Reinsertion, socioeconomic inclusion of street children: Gov’t, UNDP launch second phase of project in Yaounde.

It was in the presence of officials of UNDP and representative of the Mayor of the Yaounde City Council. 

The project is an initiative of the government of Cameroon in partnership with the United Nations Development Program, UNDP.

The launch of the project’s second phase, covering the cities of Yaounde, Douala and Ngaoundere, took the form of educative talks. It was on the theme: “Patriotism and Responsibility”.

Before settling down for the educative talks, the beneficiaries of the project who were hitherto street children, took part in a flag hoisting ceremony.

Minister Mounouna Foutsou of Youth Affairs and Civic Education educated them on the respect of state symbols and the need for them to be morally upright in the society. 

Speaking to reporters, the Minister of Social Affairs said: “As you know, we have an objective to take these children off the streets and offer them an opportunity to make their lives better by learning something and contributing to the development of the country”. 

She went on to add that: “We initiated these educative talks with them so we arm them morally and for them to really understand what we are doing and take the initiative seriously. It didn’t just start today, it started a long time ago. We have been working with the UNDP who is putting some financing to enable this street children learn a trade[vocational training] and being able to work for themselves, maybe in an enterprise…”.

This phase of the project provides for the provision of support for the resocialisation and socioeconomic inclusion of 500 street children and youth.

The resocialisation activities consisting on the one hand of training on Civic and Entrepreneurial Moral Re-armament, REAMORCE, and Education in an Open Environment, EMO, are piloted by teams from the ministries of Social Affairs as well as Youth Affairs and Civic Education.

Beneficiaries of project brandishing tools offered them by UNDP

With regard to the support component for socio-economic inclusion, the project is offering these disadvantaged young people paid activity in green jobs such as land development work, public gardens and parks as well as drain cleaning.

It is in this light that the UNDP offered them youth wheelbarrows, spades and wrecks as tools which will enable them carry out the tasks that will be assigned to them.

The Technical Adviser of Projects at UNDP, Gweth Jean Vincent, stated that the commitment of the UN structure to supporting the government in the fight against the phenomenon of street children.

He told reporters that the first phase of the project consisted of identifying youth and street children in the cities of Yaounde, Douala and Ngaoundere, where close to 2,000 of them were registered.

Of this number, 500 were retained for this project where they will benefit psychosocial support, training and will also be provided employment by the City Councils of Yaounde, Douala and Ngaoundere or learning trades that can help them generate revenue. 

Gwet said the Mayors of the three cities concerned have agreed to offer special recruitment to these disadvantaged and vulnerable youth. 

According to UNDP official, the project is being funded by the UN institution to the tune of 350,000 dollars.