📸 The communicators are presented here. They include Professor Moussa II, lecturer at the University of Yaoundé I, Dr Bienvenue Habit, Head of the Cooperation and Statistics Division at Minjec, Sylvain Bengono, Regional Delegate for Youth and Civic Education in the Centre and Siegfried Mengoung, permanent lecturer at the National Institute of Youth and Sports and also moderator.
The first theme, presented by Prof. Moussa II, dealt with the history of the youth festival, the challenges of the celebrations and the prospects for the future.
📌 To set the scene
Youth Day, which takes place on 11 February in Cameroon, marks the importance and rights of young people. In the run-up to this event, numerous socio-cultural and even economic activities (dances, folklore exhibitions, theatre, competitions, games and other sporting activities) are being organised in schools, on university campuses, within associations and in various towns and neighbourhoods across the country, with a view to helping young people flourish and participate in Cameroon's development process. It is also a day marked by administrative parades of different educational structures that testify to their belonging to our nation.
Youth Day: a celebration in a special context.
Cameroon has been celebrating Youth Day since 1966. In fact, it was on 11 February 1961 that the two parts of Cameroon (English-speaking and French-speaking) said yes in a referendum to unite their destinies (Reunification). The young state, headed by a 49-year-old Prime Minister, understood that "young people are the spearhead of the nation and have an important role to play in the socio-economic and political future of the country, and should actively participate in building a prosperous Cameroon". The Ministry of Youth, Education and Sports was therefore created to think about and realise this wish of Prime Minister Ahmadou Ahidjo, now President. This celebration has played an important role in engaging young people in a wide variety of events and activities to build the country.
On this day, groups of young people across the country get involved in parades, learning workshops, public musical performances, tree planting, community service, sports competitions and various other activities that they organise themselves.
The Youth Festival is a week-long series of high-profile activities. The government sponsors "youth congresses" held in Yaoundé, the capital, where issues such as youth violence, social injustice against young people in Cameroon, climate change and all sorts of youth-related topics are discussed. The youth representatives at these congresses provide input on how to find solutions to the national problems that affect them.
According to tradition, on 10 February at 8pm, the President of the Republic himself presents his best wishes to young people in a fatherly speech following a review of his achievements.
The second theme was presented by Sylvain Bengono, Regional Delegate for Youth and Civic Education for the Centre region. It focused on the organisation of the jeunesse⤵️ festival.
Minjec's expertise in organising the Youth Festival
It is important to note that the activities selected for the Youth Day celebrations are the result of a prior wide-ranging consultation of all the stakeholders, with young people at the forefront as the main actors of the event. They are also based on the strategic orientations formulated in relation to the context of the present Harmonised National Programme (HNP), which echoes the main thrust of the strategy for implementing the Youth Day celebration activities.
Seven types of activities will guide the Youth Day events:
👉🏽Les preparatory activities ;
👉🏽Les traditional institutional reference activities;
👉🏽Les activities known as reference activities;
👉🏽Les training, education and exchange activities;
Special innovative activities ;
👉🏽Les off-site activities and partners;
👉🏽les assessment activities.
✍ Question time
At the end of these exchanges, there were a few questions from the young people to the panellists. Parmis lesquels :
👉🏽 What can young people do about the difficulty of finding work in Cameroon?
👉🏽 In view of the tribalism that is rampant, isn't the diversity of languages today a problem for the development and emergence of Cameroon?
👉🏽 Aren't young people being left behind in the democratisation process?
🎙️ The experts for answers
Following the questions posed, it emerged that young people need to take concrete initiatives, in other words abandon laziness and seek out the opportunities that are constantly being offered to them by the government. They need to be more aware of their potential, particularly in terms of innovation.
On the issue of tribalism, young people need more than ever to learn to work together with others, regardless of religion, gender or ethnicity.
🎙️ Interview with Prof. Moussa II, Professor at the University of Yaoundé I (French and English)👇🏽
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