The Reconciliation and Development Association (RADA) a non governmental organization headquartered in Bamenda, Cameroon's North West region has graduated some fifty young peace advocates as part of efforts to end the eight years separatist armed conflict in the English speaking regions of Cameroon.
The graduation which took place on Friday June 14, 2024 was the culmination of an eighth- month training dubbed Youth Engagement in Community peace Initiative (YECPI) and advocacy for an end to the Anglophone crisis.
Attended by representatives from the North West Regional Assembly and the Public Independent Conciliator, the event also witnessed the presentation of the results of a survey on the youth perception of the Anglophone crisis.
"For this particular initiative,we had the opportunity to train 50 youths on community peace building specifically on conflict resolution,advocacy and effective communication," Mbidzenyuy Ferdinand Sonyuy, President of RADA told Hilltopvoices.
With these skills he said, "We expect these youths to be positive contributors and advocates for an end to Anglophone crisis -the real problem that we want to solve."
Youth perception on the crisis that has ravaged the English speaking North West and South West regions since 2016 was also unveiled following a survey carried out as part of the training program.
A majority of the youths according to the survey indicated that the root causes of the problem are political
"That tells us that the solution lays within the political ranks," said the President of RADA.
According to the results of the survey presented by Dr Courage Sevidzem, "70% of the youths surveyed said their voices are not being heard when it comes to the role that they should play in the resolution of this conflict"
Advocating for the youths to be seen as a solution not a problem, Mbidzenyuy Ferdinand Sonyuy said ,"Youths are very important in society.If you ignore the opinion of the youths you are ignoring the future"
After eight months of successful training,the fifty selected youths from diverse backgrounds were bestowed with attestations and called upon to contribute positively to conflict resolution.
"During my stay in the training,I acquired the skills of advocacy to create positive change," Wapyem Gravelen , Representative of the trainees said .
He explained that, "I have noticed that in our communities,we see different things happening but we don't know the proper way of mitigating them.We were thought on how to advocate for positive change and things that can help"
"We were also taught on conflict resolution and mediation taking into context that we are in a conflict situation in our region," he added.
Recommendations proposed by the youths in solving the Anglophone conflict RADA revealed include : a stop to the military option and prioritization of 'honest' and 'sincere' talks.
Reconciliation and Development Association is a non governmental organization focused on supporting Community development by identifying challenges that communities face bring out solutions and implement with relevant stakeholders.
By Wawa Jackson Nfor
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