November 1st, 2023 marks the beginning of the National consultation in view of establishing a baseline for the Young-Cameroon project by Local Youth Corner Cameroon. This consultation is slated to take place in the Far North Region of Cameroon in Maroua precisely at Hotel de Ville. The YOUNG Cameroon project is an initiative led by Local Youth Corner Cameroon in collaboration with the National Commission on YPS and support from Search for Common Ground seeks to improve youth participation in peace building across Cameroon. The consultations will take the form of a conference and focus group session and bilateral meetings. Day one will be the conference where participants will be drawn into plenary discussions to have an insight on YPS initial engagement and participation. The discussions will be deepened through group work and other engagements.
To archive this, the project seeks to organise consultations with young people, CSOs, administrative and community representatives across the 10 regions of Cameroon. It targets 500 Youth-led peace and security-focused organisations, (50 per region) especially those headed by young women and other excluded youth, civil society actors in the peace building space, and national, regional, and local-level government actors directly involved, such as representatives from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, the Regional Council, Governors’ Offices, and traditional/religious/civil society leaders.·
These consultations seek to engage youth-led peace and security-focused organisations, especially those headed by young women and other excluded youth, other civil society actors in the peace-building space, and relevant national, regional, and local-level government actors, such as representatives from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, the Regional Council, Governors’ Offices, and traditional/religious/civil society leaders. Through these consultations, the partners will identify what needs, limitations, and challenges are faced by youth-led YPS organisations, the particular needs and challenges faced by young women-led organisations, and opportunities to advance the YPS agenda in each region. The findings from this consultation will be documented by a research team who will compile a baseline study informing participant selection and programme approaches.
Findings from these consultations will inform the implementing partners’ selection of 50 participating youth organisations who will make up the initial core of the YPS coalition, with the understanding that the coalition will be able to expand organically beyond the life of the project.