RADA equips youths to champion peace initiatives

Since the start of the Anglophone crisis in 2016, both government and separatist leaders have been at dagger-ends, fighting to become the victor in the over 7-year armed conflict.
The government of Cameroon has held several meetings to end the conflict, with the most significant being the Major National Dialogue, which took place in 2019 with focused on the Anglophone armed conflict.

The Major National Dialogue seems not to be an immediate cure to the crisis, which has claimed thousands of lives in the North West and South West regions.

It was on this note that the Reconciliation and Development Association, RADA, a nonprofit organization in Bamenda trained 50 youths from the North West region to discuss and dialogue on what the youths can contribute in ending the conflict.

The program “Youth Perceptions and Level of Engagement in the Resolution of the Anglophone Armed Conflict in Cameroon,” which started in 2023 took place in 3 phases.

According to the President of RADA, Ferdinant Sonyuy, the surveys were administered to youths, who make up over 65% of the total population of Cameroon. The results of the survey were collected and published in a 62-page book by RADA titled “Youth perception and level of engagement in the resolution of the Anglophone armed conflict in Cameroon”.

The results of the survey reveal that youths are willing to contribute in ending the conflict, but they lack 3 main basic skills which include Advocacy, Conflict resolution and Effective communication.

RADA therefore brought together 50 youth in the region to train them on these skills in order for them to champion the initiative in their various communities to become peace and change agents.

“From what we examined, so many youth feels that in their lifetime the Anglophone crisis will be solved. That’s a positive feeling because it also gives all of us hope that these youths are passionate and enthusiastic and they are willing to participate in seeing that the crisis is resolved,” Ferdinant Sonyuy said.

The project is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy, NED.