OVERVIEW OF OUR WORK IN 2019
Dear CAMYOSFOP Members and Friends,
Happy prosperous 2020 filled with peace and achievements in all your endeavors. I would like to take this opportunity to immensely thank everyone for their outstanding achievements in 2019, and outline our goals for 2020.
In 2019, CAMYOSFOP carried out numerous interstate and grassroots capacity buildings, advocacies and campaigns. These included strengthening the capacities of the seven State Parties to the Kinshasa Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) through the use of the MOSAIC Modules on the creation and management of National Commissions on SALW (NatCom); elaboration of National Action Plans on SALW (NAP); reporting on the UN Programme of Action on SALW (PoA) and the SALW nature of women and youth. The outcome of this project is a commendable improvement on the functioning of the NatCom of Central Africa Republic, the creation of a NatCom by the government of the Republic of Congo and the progress made by Cameroon, Chad and Gabon in the creation of their NatComs.
Another milestone in 2019 was the featuring of CAMYOSFOP in the list of parallel events of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) held in March 2019 in New York. The event on: Show Casing Government – CSOs Joint Efforts on Innovative and Holistic Perspectives on the HeForShe Gender Equality and Ending Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Cameroon was presided at by Dr. Mrs. Marie-Therese ABENA OBAMA ONDOUA, Minister of Women Empowerment and the Family (MINPROFF) of Cameroon.
Our engagement of the Mbororo and Pygmy Communities in the Eastern Region of Cameroon on the fight against HIV/AIDS and GBV came at the hills of the CSW side event in New York. The project permitted us to train community leaders and Women Peer Educators from these communities on the prevention of HIV and GBV. The peak of the project was the organization of a caravan march across the town of Dimako that brought over 1000 peoples of all works of life to commit themselves on the fight against HIV/GBV. Over 200 underwent a free screening on HIV while over 100 men endorsed the HeForShe Gender Equality campaign by registering on the campaign’s website.
CAMYOSFOP in 2019, continued to engage her Secondary school Human Right, Peace and SDG Clubs. As part of the 2019 Youth Day of Cameroon, we are proud to have organized a Painting Competition on SDG 16 on the promotion of peace and justice in Cameroon with our 10 clubs. The competition revealed incredible talents exhibited in paintings with Lycée de la Cite Verte, Lycée Bilingue d’Etoug Ebe, and Mario Complex Academy Mendong as the winners. The painting competition culminated to a Prize giving ceremony and a cultural manifestation with the participation of all the 10 clubs held in Christian Comprehensive Secondary School (CCSS), Nkolbong on 8 February 2019.
Finally, in 2019, CAMYOSFOP kept improving on its institutional capacity starting with the Board meeting and the staff retreat. The junior staff underwent a training on conflict management and peace building at the Ecumenical Service for Peace (SeP) in Yaounde and in the All African Conference of Churches (AACC) in Nairobi. All the staff and some Board members also had the opportunity of representing the organization in and out of Cameroon.
In 2020 we hope to continue sustaining our Human Rights, Peace and SDGs clubs through extracurricular activities and interclub competitions on paintings, Essay, debates, quizzes, dance etc. We also hope to continue to engage the Mbororo and Pygmy communities on the fight against HIV/GBV. In the same vain, in partnership with the Uganda NGO Forum and African Women in Leadership Organization (AWLO) we will again be organizing a side event on the promotion of gender equality and the fight against GBV during CSW64 in March 2020. Finally, we will be training and engaging the 11 member states of ECCAS on data collection on SDG 16.4.2 on SALW and the application of the International Tracing Instrument (ITI).
I heartily thank our partners: United Nations Trust Facility Supporting Cooperation on Arms Regulation (UNSCAR); Voluntary Trust Fund (VTF) on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT); Economic Community for Central African States (ECCAS); African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC); UN Women; The Ministry of External Relations (MINREX); Ministry of Women Empowerment and the Family (MINPROFF); Ministry of Youth and Civic Education(MINJEC); Control Arms; International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA); Women International League for Peace and Freedoms (WILPF); Civil Society Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE); National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF); Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES); and Hope for Needy Association (HOFNA).
NGALIM Eugine Nyuydine
Executive Director – CAMYOSFOP
Cameroon’s Representative to the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC)
Cameroon’s Focal Point, Central Africa Civil Society Platform on Peace and Conflict Prevention (COPAC)
Member of Control Arms Consultative Working Group
Former Member, National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms of (2006-2014)