By DOH JAMES SONKEY
The Minister of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, Mounouna Foutsou has appealed on youths who are hiding in the bush in the security-challenged North West and South West regions to come out from there and benefit from government projects like their brothers and sisters in the other eight regions of the country. He made the appeal last January 20, 2020 as he inaugurated the Head Office of the National Youth Observatory implementation project realised at FCFA 240,000,000 at Madagascar quarter in Yaounde and the handing over of the Biometric Youth Card production materials to its regional, divisional and sub-divisional Branch Heads.
The Minister explained that “the establishment of the National Youth Observatory is the result of the implementation of the Three-Year “Special Youth” plan prescribed to the Government by the President of the Republic. This Plan, meant to ease the socio-economic integration of young people, revolves around three major thrusts:- the establishment of a National Youth Observatory;- the specialisation and enhancement of the operational capacities of government and non-government programmes and projects dedicated to youths;- the development of socio-educational facilities and equipment for local youth mobilisation, supervision and local accompaniment, otherwise
known as Multipurpose Youth Empowerment Centres (MYECs).”
Minister Mounouna described the National Youth Observatory as a strategic tool for inclusive growth in Cameroon and especially for improving the livelihoods of young Cameroonians because “in addition to this youth information and mobilisation issue, it addresses with precision, accuracy and in the long term, the tasks of Youth mapping, accompaniment and forecasting with its main pillar being the pooling of stakeholders’ resources and skills.”
Moreover, explained the Minister, “it is a real sustainable mechanism offered not only to young people to access their socio-economic integration, but also to all stakeholders working in the youth sector to find in this tool, real opportunities to increase their intervention efficacy.”
The National Coordinator of the Observatory, Mveme Atangana Pierre Armand Dominique while expressing gratitude to the government for the constant support given youths promised that they will make good use of the opportunity.
Implemented under the coordination of a Committee set up by Decree No.2017/0465/PM of 8 February 2017 establishing the Monitoring Committee incharge of its implementation, the Three-Year “Special-Youth” Plan has therefore entered its acceleration phase, after being slowed down by various socio-economic and security constraints. President Paul Biya had prescribed that the organ mobilises 500 000 young beneficiaries each year.