Name of organization:
Action Foundation Common Initiative Group (AFCIG)
Description of Organization:
AFCIG, based in Cameroon, enables youth to attain independence through self-help, good health and entrepreneurship, in a culture of excellence, gender sensitivity, leadership and innovation. Its key areas of work are: conducting research; developing and implementing programs and projects to promote the development of youth; and advocating for the creation of an enabling environment within which youth can develop. Their projects focus of human and electoral rights, culture and peacebuilding, health and HIV/AIDS, education and entrepreneurship and the environment.
Context:
Youth from Cameroon face socio-cultural and religious divisions that challenge their ability to coexist harmoniously and fully leverage the strengths of their country’s diversity. People continue to identify along Anglophone-Francophone and Christian-Muslim divisive lines: The two linguistic groups remain distinct, with the people of each community firmly attached to their culture. So too are followers of the two major religions in Cameroon. These divides are experienced on a daily basis in soft ways (such as the refusal of some Anglophones to speak French and vice versa), and in more extreme ways (such as the call for secession by the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC)). The Christian-Muslim divide has been growing in the wake of the Boko Haram attacks in Cameroon.
Proposed Project and Expected Results:
One Cameroon (OC) seeks to promote tolerance, respect and acceptance of different religions, cultures and languages by Cameroonian youth. The project encourages youth to leverage the advantages inherent in both cultures and different religions, such as the ability to speak both French and English. It will promote unity among youth from all backgrounds, reject secessionist tendencies and promote peace and unity between Muslims, Christians and Traditionalists in the context of increasing islamophobia. By the end of the project AFCIG expects to:
- Organize 3 workshops to train 60 peer educators to develop their capacity to promote the strength of their country’s diversity, religious and cultural tolerance amongst youth and other Cameroonians;
- Develop a media campaign on peace, religious and cultural tolerance, especially with respect to the Anglophone-Francophone cultures and the Christian-Muslim religions to reach over 2 million Cameroonians in the form of social media posts, spots broadcast on national television, music and radio debates promoting religious and cultural tolerance broadcast on local radio.
Project coordinator: Mr. Wise Nzikie Ngasa
Contact information: wise@afcig.org
Website: www.afcig.org