WILPF CAMEROON: 10 YEARS ALREADY!!!
Celebrating a decade of achievement and impact
The Cameroon section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom(WILPF Cameroon) was installed as a group on January 31, 2014, under the sponsorship and technical support of the sister section in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the financial support of the Swedish section. In April 2015 at the WILPF Centenary Congress in The Hague, after just one year of existence, WILPF Cameroon became a fully-fledged section of the world’s oldest women’s peace organization (WILPF turns 109 on April 28, 2024). The story of WILPF Cameroon began in 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey, at the AWID forum (the largest women’s forum in the world), where founding President Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO came into contact with the organization by visiting its stand and taking part in workshops organized by WILPF. She was very impressed by the work carried out by WILPF all over the world to promote peace, and above all, by the data provided on militarism, peacekeeping operations, the military expenditure of countries disproportionate to the efforts made in promoting human rights and in particular women’s rights, to name just a few. She was able to clearly make the link between women’s rights and the proliferation of weapons, and was very surprised to see how countries vote huge budgets for the acquisition of weapons to the detriment of other sectors including the promotion of women’s rights. She felt a moral obligation to ensure that Cameroonian women became more involved in this global quest for social justice, especially as the country was already facing growing regional security problems, with the Boko Haram insurgency in the Far North, and the massive influx of Nigerian refugees in the North and Central African refugees in the East and Adamaoua of the country, the latter fleeing attacks by the Central African SELEKA rebels. This is why she decided to apply for membership of WILPF, considering the urgent need to focus on conflict prevention through peace education and non-violence, demilitarization and the promotion of women’s rights.
Since then, the organization has continued to evolve in terms of mobilizing women, men and young people around its vision of “a Cameroon free of violence and armed conflict”. The confidence of various national and international partners has, to date, made the organization a leader in its field. WILPF Cameroon a benchmark organization for the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, whether at national, regional or international level. This level of recognition is the result of more than twenty years of voluntary involvement in civil society by its founding members, the conviction that a better society without violence is possible, and the determination of young people to help write the history of this movement. WILPF Cameroon essentially works in concert with partner organizations, the government and the International Secretariat. This synergy makes it possible to question the root causes of conflicts, to abolish legitimacy and warlike practices in Cameroon, while proposing solutions to respond to crises and prevent violence through innovative and participative projects focusing on the Women, Peace and Security, Human Rights, Disarmament, Crisis Response and Environment programs, and the building of a youth movement (Young WILPF) committed to building peace.
Since then, the organization has continued to evolve in terms of mobilizing women, men and young people around its vision of “a Cameroon free of violence and armed conflict”. The confidence of various national and international partners has, to date, made the organization a leader in its field. WILPF Cameroon a benchmark organization for the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, whether at national, regional or international level. This level of recognition is the result of more than twenty years of voluntary involvement in civil society by its founding members, the conviction that a better society without violence is possible, and the determination of young people to help write the history of this movement. WILPF Cameroon essentially works in concert with partner organizations, the government and the International Secretariat. This synergy makes it possible to question the root causes of conflicts, to abolish legitimacy and warlike practices in Cameroon, while proposing solutions to respond to crises and prevent violence through innovative and participative projects focusing on the Women, Peace and Security, Human Rights, Disarmament, Crisis Response and Environment programs, and the building of a youth movement (Young WILPF) committed to building peace.
10 years of sharing experience
The actions speak for themselves, and reflect the determination of these women to embark on the steep road to peace in Cameroonian society, and indeed in Africa as a whole.
Alongside the men, they were seen criss-crossing towns and villages, talking to traditional chiefs about the need to work to keep the peace.
Work seen and appreciated elsewhere, all things that make WILPF-Cameroon a session at the Centenary Congress in The Hague, here we are in 2015, the year of building new alliances with precise axes. These include the women’s platform for peaceful elections and the women’s consultation platform for national dialogue. In principle, this is a time of interaction with various national and international players and partners.
Like doves, they carried the Tree of Peace across Africa to carry peace missions further. 8 groups and WILPF sessions have been set up in a number of countries on the continent plagued by socio-political instability. Women are holding more and more meetings to discuss women’s involvement in peacekeeping and security issues. To avoid major unrest during and after elections, we have seen their mark: the setting up of a women’s watch and alert room in 2018.
And when it comes to peace and security issues, WILPF Cameroon has appropriated an instrument of the United Nations organization: Security Council Resolution 1325. Since 2014, there has been no time for rest for WILPF Cameroon, its members and associated partners. The overall work has led not only to the Adoption of a National Action Plan on 1325 , but also Cameroon’s ratification of the Arms Trade Treaty, and above all WILPF Cameroon’s involvement in the drafting of a specific law against gender-based violence, which is currently in the process of being adopted.
Young people were involved in the work as relays for awareness-raising and peace education. With them, WILPF Cameroon organized exchanges on the consequences of hate speech on social networks. Ideas and values embodied by Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo, the founder who was elected WILPF International President in 2023.
WILPF Cameroon is 10 years of sharing experiences.
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