the depth of MINJEC’s partnership with LOYOC across this edition and across previous ones. This is an initiative that has grown, edition by edition, precisely because institutional partners like MINJEC have believed in it and backed it with their presence, their networks, and their voice.

Gearing Up for the Closing Ceremony

With the audience behind us and the momentum of three rounds of sporting activities carrying us forward, the Na We We team is now in full preparation mode for the closing ceremony on 29th August 2026 at Constain Field, Tiko.

What is coming on that day is worthy of everything this edition has built toward. The solidarity match will bring stakeholders and community representatives onto the pitch one final time, followed by the solidarity meal where the entire Na We We community sits down together to eat, reflect, and celebrate. The grand final of male football will crown the discipline’s champion in front of a crowd that has been watching these teams grow over six rounds of competition. Medals and prizes will be officially distributed, recognising the effort, the commitment, and the values that every team has brought to this edition.

The closing ceremony will also see the distribution of back-to-school kits and food to participants and community members, because Na We We has always understood that sport alone is not enough. Artistic and cultural displays will fill the field with music, dance, and drama that celebrate the diversity and resilience of the communities that made this edition what it is. And the second segment of the Village of Opportunities will open its doors one final time, giving young entrepreneurs, vocational institutions, and community members a last chance to connect, exhibit, and build.

The Camping of Living Together closes on 28th August with a final day of peer dialogue, community service, and reflection among the 500 young people who have journeyed through this Jamboree together. It is fitting that the camping closes the day before the main ceremony, because those 500 participants carry within them the truest evidence of what Na We We achieves: the lived experience of choosing to be stronger together.

The Final Stretch

Every edition of the Na We We Sports Jamboree has built on the one before it. The 5th Edition in Tiko has, by any measure, been the most ambitious yet. And as the closing ceremony approaches, the energy in Tiko is not winding down. It is rising.

The audience with Minister MOUNOUNA FOUTSOU was a reminder that this work is seen, valued, and supported at every level. From the field in Tiko to the offices of MINJEC, Na We We carries the same conviction it was built on: that sports can do what politics often cannot, and that young people, given the right space, will always choose to be stronger together.

29th August is coming. And we are ready.

Stronger Together in Times of Crisis Through Sports. Na We We. We Are One.