Mitigating the impact of the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon

The Anglophone crisis rocking the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon for four years now and counting has rendered thousands of Cameroonians internally displaced and helpless. Some are competing for living space with animals in the bushes, with no access to education, abject poverty, poor hygiene and sanitation conditions, exposure to many diseases, while the ghost of intransigence hovers in these regions. In reaction to such live threatening living  conditions, the  ERuDeF  Center  for  the Advancement   of   Women’s   Initiatives  (CAWI)  recently  launched its  2020  humanitarian  operation plan in January at its headquarters  in  Buea.  The key projects that will be implemented will include the support to the internally displaced persons, rehabilitation of child soldiers and the biodiversity in crisis.

The internally displaced persons (IDPs)    project    will    strengthen and  upscale  its  2019  operation with  focus  on  education  and  vocational training of 20,000 school children,  economic  recovery  of over 5,000 -10,000 internally displaced,  strengthening  the  fight against  gender-based  violence, health and WASH Clusters. Also the   IDP   project   will   focus   on providing shelter and non-food items. A core area in 2020 will be providing  protection  and  support to  the  forest  “refuged”  internally displaced as over 30,000 people are  estimated  to  be  living  in  forest enclaves.

The  Child  Soldier  Rehabilitation Project  will  be  launched   to  support  the  economic  re-integration  of  the  armed  children  involved  in  the  Anglophone  crisis. Expert  estimates  put  the  child soldier  at  about  10,000  -15,000 young  people  who  are  primarily school  drop-outs  and  the  unemployed. The  Biodiversity  in  Crisis  (BIC) project  will  also  be  launched  in 2020  under  the  auspices  of  the ERuDeF  Department  of  conservation.  The  project  will  assess the   threats   facing   key   wildlife species   and   their   habitats,   as well  as  monitor  the  population dynamics  of  the  current  wildlife species,   in   respect   to   the   impact of the Anglophone crisis on them. The Cameroon Biodiversity  in  Crisis  Fund  would  also  be launched  to  support  the  work  of hundreds  of  community  rangers that  will  be  risking  their  lives  to save   key   wildlife   species   and habitats  across  the  Anglophone crisis landscape.

Finally,  the  ERuDeF  Center  for the Advancement of Women’s Initiatives  is  pleased  to  announce the  launching  of  its  media  publication  known  as  the  Cameroon Humanitarian  News,  an  offshoot of  its  ‘Monthly  Status  Report’  on the  Anglophone  crisis  in  Cameroon  which  started  in  2019.  Beyond these core thematic areas, CAWI will also focus on research and development of the Anglophone    “Cameroon    Reparation Fund” concept.