Our Strategic Plan 2021 – 2025

Strategic Approaches

1. Capacity and Resilience Building

LOYOC’s capacity-building programs are needs-driven and adapted to the realities of target groups. Training modules focus on leadership, personality development, entrepreneurship, and non-violent problem-solving skills.

Between 2015 and 2020, LOYOC organized over 50 capacity-building events reaching more than 1,000 participants (male and female).
A notable example is the National Symposium for Youth Participation in Peacebuilding, which led to the establishment of the Cameroon Youth Mediators Network.

🔗 Read more – National Symposium on Youth Participation in Peacebuilding

 

2. Transformative Dialogue and Engagement

LOYOC’s transformative dialogue approach is tailored to conflict-prone and fragile settings, emphasizing safe spaces for dialogue among divided or adversarial groups.

Through trained facilitators, the organization engages youth leaders, traditional and religious authorities, community actors, local government, and security institutions. These dialogues focus on humanizing opposing groups and rebuilding trust through shared understanding.

Over 40 initiatives have been implemented to promote intercultural, inter-religious, inter-generational, and community-government dialogues across Cameroon.

 

3. Mobilizing Media for Change

LOYOC leverages media and creative communication tools to promote inclusion, counter misinformation, and encourage collaboration.

Between 2015 – 2020, the organization led campaigns against hate speech, fake news, and online extremism, while developing educational media content such as radio, TV, and social-media edutainment programs.

An example is the “Peace and COVID-19” animated video, created to foster social cohesion and broadcast widely online.
🔗 Facebook Video Post

 

4. Transforming Violent Extremism

LOYOC defines violent extremism as the deliberate use of extreme violence to address real or perceived grievances. Its response is anchored on a four-pillar methodology:

1. Disengagement through vocational and professional skills building
2. Promoting credible and constructive counter-narratives
3. Rehabilitation and reintegration programs
4. Embedding these pillars within broader peacebuilding and CVE initiatives

A flagship example is the Creative Skills for Peace Project, which transformed eight prisons and correctional facilities into rehabilitation centers offering vocational training (e.g., shoemaking, tailoring, hairdressing, greenhouse farming).

This initiative helped convert three former violent offenders into successful entrepreneurs after release.
🔗 Read more – Creative Skills for Peace Project

 

5. Evidence-Based Research Approach

LOYOC grounds its interventions in rigorous research and continuous contextual analysis. Its methodologies include conflict scans, barrier analyses, stakeholder mapping, perception surveys, and participatory research.

The organization has influenced both policy and practice by publishing evidence-based studies, including the landmark report on “Hate Speech and Violent Conflict in Cameroon.”
🔗 View Publication

 

6. Community Entry and Engagement Strategy

LOYOC’s principle of intervention is “Do No Harm, Do Peacefully.”
Community engagement follows culturally sensitive and conflict-aware methods rooted in neutrality and inclusion, ensuring local ownership and sustainability.

LOYOC treats stakeholders — including government, security forces, community leaders, and youth — as partners rather than beneficiaries, integrating them in project design, implementation, monitoring, and decision-making.

This participatory approach strengthens trust, access, and the long-term impact of every intervention.

 

7. Advocacy and Sensitization

LOYOC’s advocacy efforts are evidence-based and aimed at correcting misconceptions about the roles of youth and women in peacebuilding.

Through awareness campaigns, it mobilizes support from communities, government, and development partners to promote collaborative peace processes.

One example is the “Building Peace with Young People” initiative, which empowered 600 youth leaders to advocate for inclusive peacebuilding and community resilience.
🔗 Learn more